It's been 207 yrs and 11 days since Haitian independence, why is Haiti still a shit hole?
It's been 207 yrs and 11 days since Haitian independence, why is Haiti still a shit hole?
"The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
Here is the briefest history of some of the major US efforts to break Haiti.
In 1804, when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world's first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country. The US continued to refuse recognition to Haiti for 60 more years. Why? Because the US continued to enslave millions of its own citizens and feared recognizing Haiti would encourage slave revolution in the US.
After the 1804 revolution, Haiti was the subject of a crippling economic embargo by France and the US. US sanctions lasted until 1863. France ultimately used its military power to force Haiti to pay reparations for the slaves who were freed. The reparations were 150 million francs. (France sold the entire Louisiana territory to the US for 80 million francs!)
Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion - with a big B.
The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military - killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically "anti-communist" - now translatable as against human rights for their people. Duvalier stole millions from Haiti and ran up hundreds of millions in debt that Haiti still owes. Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.
Thirty years ago Haiti imported no rice. Today Haiti imports nearly all its rice. Though Haiti was the sugar growing capital of the Caribbean, it now imports sugar as well. Why? The US and the US dominated world financial institutions - the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - forced Haiti to open its markets to the world. Then the US dumped millions of tons of US subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti - undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture. By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world market for US rice. Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.
In 2002, the US stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Haiti which were to be used for, among other public projects like education, roads. These are the same roads which relief teams are having so much trouble navigating now!
In 2004, the US again destroyed democracy in Haiti when they supported the coup against Haiti's elected President Aristide.
Haiti is even used for sexual recreation just like the old time plantations. Check the news carefully and you will find numerous stories of abuse of minors by missionaries, soldiers and charity workers. Plus there are the frequent sexual vacations taken to Haiti by people from the US and elsewhere. What is owed for that? What value would you put on it if it was your sisters and brothers?
US based corporations have for years been teaming up with Haitian elite to run sweatshops teeming with tens of thousands of Haitians who earn less than $2 a day.
The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices - deaths, debt and abuse.
It is time for the people of the US to join with Haitians and reverse the course of US-Haitian relations.
This brief history shows why the US owes Haiti Billions - with a big B. This is not charity. This is justice. This is reparations. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country's history of dominating Haiti and to make a truly just response."
There is no oil or any other necessary commodity there, so the US won't step in and fix the place up
sorry but wrote:
Seriously. How many billions of dollars were sent over? How many thousands of aid workers have been sent?
Why are people still living in temporary housing and tent cities?
People were in tent cities before the earthquake.
Here's a summary of what's been up with Haiti (not my research):
The French started to settle in the early 17th century and by early 18th century it was the richest colony in the New World wealthier than any of the British colonies. At the time, it produced 40% of the world's sugar and 50% of its coffee -- all grown by African slaves (the Tainos having been wiped out by disease and violence).
The French Revolution inspired the Haitian slaves to fight for their own independence, and in response the French government abolished slavery, but Napoleon re-instituted it in 1802, which led to the Haitian Revolution and ultimately independence. After the revolution, slave owners in North and South America did what they could to prevent Haiti from inspiring their own slaves to rebel. Some in the US likened the Haitian Revolution to their own, while others (prevailing opinion) were fearful of that the next slave rebellion might happen to them. As a result, Jefferson joined France in imposing an embargo on Haiti to cripple its economy, and the US didn't recognize Haiti until 1862.
The French government reached a deal with Haiti in 1825, agreeing to lift the embargo and giving full recognition to the Haitian government in exchange for the payment of 150 million francs, to compensate slave holders for their lost property (the slaves themselves). The amount owed was so huge relative to the size of the Haitian economy, that it took 122 years to finally pay off the debt and accumulated interest. A few years ago, the Haitian president suggested that France should repay the indemnity, but that hasn't gone anywhere as of yet.
As previously said, the US went along with the isolation of Haiti and didn't recognize the country until 1862. In 1825, when France agreed to begin diplomatic relations with Haiti in exchange for the indemnity, there was debate in the US Congress if they should recognize Haiti as well. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri had this to say about the matter:
Our policy towards Haiti has been fixed for 3 and 30 years: we trade with her but no diplomatic relations have been established between us. And why? Because the peace of eleven states will not permit the fruits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among them. It will not permit black consuls and ambassadors to establish themselves in our cities, and to parade through our country, and give to their fellow blacks in the United States proof in hand of the honors which await them for a like successful effort ton their part. It will not permit the fact to be seen, and told, that for the murder of their masters and mistresses, they are to fine friends among the white people of these United States. No, this is a question which has been determined here for three and thirty years; one which has never been open for discussion, at home or abroad, neither under the Presidency of General Washington, of the first Mr. Adams, of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, or Mr. Monroe. It is one which cannot be discussed in this chamber on this day; and shall we go to Panama to discuss it? I take it in the mildest supposed character of this Congress--shall we go there to advise and consult in council upon it? Who are to advise and sit in judgment upon it? Five nations who have already put the black man upon an equality with the white, not only in their constitutions but in real life: five nations who have at this moment (at least some of them) black generals in their armies and mulatto senators in their congresses!
This line of thinking dominated US foreign policy towards Haiti until the Civil War.
Even a century after its independence, much of the instability in Haiti was brought about in part by foreign intervention. You will remember that the primary purpose of America's initial intervention into Haiti at the beginning of the 20th Century wasn't to help the living situation of the man on the street in Port au Prince, but was to make sure Haiti continued paying back debts and to assist US business interests (sugar and fruit production), which also hoped that Haiti might become a market for US products.
US "aid" has been less than well placed oftentimes. As awful as the Duvaliers were, the US government supported them because while they were autocrats, they weren't communists and the US helped to train their armies and supported their dictatorship.
You know that oftentimes US tax funded aid has resulted in the further impoverishment of Haiti? Ironically, several US funded projects intended to "help" Haiti (often to the benefit of some US commercial interest) ended up making the people poorer. It's not that Haiti doesn't need aid, but that it should be directed at efforts that make sense first and foremost to the Haitian people and not to ultimately serve American companies.
This has been part of a push towards gearing the Haitian economy towards manufacturing, a push that has been disastrous. You know that 30 years ago most Haitians grew their own food but US aid undercut the price of rice, discouraging local agriculture and pushing Haitians towards manufacturing jobs, many of which have not stuck around?
Reader wrote:
Didn't it take years for New Orleans to recover after Katrina?
To recover? There are still families down there living in FEMA trailers.
Example of corruption referred to by several....
A group of students from the school I coach and teach in went to Miami (they had been scheduled to go to Haiti before the earthquake but were not allowed in for obvious reasons) to do relief work by sorting through donations and building care packages. They also loaded them into cargo holds (whatever those big "pod" looking things are called).
The ship they loaded is still sitting at a dock in Miami, a year later. The Haitian government won't take it. That is why Haiti is a hole.
Haiti's populace has an average IQ of 72. The Dominican Republic's, for example, has an average of 84. This may explain some (NO, not all) of the continuing problems in Haiti.
http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm
[I'm sorry that the link, which was the first that appeared on my Google search, has a religious component. PLEASE IGNORE THAT and scroll down toward the bottom of the page, which was the source for the average IQs by country.
[PLEASE DON'T TURN THIS INTO ANOTHER RELIGION-VS-NOT THREAD. Let's focus on Haiti, please!]