For years, educated émigrés...have tried hard to play a more vital role in Haiti’s development, with little success.

But the earthquake has suddenly changed all that, reducing old hostilities to rubble. Depleted of leadership and talent, the Haitian government — once known for ejecting elected officials who held a United States passport — is begging its own for aid, and the Haitian-born have responded en masse.

“It’s time to open Haiti to the diaspora.”