On the afternoon of April 13th (day 2), I was able to talk to my wife for the first time since being kidnapped the day before. She was understandably quite emotional.

The first day of my captivity, I was told by the other captives (some had been in for over thirty days) that I would eventually get to make a phone call. For Haitians, that phone call was typically to a family member. The family would then need to appoint a negotiator.

"Like squeezing blood from a stone," Haitian leaders have been trying to move their country forward for decades.

This article does not seek to diagnose the root cause of Haiti’s economic concerns. Rather, it seeks to assert a remedy to address the Haitian Government’s long term dependence on foreign assistance.

Our thesis is clear and grounded in pragmatic analysis: aiding Haiti in its development is not merely a charitable endeavor but a strategic necessity for the U.S.