Haiti’s pitiful disaster response

Re “Foreseeable devastation,” Opinion, Sept. 13

Amy Wilentz rightfully does not differentiate between democracies and dictatorships when she writes of the helplessness of the Haitian people under both systems in the face of ravaging storms.

She is also correct that Haiti’s economy is similar to Ronald Reagan’s privatized fantasy. Voodoo economics existed in Haiti long before Reagan. The rich are content to throw a morsel to their servants every once in awhile and feel superior to the vast majority of the people -- who are the first to suffer from any calamity befalling the country.

Stillbirths were “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s population control policy. With more than 5,000 dead in the last decade from hurricanes alone, perhaps the current government is using natural calamity to curb a population of 7 million in a country the size of Maryland.

Despite Haiti’s lack of levees, there are similarities between New Orleans and Haiti, both former French colonies. The kid during Hurricane Katrina who stated on TV that the U.S. government’s response to the disaster was pitiful could be any one of Haiti’s kids over the last 200 years.

Anthony Bouchereau

Los Angeles