Major Events of Haiti since 2000
2010 Haitian Epidemic
On January 10, 2010, Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince was hit by a 7.0 Richter Scale quake. The effects of this earthquake was huge. More than 230,000 Haitian people were killed, and 300,000 injured. In response to the catastrophe, $450,000 was given Haiti as an aid from the USAID and OFDA (CNN). After the 2010 quake, since then, Haiti has been affected by hurricane Tomas, Issac and Sandy which swept in the deadly Cholera disease for the first time in 100 years. This epidemic began 10 months after the earthquake. Cholera is believed to have been brought here from a battalion in Nepal, the U.N. peacekeepers. Untreated sewage flowed into the Artibonite River, their major source of water for cleaning and consumption. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the two years that followed resulted in 600,000 sickened patients and 7,500 of which died from this deadly illness. The more floods that Haiti has, the more contaminated the water gets, and therefore the more the people are at risk (de Sam Lazaro).
Haitian Presidential Dilemma of 2004
In 2004, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide claims that by the United States, he was forced to leave Haiti in a coup d'etat. A Coup d'etat is the french term for a generally small group of people that attempt to overthrow the government through the act of violence. While George W. Bush was still in office, his administration continued to deny that Aristide was kidnapped by United States troops, which is what two U.S. Congress members claim to have heard from Aristide via telephone. The Haitian president left the country a month after a rebellion broke out in Haiti where heavily armed Haitian rebels targeted the National police headquarters in Port-au-prince while U.S. Marines positioned themselves across the street from the presidential palace. White House press secretary, Scott McClellan states that the U.S. forces were protecting the president and his family, but denied that the U.S. forces escorted him from his home to the airport. Representative Maxine Waters, D-California, states that Aristide told them a different version of the story. Waters states that the Haitian presidents wife, Mildred Aristide, called the congresswoman at 6:30 in the morning at home, and continues with, "The coup d'etat has been completed" and then proceeds to giving the phone to her husband. Aristide told Waters that the chief of staff of the U.S. Embassy went to Aristide's house and told him that him, and a lot of Haitians would be killed if he did not leave immediately. After getting advice from Haiti's Ambassador, James Foley, they decided that his resignation would be the best course of action. After Aristides resignation, the first country he chose to reside in, rejected his request (CNN).