July 5, 2024
With a transitional government in place amid unprecedented international support in an nth attempt to stanch Haiti’s bleeding, understanding the cause of Haiti’s problems, who is liable and to what extent, are fundamental elements of the solution. France’s exceptionally acute and brutal >200-year tenure of extraction-cum-extortion from Haiti is undisputed. “The initial 150 million francs was equal to the annual revenue of Haiti before independence, or 15% of France’s annual budget. By the late 19th century, 80% of Haiti’s wealth was devoted to serving external debts, first to France and then to financial institutions in Germany — and, most notably, the United States” as reported by the Jacobin. From the outset, any attempt to measure the value of human life and suffering is an insult, and no measure of what France owes Haiti could ever satisfy everyone, but we have to start somewhere.
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