Ghosts of tyrants past stalk proud Haiti as it slides towards the brink

[Judi Lynn]

Ghosts of tyrants past stalk proud Haiti as it slides towards the brink

A nation that suffered under the Duvalier dictators is collapsing as corruption and a failing economy take their toll

Ruaridh Nicoll
@Ruaridhnicoll
Sun 22 Sep 2019 03.52 EDT

Last Sunday, Rony Marceline was riding his motorbike out of Ouanaminthe, a muggy, colourful town on Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic, on a mission that within a few days has become commonplace: transporting yellow plastic containers of petrol. He hit a lorry and the canister split, enveloping him and his passenger, an as yet unnamed woman, in flames.

Until that moment, the newly necessary practice of carrying cans of fuel had been the subject of meme humour in this country where the petrol is running out and the usually intense traffic is stuttering to a halt. In one, an elegant woman carries a can under the caption: “the new accessory”. But now there is no joking: now the whole country is ready to explode.

Haiti, on the western end of Hispaniola, has fallen to depths its people cannot fathom. Protests, continuing into this weekend, have seen roads across the country blocked with rocks, trees and burning tyres, while in the capital, Port-au-Prince, senators engaged in fist-fights on the floor of the senate. The president, Jovenel Moïse, was due to fly to the UN on Sunday, his authority draining away.

. . .

This view – that it has never been so bad – is repeated again and again across a country that has suffered, in living memory, the Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier dictatorships, a US invasion, and the 2010 earthquake that claimed up to 300,000 lives.

And the anger is worsened by wounded pride. This is the nation born in 1804 from a successful slave revolt. The walls of its cities show murals of the heroes Toussaint and Dessalines in Napoleonic bicorn hats. It’s a history Haitians believe the world ignores due to racism, preferring instead Donald Trump’s claim that Haiti is a “shithole”.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/22/haiti-ghosts-of-tyrants-stalk-proud-haiti-as-it-slides-towards-brink

[brush]

1. Many don't know that Haiti was forced to pay France 90M francs...

because it had the temerity to overthrow slavery in 1893. It wasn't until 1947 that it was paid off. This unheard of debt was enforced by other white, western nations backing France's demand with boycotts of their own—obvious punishment for ceasing to be enslaved.

Is it any wonder that Haiti was/is so poor. The country had to dig itself out of a tremendous hole with two dictators siphoning off even more of the country's wealth.