"INDEPENDENT" HAITI

A false dichotomy is often created between formal imperial rule and the more informal (but no less iniquitous) ties of neocolonial control, through which the industrialized world still determines a country’s terms of trade, economic organization, currency values, and regional security in a supposedly postcolonial international system. 

Not long after Dessalines declared independence, French warships descended into the waters outside Post-au-Prince to pressure Haiti into agreeing to pay a huge indemnity for the French properties ‘lost’ in the revolution. In exchange, France promised to finally recognize Haiti’s sovereignty (a promise that conveniently forgets how Haitians had actually won the revolutionary war and arguably owed the French nothing).

In exchange for the recognition of Haiti as an independent state, France ordered Haiti to pay for the French properties ‘lost’ in the revolution. The defeated white men required the black victors to pay up, and the victor’s new president (Jean-Pierre Boyer) agreed. His actions committed Haiti to payments that would cripple their economy in the following centuries, payments that would total approximately $21 billion in today’s dollars. 

The French maintained a steady presence in Haiti until 1809 (five years after Haiti’s initial declaration of independence) and did not recognize Haitian sovereignty until 1825 at the receivable cost of $150 million francs (later reduced to $90 million francs) and 50% discounts on exported goods. Because of this debt repayment, France continued to essentially own Haiti (as did the American and French banks who loaned Haiti’s treasury the payment funds) until 1947, when the debt was finally paid off. 

Thus, the Haitian economy is global, owned by others and not really meant for the Haitian people (or alternatively, exclusively meant for select Haitian elite). This led to the creation of an “informal empire,” one where an external power (France, in this case) exerts effective influence over a territory (Haiti) without imposing its full political control and imperial sovereignty. 

The ominous, invisible yet potent presence of the French in Haiti further hurt its people. The independence debt is largely to blame for why Haiti is the impoverished, barren country it is today while their neighboring country (the D.R.) got a chance to develop after Spanish colonization. Though both nations are the same age and share similar colonial roots, backgrounds, and experiences, the Haitian GDP per capita is more than 10x less than that of the D.R. 

Repayment was further complicated by a crippling economic embargo imposed by France and the United States after the Haitian Revolution, where the United States (fearful that the Haitian revolution might inspire enslaved Africans in the colonies) joined a strategic French and Spanish boycott of Haitian goods in 1806, further debilitating Haiti’s economy. Already weakened by 12 years of war, the embargo on Haiti majorly set back any hopes of economic independence in the near future, especially since it was accompanied by threats of recolonization and re-enslavement if Haitians failed to “compensate the losses of Haitian slave labor” incurred by France in the revolution (read: pay France their revolution debt).

Economics aside, one cannot fail to mention the impact of neocolonialism on Haiti’s environment. Colonialism had transformed patterns of land use as French colonial authorities devoted the best available agricultural land to export production, with sugar cane and banana cultivation predominating. Today, Haiti has a complex environmental problem with deforestation that many historians date back to the 17th century, when French colonizers cleared most of Haiti’s forests to create slave plantations. Since colonial times, modern agriculture and charcoal production have only exacerbated the loss of Haitian forestry, such that current estimates show that only 1.4% - 2% of Haitian land remains forested (in other words, over 98% of Haiti is deforested). To fully comprehend the stark reality of Haiti’s environment, refer to satellite image below, which shows the border between a deforested Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right).

Haiti is known for having a disproportionate number of natural disasters, and current research shows that this is no coincidence, for this phenomena is connected to Haiti’s deforested mountains. While there is of course no way to stop hurricanes and earthquakes, we now know that in times of severe weather, trees are essential to slowing the destruction of torrential rains. Without them, the heavy rainfall washes down barren mountains and rips away the shrubs, soil, crops, houses, livestock, and people in its path. This water-packed mud slams into villages, leaving behind the death, destruction, and unbelievable clean up tasks we know Haiti for today (think of the number of times a hurricane or earthquake in Haiti has been in the news)! This problem has become so severe that it no longer takes a full-blown tropical storm to devastate Haiti. In 2004, heavy rains totalling to approximately 13 inches triggered floods that killed over 2,600 Haitians (while only two dozen Dominicans died by comparison). Long-term effects of these natural disasters like cholera, malnutrition (from a lack of crops and livestock), and homelessness have kept Haiti in relapsing conditions of extreme poverty, and while the French alone cannot be credited with this situation, one cannot ignore the significant role they played in exacerbating it while capitalizing on Haitian land and her crops.