You Can Bet Your Bottom Dollar.

As I write this, there's a discrepancy over the status of the Americans who were caught trying to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti three months ago. The U.S. State Department has informed that all charges have been dropped, while Haitian officials deny it, contending that the case is still pending. My money is on the State Department version because this is a question of money and influence, which the U.S. has lots of and Haiti has none.

Not that the U.S. government really cares that much about those so-called missionaries, but it's a matter of policy - official or unwritten - that the Americans won't allow U.S. citizens to be tried or punished by a foreign country, certainly not one like Haiti because that would be tantamount to recognizing that they are subordinate in any way to people who are inherently inferior.

So, the State Department seems to have jumped the gun, in announcing the deal that has been made, and the Haitians, wanting to save some face, will delay the decision just a little bit longer.

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