Haiti was first colonized by the Spanish after Columbus found the island in 1492.
But in the 17th century, France also expanded into the island. And two countries fought a war over properties, and they ended up splitting the island in two; one side would be the Spanish colony, today’s Dominican Republic, and the other side would be Haiti. France established a huge colony and gained enormous wealth by forcing enslaved Africans to work in plantations such as sugar, coffee and mining.
In 1791, the slaves finally led a rebellion against French domination.
After a 13 year long war, enslaved Haitians overthrew French colonial rule and won independence. But France refused to recognize the country as independent for the next 21 years and blocked them from engaging in international trade.
Then in 1862, France demanded that Haiti pay an unbelievable amount of reparations to their former slave masters for stealing their property, which means slaves, and threatened them that they would otherwise face another war and be put back in slavery.
If they accepted, France would recognize their independence and lift the embargo that was on Haiti. So Haiti’s president at that time, accepted France’s demandes because he wanted to avoid invasion and was eager for trade and international recognition.
By the way, the US also refused to recognize Haiti until 1862, because The Americans did not want the slaves in their own country to revolt, inspired by the successful example of Haiti.
Anyway, The first installment alone was roughly six times the country’s income that year. It was far beyond that Haitian could afford to pay. Haiti was encouraged to take out a high interest loan from French banks to make the payments.
The reparation and interest became Haiti’s double debt. And this severely damaged Haiti’s economy for centuries and prevented the country from investing in its own development.
It wasn't until 1947, after years of diplomatic pressure and negotiations, that Haiti's financial installment payment to France was completed. Which means, Haiti continued to pay for over 122 years, and its total amount of reparations was estimated to be around 21 billion dollars in today's currency.
In the early 1900s, Haiti's political situation became unstable and seven Haitian presidents either ousted or killed over a four-year period.
Under the situation, the US was concerned if European countries, Germany or France would invade Haiti again, that could threaten America’s economic interest and political stability in the region. So the US sent troops to occupy the country. American forces controlled Haitian institutions, including the police and finances, and implemented policies that benefited U.S. businesses at the expense of Haitian sovereignty. The country had been under American occupation for the next 19 years.
The US occupation ended in 1943. but it had left long lasting effects on the country's political, social and economic development, and instilled anti-American sentiment in many Haitians. They viewed the occupation as a violation of their sovereignty and as an imposition of foreign control over their country.
In 1957, a decade after the US withdrawal from Haiti, the dictatorship of
François Duvalier （フランソワ・デュバリエ）, commonly called as
“Papa Doc” began.
Fearing a coup, he sidelined the military and created the first private army, called Tonton Macoute. Duvalier was so afraid about the uprising that he relied too much on armed gangs. Macoute acted as his secret police and tortured, disappeared and killed those who criticized him. Macoute is said to have killed 60,000 people.
Duvalier’s brutal rule was also supported and financed by the US because he was anti-communist. He died in 1971 but his son,( so-called “Baby doc” ) took over the regime. During the dictatorship over the two generations of Duvaliers, the US and world bank provided a huge amount of financial support to Haiti. But Most of the money was siphoned off by them. These presidents enriched themselves by aid money despite the fact that most citizens lived in extreme poverty.
In 1986, due to massive civilian protests, the second Duvalier was finally forced to flee the country. Along with the end of Duvalier’s dictatorship, TonTon Macuto, which had about 25,000 fighters, was ostensibly disbanded, but they re-emerged in various different forms in the late 80s and early 90s, supporting different administrations.
These groups are said to have formed the basis of what are established gangs in Haiti today.
Then in 1990, the first free elections in Haiti’s history was held.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide(ｼﾞｮﾝ･ﾍﾞﾙﾄﾗﾝﾄﾞ･ｱﾘｽﾃｨｯﾄﾞ）who was a former priest and Leftist leader, was elected. But he was overthrown by a military coup.
This led to another US invasion in 1994.
the US decided to intervene once again and sent soldiers to reverse the coup, and that helped Aristide get reinstated. But this event made him very suspicious of the military, so he decided to disband its army as Duvalier did, instead, civilian armed groups were created.
These fighters were loyal to Aristide and controlled the country. But his political stance was not accepted, so he was eventually forced to flee the country.
And the overthrow of the government led the country to anarchy, leaving thousands of armed groups in every part of the street.
And these armed groups evolved into criminal syndicates, including, trading drugs for weapons, doing robbery, and kidnapping.
Since then, Haiti had several presidents over the years, but the situation only got worse. Because gangs have always overwhelmed the national military or the police in terms of weapons and a number of fighters.
Some later leaders have also relied on the gangs and used them to enforce their rule.
In 2017, the last elected president, Jovenel Moïse(ｼﾞｮｳﾞﾈﾙ･ﾓｲｰｽﾞ）who later assassinated by the gangs, re-established the army but it only had 500 soldiers.
In addition to political instability for decades, Haiti has also suffered from a series of natural disasters.
Around 300,000 people were killed in the earthquake in 2010, and 800 people were killed by a hurricane. And it suffered from another huge earthquake in 2021. These disasters have not only crippled the state infrastructure, but allowed gangs to gain more power. Currently, there are around 200 gangs operating across the country.
They have taken control of key infrastructure, including water and electricity and even bus services.
Over the past few decades, about 1.2 million people have migrated to the United States, thousands have fled to Europe and other countries, and thousands more are still trying to flee Haiti.
