The Clintons in Ayiti: the rice confession (1995 tariff cut, 2010 apology)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our reading
Year: 1995 · Places: Ayiti
SUMMARYThe Clintons in Ayiti: the rice confession (1995 tariff cut, 2010 apology) [Connections: Clintons in Ayiti, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDIn March 2010 Bill Clinton told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that pushing Ayiti to drop its rice tariffs "was a mistake. It was a mistake that I was a party to," and that he lives "every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti." He later called it "this devil's bargain on rice."
RECORD (verify)The cut came in 1995, after US troops returned Aristide to office in 1994, as part of the loan terms; the tariff fell to about 3% (Oxfam, "Kicking Down the Door," 2005)
PATTERNSame move as the 1825 ransom and the 1915 occupation: a foreign power sets Ayiti's economic terms, and the land loses the ability to feed itself
LENS (WW9)A food-sovereign Ayiti was turned into a buyer of subsidized US rice. He admitted it on the record; that's an admission (Rule 13)