Title: In 1825, France demanded Haiti “compensate” France for its loss of a slave colony. France demanded payment of 150 million francs ($21 billion today) - finally paid in full in 1947
Source: wikipedia
URL Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti
Published: Jan 24, 2010
Author: wikipedia
Post Date: 2010-01-24 21:23:02 by Robin
Keywords: None
Views: 1699
Comments: 4

Early History

Haiti’s legacy of debt began shortly after gaining independence from France in 1804. In 1825, France, with warships at the ready, demanded Haiti “compensate” France for its loss of a slave colony. In exchange for French recognition of Haiti as a sovereign republic, France demanded payment of 150 million francs (modern equivalent of $21 billion).[1]

Initiatives to Cancel Haiti's Debt

Jubilee USA, *Jubilee Debt Campaign (UK) and others, called for the immediate cancellation of Haiti's debt to multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the previously excluded lender, the Inter-American Development Bank, based on the argument that this debt is unjust (under a legal term called odious debt) and that Haiti could better use the funds going towards debt service for education, health care, and basic infrastructure. [2]

The Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution [3] had 66 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives as of February 2008.

Several organizations in the U.S. issued action alerts around the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution, and a Congressional letter to the U.S. Treasury [4], including Jubilee USA, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and Pax Christi USA.

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History of Haiti

Despite the Haitian victory, France refused to recognize the newly independent country's sovereignty until 1825, in exchange for 150 million gold francs. This fee, demanded as retribution for the "lost property" - i.e. slaves, land, equipment etc. - of the former colonialists, was later reduced to 90 million. Haiti agreed to pay the price so that a crippling embargo imposed by France, Britain and the United States would be lifted. But in order to do so, the Haitian government had to take out high interest loans. The debt was not repaid in full until 1947.[12]

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more history

Haiti and America's Historic Debt

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L’Ouverture, hoping to bring the war to an end, accepted Napoleon’s promise of a negotiated settlement that would ban future slavery in the country. As part of the agreement, L’Ouverture turned himself in.

Napoleon, however, broke his word. Jealous of L’Ouverture, who was regarded by some admirers as a general with skills rivaling Napoleon’s, the French dictator had L’Ouverture shipped in chains back to Europe where he was mistreated and died in prison.

Foiled Plans

Infuriated by the betrayal, L’Ouverture’s young generals resumed the war with a vengeance. In the months that followed, the French army – already decimated by disease – was overwhelmed by a fierce enemy fighting in familiar terrain and determined not to be put back into slavery.

Napoleon sent a second French army, but it too was destroyed. Though the famed general had conquered much of Europe, he lost 24,000 men, including some of his best troops, in St. Domingue before abandoning his campaign.

The death toll among the ex-slaves was much higher, but they had prevailed, albeit over a devastated land.

By 1803, a frustrated Napoleon – denied his foothold in the New World – agreed to sell New Orleans and the Louisiana territories to Jefferson. Ironically, the Louisiana Purchase, which opened the heart of the present United States to American settlement, had been made possible despite Jefferson’s misguided collaboration with Napoleon.

“By their long and bitter struggle for independence, St. Domingue’s blacks were instrumental in allowing the United States to more than double the size of its territory,” wrote Stanford University professor John Chester Miller in his book, The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery.

But, Miller observed, “the decisive contribution made by the black freedom fighters … went almost unnoticed by the Jeffersonian administration.”

Stop and think about this. France demanded that Haiti, a nation of former slaves, repay France the equivalent of $21 billion in today's money, for France's loss of its slave colony.

The slaves rebelled against their brutal slave owners, and then were forced to pay France a huge debt, that was not fully paid until 1947. This outrageous "debt" (more like extortion) was reduced from 150 million francs to 90 million francs.

And as the link Haiti and America's Historic Debt

explains, the struggle over Haiti is why France sold to the U.S. what we know as the Louisiana Purchase,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

Robin  posted on  2010-01-24   21:38:52 ET  (1 image) Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

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