MILLIONS of dollars belonging to the people of Haiti have been paid out to Raoul Cedras and his military sidekicks to smooth their exile in Panama. The US has "rented" his former villa in Port-au-Prince, paying the money to Cedras in advance.
This grotesque gesture is just part of a multi-million pay-off to cedras and his thugs to, at least temporarily, leave the country.
Despite the US attempt to collect in arms belonging to the military junta's gangs, probably thousands remain hidden. Most of the top tons tons macoutes assassins remain at large.
America has succeeded in taming the returning president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Coming home thanks the US "peaceful invasion", he is stuck with 20,000 US troops and his new government will be under United States supervision.
The radical priest who promised his people major reforms to help the poor will now be hamstrung by his "deal with the devil".
It appears that Aristide will now bring some former supporters of the junta into his new government.
This "broad based government" ploy has been cooked up by the United States as a further guarantee against any hint of radicalism in the new regime.
Aristide's sanctioning of the US intervention, in addition to making radical reforms impossible, has done a disservice to all the people of Latin America.
Now the United States can even more present itself as the champion of "democracy" with the right to intervene where and when it wants to.