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Haitians 'made a pact with the devil': Pat Robertson | The Australian
I knew this kind of talk wouldn't take too long to show up.
WASHINGTON: US evangelical preacher Pat Robertson has laid the blame for the devastating earthquake on the Haitians themselves, saying the country "swore a pact to the devil" to escape French rule in the 18th century.
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Mr Robertson, 80, said yesterday on his Christian Broadcasting Network show, The 700 Club.
Haitians were originally "under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil," said the former US presidential candidate.
"They said, `We will serve you if you will get us free from the French'. True story. And so the devil said, `OK, it's a deal'. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."
Mr Robertson contrasted Haiti with the neighbouring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic "is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts etc," he said. "Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have . . . a great turning to God and out of this tragedy. I'm optimistic good may come."
I knew this kind of talk wouldn't take too long to show up.