Let’s set the fact straight on Haiti.
Haiti is a small nation south of the United States. A former French Colony used for growing sugar.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign nation of Haiti. Wikipedia
Dates: Aug 21, 1791 – Jan 1, 1804
Territorial changes: Independent Empire of Haiti established
Location: Saint-Domingue
Results: French colonial government expelled (Haitian victory), Massacre of the French (Haitian victory)
France blockaded and bombed Haiti into submission. Signing a peace treaty that created so much debt for the tiny nation that it never recovered.
Haitians asked the US government for help. A free black nation so close to US shores was not a good idea according to men like Thomas Jefferson who thought freedom for the negro was a good idea, but that the United States was not ready for the idea and it would cause a lot of trouble.
The Haitians had killed so many French families to obtain their freedom. They might do it again! The money supporting the sugar plantations moved to French speaking Louisiana, where slavery made the industry the most profitable.
So, Haiti had a massive debt to France established to stop the French blockade, and the bombs, and now was losing its economic base to business people in the United States.
Sugar is a commodity. In the absence of value, everything boils down to price. Haiti could not pay their new debt, and feed its people and compete with the sugar growers in Louisiana. The country has never recovered. Poverty and population exploded, as well as exploitation.
There have been American military incursions into Haiti for various reasons.
It is possible our troops will go there again.
I visited Haiti a few years ago on a cruise ship. The wealth and abundance on that ship was a stark contrast to the poverty of the people trying to sell to the tourists. Haitian art was constantly hawked to the tourists and when it was purchased the seller would take the money to a central authority and give it to ”the boss”. It was clear to me that if that had not occurred, someone would get hurt or lose selling privileges.
The biggest natural resource in Haiti is its available labor supply. Plagued by earthquakes and hurricanes, poverty, gangsterism, and dictatorships, the country has a poor chance at prosperity unless they exploit this advantage. Lack of capital and without foreign investment there are problems.
I once interviewed a youthful soldier who served in Haiti during one of those interventions. He said the Haitians would come to him as a black human being and ask for help, and he could only do what he was ordered to do. Mostly to protect assets and implement foreign policy.
The Haitian Revolution had unintended consequences. Perpetual poverty in exchange for freedom.
The abundant labor supply suppresses the economies of nearby nations.
Two years before the Haitian revolution there was, (From France) the Declaration of the Rights of Man – 1789.
Haitians who read the declaration could easily come to the conclusion that they should fight for their freedom.
Again, Thomas Jefferson thought freedom for all was a good idea, just not right then. Racism? Or Economic Politics? Foreign Policy? History? Apathy? SHEESH!
