It is the poorest country in all of the western hemisphere, and here is why and how. 

It is located on the western side of La Española, the third island Colombus took possession of in the name of the King (after Guanahani and Cuba.) Via genocide, the Spanish got rid of the indigenous population; by 1605, to block the trade with the Dutch, Spanish troops brutally devastated its own thirteen existing colonies on the island. On 1697, after 9 decades of war, the Spanish ceded the western part of the island to the French, who then packed it with kidnapped african slaves, developed a labour-intense sugar/coffee/cotton industry,  and made of the now called Saint Domingue the most lucrative colony of Europe in the Americas, the pearl of the Antilles. By the time George Washington is being elected the first president of the United States, Haiti is populated by 500,000 black men under the rule of 32,000 white men. 

Among the torture suffered by their european enslavers, haitian black men underwent being hung downwards, drowned in sacks, crucified, buried alive, crushed by mortars, given shit to eat, lashed and left to be devoured by worms and mosquitoes, thrown into boiling cauldrons, put in barrels with spikes and let them roll downhill, given to dogs as food. Yes, the dogs have eaten the haitians. 

No wonder this is the time and place of the origin of the synchretic, dark religion of Voodoo. In 1791, a voodoo priest, Mackandal, attempted to “replace the white men” unifiying bands of slaves under a fanatical vision of the destruction of white (french) civilization. He was burned alive at a public square. Another Voodoo priest, Dutty Boukman, kickstarted the Haitian Revolution. Finally, In 1794, from Europe, Robespierre abolished slavery in France and in all of its colonies. 

Did I say “finally”? As the french revolution had declared war on Spain in 1793, the Spanish sent troops to battle the french on behalf of the slaves! But the army of disciplined black men switched sides. By 1795, the Spanish crown decided to cede Haiti to the french, who eventually took over the whole of La Española. Napoleon’s dream of a New World empire rose his geopolitical interest in the island, and he attempted to re-enslave the colony, sparking a bloody war which was only halted by yellow fever and malaria.  The french went back to their torture schoolbook tactics: burning alive, hanging, drowning, boiling cauldrons of human matter. As the war between France and Britain resumed in 1803, Napoleon shifted his attention to Europe, and signed the “Louisiana Purchase”, selling the french north american territories to the United States, which doubled its territory, for 15 million francs. 

Finally Haiti declared its independence in 1804, becoming the second western nation-state after the United States. But the Americans would not recognize it. A black-led nation, created by slaves who had fought their opressors and freed themselves from the chains, could only become a pariah state on the face of white-led nations who prolonged their efforts to impose racist systems of exploitation around the world. Haiti became the first country to ban slavery; president Thomas Jefferson quickly moved to isolate the country politically and strangle it economically, for fear that its success would stimulate a slave revolt in the United States. Left to its own devices, the french king Charles X demanded Haiti to pay 150 million francs–tenfold the Louisiana Purchase!--to secure its independence or suffer the attack of the french armed fleet. It took Haiti 122 years to pay this debt, to the people who kidnapped, enslaved, tortured them and caused their genocide! Economy historians call this “the greatest heist in history.” An equivalent of 20 to 30 billion U.S. dollars. 

Just before World War I, the United States and their sempiternal “national interest” got worried about the influence of german settlers in Haiti, who controlled 80% of commerce. In an effort to limit it, a consortium of american investors replaced the National Bank of Haiti with the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti in order to control currency issuance. American banks who also held Haiti in debt, complained to president Woodrow Wilson, who decided to invade and occupy Haiti from 1915 to 1934, which was only ended by FDR under his “Good Neighbour Policy” (the non-intervention of the U.S. in Latin America’s domestic affaires), yet it kept controlling Haiti’s finances until 1947. 

Then came Papa Doc and Baby Doc, the combined dictatorships of François Duvalier and his son Jean Claude, who creatively using the voodoo rhetoric terrorized the population with murder, beatings, intimidation and rape. These kleptocrats left Haiti in a rock-bottom level of poverty, making it impossible to anticipate the double viral epidemic of African swine fever and AIDS, which further ravaged the island-nation.  

The second nation-state of the Americas continues to be today “a land without a social contract between state and citizens.” It is under these circumstances that on january 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake striked the already powerless. 220,000 dead, 300,000 wounded, 1.5 million homeless, making it, incredibly, the worst disaster in the history of Haiti. Worse than all you have read above. 

Commissioned by the U.N., a huge rescue effort was organized by Chile, the leading expert in earthquakes among latin american countries, with a mission to Haiti and an asylum policy. Between 2013-2019, more than 180,000 Haitians settled in Chile. Yet, local right-wing politics made them feel unwelcome, discriminated against, and fearful. Eventually former president Sebastian Piñera offered a “Return Plan” with a bonus for Haitians willing to return to Haiti. 

But in 2021, an even stronger 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti again, with 2.300 dead people and 800.000 affected. It was declared a disaster zone. 

It comes as no surprise then that as of 2021, thousands of refugees from Haiti arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, desperate for a better life. Yet, the Biden administration sent thousands back to Haiti, some of them kids who have never lived there. Ambassador Daniel Foote, who was appointed by President Biden as the U.S. special envoy to Haiti, resigned in protest.

The issue of reparations for slavery has recently resurfaced. Should the United States, France and the United Kingdom compensate some of their citizens for the economic and social costs of slavery? There’s never been a stronger case for reparations than that of Haiti. Scholars and journalists wrote a letter to the French president demanding that France pay back Haiti. The French economist Thomas Piketty revived the idea in 2020, arguing that France owes Haiti at least $28 billion. The French government is in frank resistance.   

Reviewing the migration flow between Haiti and the U.S., it is noteworthy to refresh memory with other facts. During the American Civil War, many slaves fled precisely to Haiti for a better future;  during the haitian revolts of 1791-93, many haitians naturally fled to Louisiana… because it was still french. Finally, throughout one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Savannah GA (sept 16-oct 18, 1779), the french agreed to ally with the American including a troupe of 800 free haitians, the so-called regiment Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue. 

(I wonder if this partly explains why the second most populated state by black people is Georgia, with 3.3 million. Percentually it is the first, 33% of georgians are people of colour. But I digress.)

Things are not as black or white as J.D. Vader likes to spew. Biden did not sustain an “open border”, and the few haitians who managed their way in are under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a designation that protects against deportation but does not confer permanent legal status.  And for the Springfield Haitians, it was recently extended only until Feb. 3, 2026.  While Vance speaks endlessly about Haiti, nationals from Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan in dire need also await TPS. 

Migration (and not “immigration”) is a problem, but a very old problem. To Trump Haiti might be a simplistic slogan, the epitome of “a shithole country”, but both a Founding Father and the creator of the League of Nations, iconic figures of the American democratic experiment, can be counted among those who pushed haitians to drown in their own shit. And if Chile–another shithole country?–could welcome 180,000 haitians with no reason except being humanitarian to the most damned people in the world, so can the Americans. So should we all.