[Aagotiq]

Here is the Port-au-Prince of the 1940s. Organized, relatively clean, somewhat prosperous. It looks like a capital city of a forward moving developing country.



But the question now is why? Why was the Haiti of the early to mid-20th century so much more promising than the Haiti of the early 21st century?

Well, let's look at the following quotes:

The nineteen-year United States occupation of Haiti (1915-34) brought unquestionable economic benefits. United States administrators controlled fiscal and monetary policy largely to the country's benefit. The United States military built major roads, introduced automatic telephones in Port-au-Prince, constructed bridges, dredged harbors, erected schools, established clinics, and undertook other previously neglected public works. The troops departed in 1934, but economic advisers remained in Haiti to manage the national treasury until 1941. The Haitian economy enjoyed some growth in the 1940s and the early 1950s, partly because of improvements in the country's infrastructure, but mostly because of improved prices for its exports. Apparently, Haiti's bonanza in the 1940s and 50s was due to the inertia created by the American economic advisers that managed the treasury (and consequently, a very important function of any economy) for 26 years (1915-1941).

Of course, the Duvalier regime started in the 1950s.

François Duvalier fashioned the modern Haitian economy into a system dominated by personal patronage, institutionalized corruption, and internal security concerns. Bent on retaining power at all costs, Duvalier heavily taxed the citizenry to finance the military, the paramilitary security forces known as the tonton makouts, and his family's vast expenses. His subordinates, from cabinet ministers to rural section chiefs (chefs de sections), followed Duvalier's example, essentially plundering the peasantry at every level of the economy. The most notorious example of Duvalier's overt corruption was his administration of a tax agency, the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration), for which no accounting records were kept. Although he proclaimed himself a champion of black nationalism, Duvalier almost completely ignored the impoverished rural black population in his government expenditures. As a result, many Haitians--rich, poor, educated, and uneducated--left the countryside or fled the country altogether. "Brain drain" became a serious problem. In 1969, for example, some observers believed that there were more Haitian health professionals in Montreal than in all of Haiti. Needless to say:

Overall, Duvalier's policies had no positive effect in Haiti. According to the United Nations (UN), Haiti was the only country in the world that did not experience real economic growth for most of the 1950s and the 1960s, a period when the world economy expanded at its most rapid rate in history. Despite that, the 1970s proved to be quite prosperous years for Haiti, in no small part thanks to foreign aid (the US being the main donor), foreign investments, and a boom in commodity prices, especially coffee, sugar, cacao, and essential oils.

But in the end:

The most fundamental problems of the Haitian economy, however, were economic mismanagement and corruption. More avaricious than his father, Jean-Claude Duvalier overstepped even the traditionally accepted boundaries of Haitian corruption. And, of course, this can't be ignored:

Haiti's economy reflected the cleavages (i.e., rural-urban, black-mulatto, poor-rich, Creole-French , traditional-modern) that defined Haitian society. The mulatto elite dominated the capital, showed little interest in the countryside, and had outright disdain for the black peasantry. Disparities between rural and urban dwellers worsened during the twentieth century under the dynastic rule of François Duvalier (1957-71) and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (1971-86); Haiti's tradition of corruption reached new heights as government funds that could have aided economic and social development enriched the Duvaliers and their associates. By the 1980s, an estimated 1 percent of the population received 45 percent of the national income, and an estimated 200 millionaires in Haiti enjoyed a life of unparalleled extravagance. In stark contrast, as many as three of every four Haitians lived in abject poverty, with incomes well below US$150, according to the World Bank. Similarly, virtually every social indicator pointed to ubiquitous destitution. So the question is as follows:

Does Haiti needs to be managed, at least its economy, by Americans in order for that country to finally get out of its hole?

Sources of quotes: Haiti - GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY / Haiti - THE ECONOMY

[Plaumpholavup]

I don't know. You will see how empty the streets were. The population was still in the countryside. Not now. Lots of problems.
And with the hue and cry of nationalists, it would be difficult to allow a foreign power to administer the situation once again...
And the issue are daunting! Oh my...even if all that money promised were to be fulfilled, you would need a massive (honest) bureaucracy to handle it, and given the track record, that bureaucracy couldn't too Haitian...

Seems to me almost endless.

We'll see over thenext two years, what hppens.

HB

[crumoursegemo]

Well She could sure use the $1.2 billion that is being held up by Congress.. until someone from somewhere is assured that it will not be "misspent"

But of course there are hundreds of USAID approved NGOs in Haiti now... who could certainly USE that money

But, then there would not perhaps be any left over for infrastructure developemt.. which I assume is what they are hoping for

So we are gonna sit back and watch hundreds of thousands of people die.

But of course there are too many people there for the land to support, right?

So to lose a couple of hundred thousand of the weakest ... that would make it easier, right?

Ain't life grand

que les bons temps roule!!!!!

[jackie Obrian]

NAL, if your question is, would every country in the world benefit by transferring absolute control over to a mini American government to run the show, control resources, and provide basic services to the populace, free of corruption and petty tribal conflict? Then the answer is probably a resounding YES!

The only problem is, it wouldn't be very democratic now would it? And that's the main rub...

Of course American organization and ingenuity would be welcome but considering how screwed up the American econmy is perhaps a better model like New Zealand or Australia would work better.

[forebirdo]

from what i have seen though the years

countries want the states's:
money
technology
and soldiers when they need them
then they just want to get rid of them when they are done

usually the people want the states to take out the tyrant then turn around and walk out...and then another tyrant takes over...and sometimes the states are in places they really should have stayed out of..the problem is the world doesn't want to get caught into another hitler or napoleon trying to take over the world.....i think the toughest part is to KNOW where to draw the line

[altosburg]

Well She could sure use the $1.2 billion that is being held up by Congress.. until someone from somewhere is assured that it will not be "misspent"

I have believed for sometime now that the money pledged by most of the donor countries, particularly the US, will not be actually dispursed until after the election and inauguration of the new government. I heard Bill Clinton the other day suggest that the IHRC would be satisfied if the donors worked directly with contractors without the necessity of going through the World Bank/IHRC in order to speed up rubble removal, begin the reconstruction phase of Haiti's recovery, and finance projects already approved by the IHRC. That sounds like a great idea and a commonsense approach to what appears to be gridlock, but realistically, that is not going to happen, and the funds pledged will likely not be distributed until the new government is in place and the donors know exactly who it is they are dealing with. This is really most unfortunate, for the in the interim, as MA points out, women and children are dying and endure deplorable living conditions. Although Bill Clinton has a great deal of political good will and influence, the US political structure seems to move only when there is political and/or economic pressure for it to do so, and organized political groups and lobbiest are necessary to facilitate movement, particularly when you're talking about a billion plus dollar expenditure. Haitian-American voters make up significant political constituencies in certain congressional districts and could exercise some leverage. Perhaps things are happening behind the scenes, but I don't see the Haitian-American community and thier allies and friends among the US electorate using the political leverage that they have to force members of the US Congress to appropriate and dispurse the funds that were pledged after the hurricane. Entreaties by Haitian nationals, Bill Clinton, and people of good will, to US Senators and Members of the House of Representatives on humanitarian and moral grounds are not quite as effective as a 200,000 plus Haitian-American voting bloc.

[ensuppono]

Significant leverage? the Haitians will need more than 2 counties in South Florida.
Dade, and Boward or make it easy an say Miami. They don't carry the votes. compared to the Latinos, in that area. Think the numbers were in another post up above somewhere.

[nerrttrw]

I admit I haven't looked at the numbers. But, without the numbers or an effective political alliance to exert pressure, massaging the money out of Washington is going to take some doing in the current environment. Clinton is a master at it, no doubt, and Bush may be more helpful than I thought. Given the economic picture in the US, I don't think there is much of an appetite for the kind of American 'imperialism' some fear.

[forebirdo]

You watch too much 'tombstone'. The American Calvary almost always sweeps in for business or political reasons.

you missed the post completely...

didn't say what the usa wanted
said what the other countries wanted
and about the attitudes they had towards the usa afterwards

[jackie Obrian]

I think the states has enough problems of their own to deal with. They have huge amounts od corruption at all levels of government. Super-sized pensions, and a doomsday scenario - The Red Tape Chronicles - msnbc.com

[Adwetyren]

Does Haiti needs to be managed, at least its economy, by Americans in order for that country to finally get out of its hole?

Sources of quotes: Haiti - GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY / Haiti - THE ECONOMY

We've been down this road before.

It's the US crushing the rural economies of Haiti that have put it further into the hole. Pigs massacred, then the sugar and rice industries were all ruined in the 70s and 80s directly from US policies, and turned Cité Soleil into a refugee camp and shanty-town. Industrialization has benefited only a small handful of the population.

Haiti needs rural water management, imported cooking fuel and basic infrastructure. Work on food security and basic sanitation needs. Anything without that as a foundation will fail.

Providing free family-planning services, esp in preventing pregnancies, also seems like a no brainer.