Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s coerced Haiti to dramatically...

< Previous | Home | Next >

Reply to Msg 21524

Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s coerced Haiti to dramatically cut tariffs on imported U.S. rice - a 'Mistake' That Contributed To Hunger in Haiti.

Decades of inexpensive imports - especially rice from the U.S. - punctuated with abundant aid in various crises have destroyed local agriculture and left impoverished countries such as Haiti unable to feed themselves.

While those policies have been criticized for years in aid worker circles, world leaders focused on fixing Haiti are admitting for the first time that loosening trade barriers has only exacerbated hunger in Haiti and elsewhere.

bit.ly/d0cn81

They're led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton - now U.N. special envoy to Haiti - who publicly apologized this month for championing policies that destroyed Haiti's rice production.

Clinton in the mid-1990s encouraged the impoverished country to dramatically cut tariffs on imported U.S. rice. (bit.ly/bRwd3N)

"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked.

It was a mistake," Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10, 2010. "I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." Link: bit.ly/9f6RT6

What does Haiti (1994) and the White House intern, Monica Lewinsky (1995) have in common?

Ben Battraville, April 23 2010, 11:21 AM

Topic: Continue working with Bill Clinton

Start a NEW topic or,
Jump to previous | Next Topic >

< Previous | Home | Next >

Messages in this topic

< Previous | Home | Next >