Dictators need new cars too.

Samuel Doe came to power in a bloody 1980 coup, a Master Sergeant in military gear. Today, he
is a self-made General in a suit, living on US aid and corporate kickbacks. But while Doe and his
cronies live in luxury, the rest of Liberia dwells in squalor. Under his regime, the gross domestic
product has decreased by 13%, the country's health statistics are among the world's worst, 80% of
the population is illiterate, all opposition parties but one were forbidden to participate in the 1985
national elections, and those who protest these inequities are jailed or killed. Doe, a pro-American
anti-communist, received $500 million in U.S. aid between 1980 and 1985. When Congress
threatened to cut off funds because of Liberia's human rights abuses, Doe requested "American
financial advice" as a show of good will. The U.S. sent 17 accountants, bank examiners, and
economists to help Doe balance his budget, but they realized a difficult task lay ahead when they
learned that Doe had purchased over sixty $60,000 Mercedes Benz cars for his government
ministers and had given the Liberian soccer team $1 million for winning a match against rival Ghana.
Ultimately Doe refused to allow access to records concerning 40% of Liberia's funds, for this
"second budget", revenues from gasoline and lodging taxes, goes directly into the President's bank
account. The American advisors returned home in 1989, mission not accomplished, and Samuel
Doe remains in office, despite early 1990 rumblings of rebel plots against him.