Préval to return to Cuba for cancer tests

The Associated Press’ Stevenson Jacobs is reporting from Port-au-Prince that Haitian President René Préval will venture back to Cuba, from where he just returned, after Christmas for further medical tests, as blood tests conducted there have thus far shown possible signs of cancer. Saying that he felt “physically and mentally well," Préval said that it was too early to determine whether the cancer he had been treated for following the end of his first mandate in 2001 had returned. Not surprisingly, in Haiti, still wracked by bloodshed, kidnapping and environmental devastation, the news has been received with much worried speculation

For my part, honestly, the news that Préval might be ill fills me with dread, as all of the jackals waiting to feast on the meager remains of Haiti and their foreign lackeys are looking for just such an opportunity to capitalize on any perceived sign on instability, hesitancy or weakness on the part of his government.

All one can do, I suppose, is hope and pray that even Haiti’s luck is not this bad.