[LINK] "Time to pay back Haiti"

[rfmcdonald]

Again at Inter Press Service, A.D. McKenzie describes how Haiti's profoundly troubled relationship with France has impacted on the state of modern-day Haiti, and interviews Haitians living in their French diaspora about their opinions on France's historical debt to the island nation.

Haiti's currrent poverty can be traced directly to the heavy financial and human toll it had to bear in its violent rupture from France two centuries ago.

Following Haiti’s declaration of independence in 1804, France demanded payment of 150 million francs in exchange for recognition of the country’s new status and also as reparation for "lost lands" in the slave revolt that led to autonomy.

Haiti signed a treaty agreeing to the demands, and although the amount was later reduced, the new nation still had to borrow heavily from banks in the United States, France and other countries to pay the sum plus interest, sinking ever deeper into poverty. The payments to France were completed only in the mid-1940s.

"They are all responsible - France, the U.S., all of them - for this mess that Haiti is now in," said Anita, a Paris-based Haitian in her fifties, speaking softly at the back of Notre Dame as the mass proceeded.

"When they weren’t getting money out of us, they were interfering in the governing of our country," she told IPS, before breaking off to join in the singing of a hymn.

[. . .]

Indeed, many of France’s 80,000 Haitians are still in shock, waiting to hear from loved ones and hoping that more can be done before others die.

"I don’t want to talk about historical obligations or debts," said Natacha Alexandre, a Haitian nursing student and former teacher who has lived in France for 18 years. "But there is now a moral obligation to help Haiti. I think the international community is doing what it can, and I would like to thank all the friends of Haiti who are supporting us in this tragedy at whatever level.’’

"Today my pain is so strong that I want to scream out my sadness to the whole world," she added. "But I know that Haiti, as always, will rise again from the ashes."

France has called for a speeding up of the cancellation of Haiti’s foreign debt, including a 54-million-euro (77.6 million US dollars) debt to Paris, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will hold a "reconstruction and development" conference with other international "donors" to discuss ways to help Haiti recover from this latest disaster.

[. . .]

Meanwhile, French immigration minister Eric Besson ordered his department to halt the repatriation of undocumented Haitian immigrants, and he announced the implementation of an "exceptional and temporary measure" to allow those affected by the earthquake to enter France.