![]() The first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, faced two coups d’état, alleged to be US-backed, undone by the second in 2004. His regime came to be regarded as one of the most repressive in modern history and, after his death in 1971, his son, Jean-Claude or “Baby Doc”, presided over Haiti’s further economic and political decline. But the most notorious in the island’s history was François Duvalier or “Papa Doc”, elected in 1957. From 1911 to 1915, there were six different presidents, each either killed or forced into exile. Haiti has produced a portentous rogues’ gallery of leaders and coups d’état. France only repealed the debt in 2016, however no reparations were forthcoming despite being the root cause of Haiti’s decimation. That occupation lasted until 1934, deeply resented by Haitians who staged numerous revolts. Never had a country been invaded for debts owing. The remainder of Haiti’s debt was financed by the National City Bank of New York, now Citibank, and, in 1915, US President Woodrow Wilson responded to complaints from US banks about Haiti’s debts by invading. Haiti was forced to take loans from Crédit Industriel et Commercial bank, enriching French shareholders. The debt choked Haiti’s economic development as interest mounted, snatching a significant share of GDP and restricting development. Reparations for the loss of their “property” – their slaves. ![]() In 1825, France, backed by several warships, demanded from Haiti 150m francs as indemnity for claims over the loss of property during the revolution and, in addition, for diplomatic recognition as an independent state. His general, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, authorised a constitution calling for freedom of religion, for all citizens to be known as “black” to dispel colour hierarchy, and for white men to be forbidden from possessing property. It was the world’s only successful slave revolt with the indomitable Louverture defeating the Napoleonic armies. Inspired by the French Revolution, in 1791 the enslaved people rose in revolt, a struggle that continued for just over 12 years, despite invasions by the British, Spanish and French, and led to the creation of Haiti, the first independent black republic outside Africa. By 1767, sugar, coffee, indigo and cotton were booming for the European economies, as Haiti’s labour accounted for a third of the transatlantic slave trade. Then the French settled to the west and called it Saint-Domingue. ![]() Columbus renamed the island and claimed it for Spain. What has been done to Haiti in the name of “the race for wealth” is the deepest wound to the Caribbean.Ĭhristopher Columbus landed in 1492 on the coast of Hispaniola, then called Ayiti and inhabited by the Taíno and Arawak people. ![]() To fully understand a nation’s anguish, examine its history. Any available fuel sells on the black market at more than $35 a gallon. ![]() Kidnapping is a business model, with more than 1,500 recorded in the last 18 months. The streets are owned by heavily armed criminals, while the law enforcement agencies are underequipped, undermanned and undermotivated. The head of the World Food Programme in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, said this week that, with gangs in control, the country faces an unprecedented crisis and could soon see famine. Poor construction practices and high population density were blamed for the astonishing fatalities.įast forward to December 2022 and Haiti is rocked by a different disaster, a perfect storm of violence, poverty, corruption and poor governance, all built on foundations of slavery, colonialism, brutality and exploitation. Some 1.5 million were made homeless in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the world. It was 2012, two years after a 35-second tremor from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake left an estimated 220,000-316,000 people dead and another 300,000 injured. Later, as my taxi weaved through Port-au-Prince, the sight of mountains of rubble lining every street was overwhelming. ![]()
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