Ruth Gledhill links to a comment made in the last few days by Pat Robertson, caught here on YouTube:

They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.

Wow. Now, not withstanding that God is sovereign over all events and may certainly punish as He sees fit, the only right response to this is to simply quote Jesus:

Luke 13:1 Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? ³ No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! ⁴ Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!”

I suspect that many of those left-of-centre who decry what Robertson said would also have trouble with Jesus’ words.