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).