Former CIA contractor: “With a fraction of what is allocated to Ukraine, Haiti would be a different country”

Ron Aledo considered that greater support from the United States and the European Union would allow for strengthening security, agriculture, and access to basic services in Haiti

Santo Domingo.- The former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and former border policy director for the United States Department of Homeland Security, Ron Aledo, stated this Wednesday that Haiti could be a completely different country if the United States and the European Union allocated to that nation just a fraction of the resources and efforts spent on Ukraine in recent years.

Aledo made the proposal during a press conference held in Santo Domingo, within the framework of the activities of the El Demócrata Foundation to analyze the Haitian crisis and its repercussions on the Dominican Republic.

“If the European Union and the United States had put into Haiti half of half of half of half of half of what they have put into the Zelensky government in Ukraine over the last four years, Haiti would be a different country, completely different,” he expressed.

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In the specialist’s opinion, those resources could contribute to recovering basic conditions of security and institutionality, in addition to boosting essential sectors for the Haitian population.

He indicated that Haiti would not necessarily become an economic power or a tourist destination like Punta Cana, but it could have greater order, a strengthened police force, productive agriculture, and better health services, education, and access to drinking water.

“It would be a country with order, with police, with productive agriculture; it would be a country where people, if they are sick, can go to a clinic, where people can drink water that is potable (…) and could have basic access to a basic education,” he maintained.

Calls for greater international attention to Haiti

When referring to the reasons why he believes Haiti has not received that level of support, Aledo pointed out that the United States and Europe are currently focusing much of their attention on other international conflicts.

“Why don’t they do it? They don’t have the incentive, and it is the mission of the Haitians and the Dominicans, who are the ones most affected, to convince them,” he stated.

In that sense, he considered that, once current international tensions diminish, Haitians and Dominicans must intensify their efforts before the United States and Europe to obtain greater cooperation aimed at addressing the crisis.

Aledo made special reference to the Dominican Republic for sharing the island with Haiti and directly receiving the effects derived from the instability of the neighboring country. “There is a country here in anarchy, abandoned, and it not only affects Haiti, it affects the Dominican Republic, which is the neighbor,” he expressed.

Panel and book launch

Aledo’s statements were made during a press conference organized for the panel “Haiti: chaos or conspiracy?”, convened by the El Demócrata Foundation for this Wednesday, September 30.

The meeting will feature Aledo; retired General Juan Carlos Buitrago Arias, from the Colombian National Police; and journalist, lawyer, and writer Francisco Tavárez, president of the El Demócrata Foundation.

The event also includes the release of a book “The Haitian Conspiracy and the Dominican Curse“, which addresses the political, social, and security situation in Haiti, as well as its implications for the Dominican Republic.

The meeting seeks to place different perspectives on the causes of the crisis into the debate, the advance of violence, and the challenges that the Haitian situation represents for both the Dominican Republic and the international community.