By Paula Companioni*
Translated by Eduardo Aguilar
When Haiti is showcased on international media, it is almost always associated with the same words: crisis, violence, poverty, or disaster. In the public imagination, the country is often portrayed as a territory condemned to permanent instability.
Yet the historical and political reasons that help explain this image are rarely discussed.
Haiti is frequently described as the poorest country in the Americas and as a nation trapped in an endless crisis. However, this narrative leaves out a fundamental question: how did Haiti arrive at this situation?
To begin answering this question, we must look back at its origins as a nation.
In 1804, Haiti became the first Black republic in the world and the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to definitively abolish slavery. Its independence was the result of a revolution led by enslaved people who defeated one of the most powerful colonial empires of the time.
But that victory came at an enormous cost. In 1825, France forced Haiti to pay a colossal indemnity to former slaveholding colonists in exchange for recognizing its independence. That debt—one that the country took more than a century to repay—deeply burdened its economy.
Haiti is likely the only country in the world that had to pay for more than a century for having won its freedom.
“The problem is that Haiti, historically speaking, is the country that led the most radical revolution in the history of the world,” explains Haitian sociologist Jean Eddy Saint Paul, a professor at Brooklyn College.
“The Haitian Revolution was carried out under the slogan ‘Liberty or Death,’ in the name of citizenship and socioeconomic rights. But after the assassination of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the leader of the revolution, the economy began to function as a semi-feudal system,” he adds.
Over time, Saint Paul notes, economic and political power became concentrated in the hands of a small group of actors linked to the private sector and to alliances with external powers.
“Today the country’s economy is in the hands of a few, and the vast majority of Haitians do not participate in its benefits,” he summarizes.
This combination of historical legacies, internal inequalities, and international pressures helps explain why Haiti faces enormous political, economic, and social challenges today.
But reducing the country solely to its crisis also obscures another reality: that of a society which, throughout its history, has built multiple forms of resistance, organization, and defense of its territory.
In the coming months, we will explore some of the questions that are often left out of conversations about Haiti: What economic interests are at stake in its territory? Why are certain extractive projects presented as solutions for development? And what impacts could they have on communities and the environment?
Looking at Haiti through these questions allows us to move beyond stereotypes and to understand that its history—marked by a revolution that changed the world—continues to shape the struggles unfolding in the country today.
“Because of its history, Haiti is a country that the powerful actors of the international community will not forgive,” Saint Paul says. “But the Haitian people have an enormous capacity for resistance.”
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This article is part of the series “Mining in Haiti — Context, Risks, and Debates,” produced within the framework of the Territory Defense Program of the University of Resistance in Haiti.