- 2 weeks ago
or over 200 years, Haiti has been called a “failed state.” But the real story is far darker.
This documentary reveals how France and the United States systematically exploited Haiti — from the brutal plantation economy of Saint-Domingue, through the independence debt that drained the country for a century, to U.S. military occupations, Cold War dictatorships, and modern corporate wage suppression.
We expose the $21 billion debt Haiti was forced to pay for its own freedom, the role of Citibank and Wall Street, and how foreign “aid” became a new form of extraction.
Haiti’s poverty is not a mystery — it’s a system. And that system was built to keep Haiti from ever rising again.
This documentary reveals how France and the United States systematically exploited Haiti — from the brutal plantation economy of Saint-Domingue, through the independence debt that drained the country for a century, to U.S. military occupations, Cold War dictatorships, and modern corporate wage suppression.
We expose the $21 billion debt Haiti was forced to pay for its own freedom, the role of Citibank and Wall Street, and how foreign “aid” became a new form of extraction.
Haiti’s poverty is not a mystery — it’s a system. And that system was built to keep Haiti from ever rising again.
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LearningTranscript
00:00When you see Haiti in the news today, what's the story?
00:07Gang violence, extreme poverty, humanitarian crisis, over a million people displaced.
00:14More than 5,600 killed by gang violence in 2024 alone, a country that seems perpetually
00:21on the brink of total collapse.
00:23And the narrative is almost always the same.
00:26Haiti is a failed state.
00:27A place that, despite billions in aid, just can't seem to get it together, the poorest
00:32country in the Western Hemisphere, that proves some places are just beyond help.
00:36But what if I told you that's not the real story?
00:39What if I told you that Haiti's story isn't one of failure, but of systematic exploitation
00:43that continues to this day?
00:45That the poverty and instability we see aren't, despite international help, but in many ways,
00:51because of it?
00:52This is the story of how Haiti went from being the richest colony in the world to a country
00:56where nearly 40% of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, where the economy
01:02contracted by 4.2% in 2024, where 1.3 million people have been forced from their homes.
01:09And more importantly, this is about how the United States and France played starring roles
01:14in that transformation.
01:15Extracting wealth for two centuries while ensuring Haiti could never truly govern itself.
01:21Welcome back to Thinking Global.
01:23Today we're diving deep into one of history's most egregious examples of colonial exploitation
01:28and modern imperialism.
01:29Because to understand Haiti's present, we need to understand its past.
01:34And that past is far more sinister than most people realize.
01:37Let's go back to the 1700s.
01:40The western third of the island of Hispaniola was called Saint-Domingue.
01:44It wasn't just any French colony.
01:46It was the single most profitable colony in the entire world.
01:50I want you to really understand what that means.
01:53Saint-Domingue generated more wealth than all 13 of Britain's North American colonies combined.
01:59More than any other European possession anywhere on the planet.
02:02By 1790, this small, Caribbean territory was producing approximately 40% of all the sugar
02:09consumed in Europe and 60% of its coffee.
02:12The colony accounted for nearly two-thirds of France's overseas trade.
02:17French merchants became fabulously wealthy.
02:20The port cities of Nantes and Bordeaux were built on Haitian wealth.
02:23The numbers are staggering.
02:25At its peak, Saint-Domingue was exporting sugar worth approximately 11 million pounds sterling annually.
02:32In today's money, we're talking about billions upon billions of dollars in economic output
02:37from a territory about the size of Maryland.
02:40Paris sparkled with wealth extracted from Haitian soil.
02:44The French aristocracy lived in opulence, financed by Caribbean sugar and coffee.
02:49Saint-Domingue was the crown jewel of the French Empire.
02:53The economic engine that powered France's ambitions in the 18th century.
02:57But that wealth came at an unimaginable human cost.
03:00By the end of the 1700s, there were approximately 500,000 enslaved Africans working on the island's plantations.
03:08They were outnumbered by enslaved people ten to one.
03:12And the conditions were so brutal, so systematically inhumane,
03:16that the average life expectancy of an enslaved person after arriving in Saint-Domingue was just three years.
03:22Three years.
03:23Let that sink in.
03:24The French colonial system was built on a simple, horrific calculation.
03:29It was cheaper to work people to death and import replacements than to keep them alive and healthy.
03:35Torture, mutilation, and execution were routine tools of control.
03:39Enslaved people who tried to escape faced being burned alive, broken on the wheel,
03:44or buried up to their necks and covered in sugar to attract insects.
03:47Women were systematically abused.
03:50Children were born into this nightmare and worked until they died.
03:53This wasn't just slavery.
03:55This was industrialized brutality on a scale that shocked even other colonial powers of the time.
04:00French plantation owners in Saint-Domingue were notorious throughout the Caribbean for their cruelty.
04:05And here's what's crucial to understand.
04:08This system was maintained through constant violence because the enslaved population vastly outnumbered their oppressors.
04:13Fear was the only thing holding this powder keg together.
04:18On August 22, 1791, the enslaved population said,
04:23Enough.
04:24In a coordinated uprising that began with a vedue ceremony at Bois-Kaiman,
04:28thousands of enslaved people rose up simultaneously across multiple plantations.
04:33Within weeks, the northern plain was in flames.
04:36Hundreds of plantations were destroyed.
04:39White colonists fled to the cities in terror.
04:41Led by figures like Toussaint Louverture,
04:44a formerly enslaved man who became a brilliant military strategist.
04:49They organized the largest and most successful slave rebellion in human history.
04:53And let me be absolutely clear about what they were up against.
04:56They fought against three European superpowers.
04:59France, Spain, and Britain.
05:01All of whom sent troops to the island.
05:04They faced Napoleon Bonaparte's most experienced veterans.
05:07Hardened soldiers who had conquered much of Europe.
05:09They were outnumbered, outgunned, and fighting an enemy that had every technological and military advantage.
05:16For 13 years, from 1791 to 1804, they fought.
05:21They survived disease.
05:23They survived betrayal from within.
05:25They survived the death of Toussaint Louverture,
05:27who was captured by the French and died in a frozen prison in France.
05:30And they won.
05:31On January 1st, 1804,
05:35Jean-Jacques de Salins declared Haiti's independence.
05:38Creating the first black republic in the world,
05:41and the first independent nation in Latin America.
05:44Former slaves had defeated their colonial masters,
05:46and created a free nation.
05:48This was revolutionary in every sense of the word.
05:51The Haitian Revolution terrified slave owners throughout the Americas.
05:54It inspired enslaved people everywhere.
05:58It proved that the colonial system could be defeated.
06:01Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize Haiti,
06:04fearing it would inspire slave rebellions in the United States.
06:08Most of Europe followed suit.
06:10The very existence of Haiti challenged the entire edifice of racial slavery and colonial domination.
06:16But this victory came with a target painted on Haiti's back that would last for centuries.
06:22Here's where the story takes its most cruel and consequential turn.
06:26For two decades after independence,
06:28Haiti existed in isolation.
06:30No major power would recognize them.
06:33France never accepted the loss of its most valuable colony.
06:36And in 1825,
06:38French King Charles X decided to make Haiti pay.
06:42On July 11th, 1825,
06:44French warships appeared at Port-au-Prince Harbour,
06:47cannons aimed at the capital.
06:49An envoy delivered an ultimatum,
06:50pay us for the loss of property,
06:52including the enslaved people who freed themselves or faced military invasion and re-enslavement.
06:57The amount?
06:59150 million francs?
07:01To put that in perspective,
07:03that was approximately 10 times Haiti's annual revenue.
07:07In today's money,
07:08economists estimate that's roughly 21 billion dollars.
07:12Think about what this means.
07:14Haiti had to pay reparations to slave owners for freeing themselves.
07:18This wasn't compensation for destroyed property or infrastructure.
07:22This was payment for human beings asserting their humanity and claiming their freedom.
07:26The Haitian president,
07:28The Haitian president,
07:28Jean-Pierre Boyer,
07:29facing the very real threat of re-invasion and re-enslavement,
07:33agreed.
07:34What choice did he have?
07:36But here's where it gets even more diabolical.
07:38Haiti didn't have 150 million francs.
07:41So where did they get the money?
07:43They borrowed it.
07:44From French banks.
07:46At interest rates as high as 6%,
07:48which was astronomical at the time.
07:49So Haiti went into debt to pay a debt imposed on them for winning their freedom.
07:54And those French banks charged massive commissions and fees,
07:58creating yet another extraction mechanism.
08:00It was a financial trap with no escape,
08:03designed to keep Haiti economically enslaved.
08:05One of those banks was the Credit Industrie L.E.T. Commercial, or CIC.
08:10This bank used profits from Haiti to help finance the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
08:16That's right.
08:17That iconic symbol of French culture and achievement was built,
08:21in part, with money extorted from freed slaves.
08:24Haiti would continue paying this debt for 122 years.
08:29From 1825 to 1947, Haiti made continuous payments to France.
08:34During many of those years,
08:36between 40% and 80% of the Haitian government's entire budget went to debt repayment.
08:42Think about what that means.
08:44Money that should have built schools remained unbuilt.
08:47Hospitals that could have saved lives were never constructed.
08:50Roads and infrastructure that could have connected the country never materialized.
08:54Instead, that wealth enriched French banks and bondholders for over a century.
08:59Economic studies have estimated that this debt cost Haiti between $21 billion
09:03and $115 billion and lost economic growth over that period.
09:09The debt didn't just take money out of Haiti.
09:11It prevented the country from developing, from building the foundation for a modern economy.
09:16That's the entire foundation of Haiti's modern poverty right there.
09:20While other Latin American countries were developing infrastructure and institutions,
09:25Haiti was sending its wealth to France.
09:26When American bankers saw how much money could be extracted from Haiti,
09:31Wall Street wanted a piece of the action.
09:34By the early 1900s, National City Bank of New York, which today is known as Citigroup,
09:40had bought significant shares in Haiti's National Bank,
09:43which controlled the country's gold reserves and managed its finances.
09:47And in December 1914, something absolutely wild happened that perfectly illustrates how Haiti was treated.
09:55U.S. Marines walked into Haiti's National Bank, took $500,000 worth of gold reserves.
10:01That's about $15 million in today's money, loaded it onto a gunboat,
10:06transported it to New York, and deposited it in National City Bank's vault.
10:10The official explanation was that they were protecting it from political instability.
10:15Really, they were ensuring Haiti couldn't use its own gold reserves
10:18to negotiate better debt terms or assert financial independence.
10:21It was straight-up theft dressed up as protection.
10:25Wall Street banks, particularly National City,
10:28lobbied the U.S. government intensely to intervene in Haiti to protect their investments.
10:33They wanted complete control over Haiti's finances to ensure their loans would be repaid.
10:38And in July 1915, they got their wish.
10:43When Haiti's president was killed by an angry mob during political turmoil,
10:47President Woodrow Wilson, citing the need to restore order and protect American interests,
10:53ordered the invasion and occupation of Haiti.
10:56U.S. Marines landed on July 28, 1915.
11:00They would stay for 19 years,
11:02making it one of the longest U.S. military occupations in history,
11:06second only to Afghanistan decades later.
11:09During the occupation,
11:10U.S. officials took complete control of Haiti's finances.
11:14They collected customs duties.
11:16They managed tax revenues.
11:17They determined how every dollar was spent.
11:20And, unsurprisingly,
11:22debt repayment to National City Bank and other American financial institutions
11:26took priority over everything else.
11:29According to a New York Times investigation years later,
11:31During the U.S. occupation,
11:34Haiti was spending more money paying debt service to National City Bank
11:37than it spent on all government-run schools in the entire country.
11:41Let me repeat that.
11:43Banks in New York received more Haitian money than Haitian children's education.
11:47And this is important.
11:49Haiti was supposedly an independent, sovereign nation.
11:52But in practice, foreign powers controlled its economy,
11:56dictated its policies,
11:57occupied its territory,
11:59and ensured wealth float outward.
12:02While U.S. banks got rich,
12:04Haiti's infrastructure crumbled.
12:06The country that should have been reaping wealth from its agricultural exports
12:09was instead sending money north to pay debts, imposed by force.
12:14The U.S. occupation brought another profound violation of Haitian sovereignty
12:17that has consequences to this day.
12:19Haiti's constitution contained a crucial provision
12:23that prohibited foreigners from owning land.
12:26After centuries of French colonialism that had devastated the country,
12:30this was a fundamental protection.
12:32Haitians understood from bitter experience
12:34that if foreigners could own land,
12:36they could accumulate wealth and power
12:38that would allow them to control and oppress the local population all over again.
12:42It was about preserving sovereignty
12:43and ensuring Haitians controlled their own destiny.
12:46But this provision was a problem for American business interests,
12:49who wanted to establish large plantations and extract resources.
12:54So when the U.S. military government wanted to change this constitutional protection
12:58and Haitian lawmakers resisted,
13:01the response was brutal.
13:03In June 1918, U.S. Marines went into the National Assembly
13:07and physically removed Haitian legislators at gunpoint.
13:10They dissolved the democratically chosen legislature
13:13and installed officials who would approve a new U.S. pact.
13:17Constitution that allowed foreign land ownership.
13:20President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
13:22who had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the occupation,
13:25later bragged about this in 1927,
13:28saying,
13:28He actually bragged about overthrowing Haiti's democracy
13:38and rewriting their constitution at gunpoint.
13:41And it was definitely good for American business interests.
13:45With foreigners now legally able to own land,
13:48U.S. corporations leased thousands of acres for agricultural plantations.
13:53The Haiti Corporation of America,
13:55the Haitian American Sugar Company,
13:57and other U.S. firms established large-scale operations.
14:01They employed Haitian workers for as little as 20 cents a day.
14:05Let me put that in perspective.
14:0720 cents a day in 1920's money is about $3.50 in today's dollars.
14:12For a full day's work in the fields,
14:15more than a century after slavery was abolished,
14:18foreign companies found new ways to exploit Haitian labor
14:20and extract wealth from the country.
14:23The occupation also revived a practice called Cor V,
14:26essentially forced labor,
14:27where Haitians could be pressed into building roads
14:30and infrastructure for the occupiers.
14:32Thousands of Haitians were forced to work without pay,
14:35under armed guard.
14:37When they resisted, they were beaten or killed.
14:40This sparked major resistance movements.
14:43Charlemagne Peralti led a rebellion of thousands
14:45against the occupation.
14:47The U.S. Marines hunted him down and killed him.
14:49Then displayed his crucified body as a warning.
14:53There's a powerful postscript to this story.
14:55Major General Smedley Butler,
14:57one of the most decorated Marines in U.S. history
14:59who led many operations in Haiti,
15:01including the forced dissolution of the National Assembly,
15:03later wrote with regret about what he had done.
15:06In a famous 1935 speech,
15:08he said,
15:09In short, I was a racketeer,
15:25a gangster for capitalism.
15:26Helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place
15:28for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.
15:31Butler gave speeches across America,
15:34exposing how the military was used to serve corporate interests.
15:36But by then, the damage to Haiti was done.
15:40The pattern was established.
15:42After the U.S. occupation officially ended in 1934,
15:46though they retained control of Haiti's finances until 1947,
15:50Haiti endured nearly 30 years of brutal dictatorship
15:53under the Duvalese.
15:54Francois Papadoc Duvalier came to power in 1957
15:58and ruled through terror until his death in 1971,
16:02when his son Jean-Claude Babydoc seamlessly took over.
16:06Together, they controlled Haiti through a combination of violence,
16:09voodoo, mysticism,
16:11and a private militia called the Tonton Makouts
16:14that murdered and tortured thousands.
16:17But despite their brutality,
16:18the Duvalese enjoyed strong U.S. support
16:21throughout the Cold War era.
16:22Why?
16:23Because they were staunchly anti-communist allies in the Caribbean,
16:27especially important after Castro's revolution in Cuba in 1959.
16:31The U.S. poured millions in aid to the Duvalier regime.
16:35President Kennedy met with Papadoc.
16:37The CIA worked with his intelligence services.
16:40American aid propped up the dictatorship.
16:43What does favorable business environment mean in practice?
16:45It means minimal taxes for foreign corporations.
16:50Brutal suppression of labor unions,
16:51union organizers were tortured and killed.
16:54Starvation wages for Haitian workers.
16:56During this period,
16:58the manufacturing industry grew in Haiti
16:59as American companies discovered
17:01they could pay lower wages there
17:03than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.
17:06Haitian workers made the baseballs used in Major League games.
17:08Every single one.
17:09They sewed Sesame Street toys
17:11and Disney t-shirts sold in American stores.
17:14But they were paid wages
17:15that kept them in desperate poverty.
17:17We're talking about wages
17:18as low as $2 to $3 per day in the 1980s.
17:22Workers would sew thousands.
17:24Of garments per week
17:25while their own families went hungry.
17:28American corporations were making huge profits
17:30while Haitian workers
17:32couldn't afford to feed their children.
17:33In this context,
17:35a young Catholic priest
17:36named Jean Bertrand Aristide
17:38became wildly popular
17:40by advocating for the poor
17:42and speaking against exploitation.
17:44Influenced by liberation theology,
17:47Aristide said things like
17:48Haiti is poor because of the rich
17:50and the rich of my country.
17:52A miserably poor country
17:53have heard of my option for the poor
17:55and it disturbs and frightens them.
17:59He criticized U.S. imperialism directly,
18:01saying Americans want to hold our guts
18:03always in their hands.
18:05Thus, we will be economically,
18:07politically, and culturally dependent.
18:09In 1990,
18:10when Haitians finally got to vote
18:11in free elections
18:12after decades of dictatorship,
18:14they elected Aristide in a landslide
18:16with 67% of the vote.
18:19Poor neighborhoods across Haiti
18:20erupted in celebration.
18:22There was dancing in the streets.
18:24Finally, they had someone
18:25who represented them,
18:26who understood their suffering,
18:28who promised real change.
18:30People called it Lavelle as the flood.
18:31The flood of the poor
18:33rising up to claim their rights.
18:36But seven months later,
18:37in September 1991,
18:39the military,
18:40backed by Haiti's wealthy elite
18:42and with tacit U.S. support,
18:45ousted him in a violent coup.
18:47Thousands of Aristide supporters
18:49were killed in the years that followed.
18:52Thousands more fled the country,
18:53including many who tried to reach Florida
18:55on overcrowded boats,
18:57risking their lives
18:58because staying meant death.
19:00The refugee crisis created
19:02a political problem
19:03for President Bill Clinton
19:04in 1993.
19:07Haitian refugees
19:07were arriving on U.S. shores,
19:09creating headlines.
19:11Clinton faced pressure
19:12to restore Aristide,
19:13but also fierce resistance
19:15from those who opposed
19:16Aristide's anti-capitalist rhetoric
19:17and worried he'd be
19:18another leftist leader
19:19in the hemisphere.
19:21Aristide faced
19:22his own impossible dilemma.
19:24He needed U.S. military support
19:26to reclaim power
19:27from the military
19:28that had ousted him.
19:29He had no other option.
19:31So he made a deal
19:32with the devil.
19:33He would moderate his rhetoric
19:34and agree to U.S. economic demands,
19:37specifically implementing
19:38neoliberal reforms
19:39that Haiti's poor
19:40desperately needed him to oppose.
19:42In September 1994,
19:44the U.S. intervened militarily
19:46to restore Aristide to power.
19:49But the price was steep.
19:51One of the key demands
19:52was removing tariffs
19:53on U.S. rice imports.
19:54Haiti had been largely
19:56self-sufficient
19:56in rice production.
19:58But when tariffs dropped
19:59from 35% to 3%,
20:01cheap subsidized American rice
20:03flooded Haiti's market.
20:05Haitian rice farmers,
20:07who couldn't compete
20:07with subsidized U.S. agriculture,
20:10went out of business
20:10by the thousands.
20:12Rice production in Haiti collapsed.
20:15The country went from
20:16producing most of its own rice
20:17to importing the majority of it.
20:19Clinton actually apologized
20:20for this in 2010,
20:22testifying before
20:23the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
20:25It may have been good
20:26for some of my farmers
20:27in Arkansas,
20:27but it has not worked.
20:30It was a mistake.
20:31It was a mistake
20:31that I was a party to.
20:32I have to live every day
20:33with the consequences
20:34of the lost capacity
20:35to produce a rice crop
20:36in Haiti to feed those people.
20:38But the apology
20:40doesn't undo the damage.
20:42Haiti remains dependent
20:43on food imports to this day.
20:45But the meddling continued
20:46far beyond Clinton's presidency.
20:49In 2009,
20:50when Haiti's parliament
20:51tried to raise the minimum wage,
20:53the U.S. intervened again.
20:54Thanks to WikiLeaks,
20:56we have State Department cables
20:57that show exactly what happened.
20:59Companies like Hanes,
21:01Fruit of the Loom,
21:02and Levi Strauss,
21:03major U.S. apparel companies
21:05with contractors in Haiti,
21:07lobbied the U.S. Embassy
21:08in Port-au-Prince
21:09to pressure Haiti's government.
21:11Haitian lawmakers
21:12wanted to raise
21:13the minimum wage
21:13from 24 cents per hour
21:15to 61 cents per hour.
21:17Not even a dollar.
21:1861 cents per hour.
21:21This was during
21:22Barack Obama's presidency.
21:24Hillary Clinton
21:24is Secretary of State.
21:26And the U.S. Embassy
21:27successfully pressured
21:28Haiti's government
21:29to block the increase.
21:30Workers making Disney shirts
21:32were earning about
21:32$3.09 per day.
21:35Roughly $14 per week.
21:37While those same shirts
21:38sold for $14 or more each
21:40in U.S. stores,
21:41a Haitian worker had two.
21:44Work an entire week
21:45to earn what one T-shirt sold for.
21:46When activists
21:48documented these conditions,
21:50they found families
21:51living in one-room shacks
21:52with no running water.
21:54Unable to afford
21:55to send their children
21:56to school,
21:57despite working six days a week
21:58in these factories,
22:00Aristide ran again
22:01for president in 2001.
22:04By this point,
22:05he had lost much
22:05of his popular support.
22:07Many of his former allies
22:08felt he had sold out,
22:10agreeing to too many
22:11U.S. demands.
22:12His government was accused
22:13of corruption
22:14and political violence.
22:15But in 2003,
22:17Aristide did something
22:18that terrified France
22:20and got the attention
22:21of the international community.
22:23Aristide formed
22:24an official commission
22:25to study and calculate
22:26how much the independence debt
22:27had cost Haiti
22:28in today's money,
22:30accounting for lost
22:30economic development,
22:32compound interest,
22:33and opportunity costs.
22:35Their conclusion?
22:37Nearly $22 billion.
22:38And on April 7, 2003,
22:42Aristide formally demanded
22:44that France pay restitution.
22:46He said,
22:47Our arguments are strong.
22:48Our money is here,
22:50in France.
22:51We will propose
22:51that France and Haiti
22:52create a bilateral commission
22:54to evaluate the consequences
22:56that this embargo had
22:57on our development.
22:59He talked about
23:00what that money could mean,
23:01what beautiful schools,
23:03universities,
23:04and hospitals
23:04we will be able to build
23:06for our children.
23:08How much food
23:08we will have in abundance.
23:10France's government
23:11was genuinely alarmed.
23:13Because if Haiti
23:14could demand reparations
23:15for colonial exploitation,
23:17so could dozens
23:18of other former French colonies
23:20across Africa
23:20and the Caribbean.
23:22The French government
23:23immediately dismissed
23:24the demand
23:24as inadmissible
23:25and without legal merit.
23:27But they also sent
23:28high-level diplomatic
23:29representatives to Haiti
23:30in December 2003
23:31to improve relations.
23:33Three months later,
23:35in February 2004,
23:37Aristide was ousted
23:38from power again.
23:40Now it's important
23:40to be clear.
23:42Aristide was facing
23:43genuine internal turmoil.
23:45Armed groups
23:46were moving on the Capitol.
23:47His government
23:47had lost popular support.
23:50There were legitimate grievances
23:51about corruption
23:52and political violence
23:53under his administration.
23:54But the timing is striking,
23:56and WikiLeaks
23:56later revealed
23:57U.S. diplomatic cables
23:58discussing how
23:59the Aristide movement
24:00must be stopped.
24:01On February 29, 2004,
24:04as rebels closed in
24:05on Port-au-Prince,
24:07U.S. officials
24:08offered Aristide
24:09a flight out of the country
24:10on a U.S. military aircraft.
24:12Both French and U.S. officials
24:13said they intervened
24:14to save his life
24:15and prevent bloodshed.
24:18Aristide later said
24:19he was kidnapped
24:19at gunpoint
24:20and forced onto a plane
24:21that he never wanted to leave.
24:23What we know for certain
24:24is that the democratically
24:25elected president
24:26who had dared to demand
24:27$22 billion
24:29in reparations from France
24:31was removed from power
24:32with U.S. assistance
24:33and flown to the
24:34Central African Republic,
24:36where he was held
24:36essentially in exile.
24:38After Aristide's removal,
24:40United Nations peacekeepers
24:41occupied Haiti
24:42for over a decade.
24:44Foreign powers
24:45continued to intervene
24:46to install
24:47or remove leaders.
24:49And what has followed
24:49is one crisis
24:50after another.
24:51Let me give you
24:52the current statistics,
24:53because they're devastating.
24:55Haiti's economy
24:56contracted by 4.2%
24:57in 2024,
24:59with agriculture
24:59declining 5.6%,
25:01industry falling 4.7%,
25:04and services dropping
25:063.9%.
25:07Inflation reached
25:0825.8% in 2024,
25:11with food inflation
25:12even higher
25:13at 34.7%.
25:15An estimated 37.6%
25:17of Haitians
25:18live on less than
25:19$2.15 per day.
25:21Haiti's GDP per capita
25:22is just $2,142,
25:25among the lowest
25:25in the world.
25:27For comparison,
25:28the Dominican Republic,
25:29which shares
25:30the same island,
25:31has a GDP per capita
25:33of over $11,000.
25:35Unemployment
25:36officially stands
25:37at 15.1%,
25:39but unofficial estimates
25:41suggest more than
25:42two-thirds
25:42of the labor force
25:43lacks formal employment.
25:46Haiti receives
25:46about $3.8 billion
25:48annually
25:49in remittances
25:50from the diaspora,
25:52roughly 21%
25:53of the entire GDP.
25:56Think about that.
25:57One-fifth of Haiti's economy
25:59is people who left
26:00sending money back
26:00to family members.
26:02That's more than
26:02four times the value
26:04of Haiti's exports
26:05and nearly 100 times
26:06larger than
26:07foreign direct investment.
26:09Haitians abroad
26:09are keeping Haiti alive
26:11because the domestic economy
26:12has been so thoroughly destroyed.
26:15In 2024 alone,
26:16at least 5,601 people
26:18were killed
26:19by gang violence.
26:20An increase of over
26:211,000 from 2023,
26:24another 2,212 were injured
26:26and 1,494 kidnapped.
26:30Between October 2024
26:31and June 2025,
26:34another 4,864 people
26:36were killed.
26:38More than 1.3 million people
26:39have been displaced.
26:41That's over 11%
26:42of Haiti's entire population.
26:44Children make up
26:45more than half
26:46of the displaced population.
26:48Imagine over 650,000 children
26:49driven from their homes,
26:51living in makeshift camps
26:52or overcrowded with relatives,
26:54many unable to attend school.
26:56Only 10% of Port-au-Prince
26:57remains under government control.
27:00Around 300 criminal groups
27:01are active nationwide,
27:03with an estimated
27:04270,000 to 500,000
27:06illegal firearms in circulation,
27:09mostly trafficked in
27:10through the Dominican Republic
27:11and ultimately
27:11from the United States.
27:13This is the reality
27:14of Haiti today.
27:16And here's the thing.
27:17There is currently
27:18no elected government
27:19in Haiti.
27:20A transitional
27:21presidential council
27:22was installed
27:22in April 2024,
27:24but it's been embroiled
27:25in corruption scandals
27:27and political infighting.
27:28The power vacuum
27:29has been filled
27:30by armed gangs
27:31that control
27:31most of the capital
27:32and are expanding
27:33into previously
27:34peaceful rural areas.
27:36When Haitians
27:37try to escape this hell
27:38by migrating
27:38to the United States,
27:40they face deportation.
27:41Despite life-threatening
27:43conditions,
27:44more than 180,000
27:45Haitians were forcibly
27:46repatriated between
27:48October 2024
27:49and March 2025.
27:51Now,
27:52some people might say,
27:53but we send billions
27:55in aid to Haiti.
27:56We're trying to help.
27:57And it's true
27:58that after disasters
27:59like the 2010 earthquake,
28:01billions of dollars
28:01in aid were pledged.
28:03But here's what
28:04most people don't understand
28:05about the aid industrial
28:06complex in Haiti.
28:08After the 2010 earthquake
28:09that killed
28:10over 200,000 people,
28:11the international community
28:13pledged $13.5 billion
28:15in aid.
28:16That's a massive amount
28:17of money that should have
28:18rebuilt Haiti better
28:19than before.
28:21But here's what
28:21actually happened.
28:23According to investigations
28:24by journalists
28:25and researchers,
28:26less than 1%
28:27of that aid money
28:28went directly
28:29to Haitian organizations
28:30or the Haitian government.
28:32Instead,
28:33it went to
28:33international NGOs,
28:35UN agencies,
28:36and foreign contractors.
28:39USAID,
28:39for example,
28:40sent 33 cents
28:42of every dollar
28:42back to Washington-based
28:43organizations.
28:45American contractors
28:46got rich rebuilding Haiti.
28:48The money cycled
28:49through the international
28:50aid system
28:51with very little
28:51actually reaching
28:52Haitian hands.
28:54The Red Cross
28:54raised half a billion dollars
28:56specifically for Haiti
28:57and claimed
28:58they built homes for.
29:00130,000 people,
29:01investigative journalists,
29:02later found
29:03they had built
29:03just six permanent homes.
29:05Six.
29:06Meanwhile,
29:08thousands of people
29:08were still living
29:09in tent camps
29:10years later.
29:12While international aid
29:13organizations
29:13paid their foreign staff
29:15six-figure salaries,
29:17Haiti became known
29:18as the Republic of NGOs.
29:20At one point,
29:21there were over
29:2110,000 NGOs
29:23operating in Haiti,
29:24one for every
29:251,000 Haitians.
29:26All claiming to help,
29:28but often competing
29:29with each other,
29:30undermining local capacity,
29:31and creating dependency.
29:33And sometimes,
29:35the help made things worse.
29:37United Nations peacekeepers
29:38accidentally introduced
29:40cholera to Haiti in 2010
29:41through improperly
29:42disposed sewage
29:43from their base.
29:45The outbreak killed
29:46at least 8,000 people
29:47and infected
29:48nearly a million.
29:50The United Nations
29:50denied responsibility
29:51for years
29:52before finally
29:54acknowledging their role
29:55and apologizing.
29:56But they never paid
29:58meaningful compensation
29:59to victims' families.
30:00The Clinton Foundation
30:02became heavily involved
30:03in Haiti's reconstruction.
30:05They directed
30:05hundreds of millions
30:06in aid and investments.
30:08But investigations
30:09found that many projects
30:10benefited foreign corporations
30:12and Haiti's elite
30:13more than ordinary Haitians.
30:15A luxury hotel
30:16was built.
30:17Industrial park
30:18that was supposed
30:18to create thousands
30:19of jobs
30:20fell far short
30:21of projections
30:21and offered
30:22poverty wages.
30:24The fundamental problems
30:25of inequality
30:26and exploitation
30:26weren't addressed.
30:28Aid became another
30:29extraction mechanism.
30:31Foreign consultants
30:31and contractors
30:32extracting wealth
30:33while Haitian capacity
30:34remained underdeveloped.
30:36So when you see news
30:37about Haiti
30:38and wonder why
30:38it's struggling,
30:39remember this history.
30:40Haiti isn't poor
30:41because Haitians
30:42can't govern themselves.
30:44Haiti is poor
30:44because for two centuries
30:45powerful nations
30:47systematically extracted
30:48wealth,
30:49imposed debt,
30:50overthrew elected leaders,
30:53suppressed wages,
30:54destroyed agriculture,
30:56and intervened
30:56whenever Haiti
30:57tried to assert
30:58its sovereignty.
30:59Today,
31:0037.6% of Haitians
31:02live on less than
31:03$2.15 a day.
31:05These aren't
31:06random statistics.
31:07They're the predictable
31:08outcome of centuries
31:09of exploitation.
31:10And yet,
31:11despite everything,
31:12Haitians endure.
31:14They survive.
31:15They resist.
31:16They maintain
31:16culture and dignity
31:18and community
31:18in the face
31:19of unimaginable hardship.
31:21The real question
31:22isn't why can't
31:23Haiti succeed?
31:24The question is,
31:25what could Haiti become
31:27if it were finally
31:28allowed to keep its wealth
31:29and choose its own path?
31:31We'll never know
31:32what that alternate
31:32Haiti would look like.
31:34But we do know
31:35that Haiti's crisis
31:35isn't a mystery.
31:37It's not a failure
31:38of Haitian people
31:38or culture.
31:40It's the logical outcome
31:41of 200 years
31:42of systematic exploitation
31:43that continues
31:44in different forms
31:45to this day,
31:46till we acknowledge
31:47this history,
31:48really acknowledge it.
31:49Not with empty apologies,
31:50but with material reparations
31:52and genuine sovereignty,
31:53the cycle will continue.
31:55Haiti doesn't need
31:56more foreign intervention,
31:57doesn't need more NGOs
31:58running parallel systems,
32:00doesn't need more aid
32:01that cycles back
32:01to foreign contractors.
32:03Haiti needs
32:04what it's been denied
32:05for two centuries,
32:06the freedom to govern itself,
32:08control its own resources,
32:09and keep the wealth
32:10its people generate.
32:12Haiti and its people
32:13are proof of how imperialism,
32:15the structure and condition
32:16of capitalism,
32:17is the greatest enemy
32:18of human prosperity.
32:20There is nothing to lose
32:21but our chains.
32:22Thanks for watching
32:23this deep dive
32:24into Haiti's history.
32:25I know it's long,
32:26but this story deserves
32:27to be told in full.
32:29Share this video.
32:30This history matters.
32:32And don't forget,
32:33like the video
32:33and subscribe the channel
32:34to keep thinking the world
32:36how it really is.
32:37Thanks.
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