Haiti and Poverty, the result of 300 years of capitalist robbery

Left: life just a few miles from the US. This could be stopped for a fraction of the cost of the war in Iraq

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world but has a rich history. It was the first independent Latin American nation and the world’s first black republic. From its inception, Haiti was under constant attack, either by direct military invasions and coups or by economic exploitation and assault. After the revolution, it was forced to pay millions of dollars to France because of the revenue that French capitalism said it lost from the ending of the slave trade. So from the beginning the newly independent nation was being plundered.

Interference in Haitian affairs by US capitalism has been non stop. The US occupied the country from 1915 to 1934 and has continued to destabilize and control it ever since. The US, through the International Republican institute created and funded a front political organization, the Convergence Democratique (CD) in 2000 as an alternative to the Aristide government which was attempting to introduce reforms to help the poor. These reforms angered the Haitian elite and its backers US capitalism and the Bush administration. The CD was unable to gain much support for its right wing pro US policies. The result was that the US and its proxies in Haiti overthrew the Aristide government in 2004. Aristide who now lives in exile has always claimed he was kidnapped by the US.

The present outbreak of Cholera that has killed 260 people is yet another blow to a country wracked by crisis. Much of the capital city of Port au Prince was destroyed by an earthquake earlier this year. The 80% of the city that are classified as slums are vulnerable. As are the 1.3 million people still living in tents since the earthquake. Cholera is a water borne disease.

The reason for Haiti’s poverty has nothing to do with natural disasters and everything to do with a small island next to a giant capitalist country which controls and exploits it. Haiti is a victim of US imperialism.

It is criminal that 1.3 million people are still living in tents after the earthquake earlier this year. The US is about to sell $60 billion in military hardware to Saudi Arabia, including attack helicopters. This is a regime that has religious police, publicly lashes women for being out in public without the accompaniment of a male relative, forbids Unions and gave billions of dollars to the mullahs in Afghanistan. Haiti could be completely re-built for a fraction of the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Capitalism is a murderous system.