This high level of poverty of the people in Haiti today has its roots in the turbulent history of the first black republic in the world. Having destroyed Napoleon's army in the bloody battlefields of Vertières, freeing themselves from French colonialism and slavery, and so proclaimed Haiti's independence in 1804, Haiti 'new elites act s were faced with a daunting choice: restoring reinstalling the economy of the plantation system of sugar or preserving the emancipation allowing inefficient small holdings of land. The Haitian people resisted a return of the forced labor system that is required to maintain the sugar plantations, which he regarded as the
other side of the coin of slavery. He instead called for economic independence and equal distribution of land for all. The decision to remove the old system of planting profitable small holder farmers in the farm began a process of reducing the profitability of the newly freed citizens of Haiti, and therefore the economic blow of the `jewel of the Antilles. Some years after the decision was made to liberalize land ownership, which led to the drastic reduction in foreign exchange earnings of the new republic, that the populace feel liberated indeed a serious threat to the very existence of the new republic emerged. This was a threat of shameless defeated colonial power France to invade Haiti again. A French naval force and was placed strategically in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of the cap Haitien. France emphatic hrefused to recognize Haiti 's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate for losses of French planters in the auxiliary revolution. The payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country 's economy As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave who had energies of that time in history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, the Haitians had helped his time of need to survive the impact of a British invasion, have staged a total economic boycott against Haiti. The economic embargo but unjustifiably concluded that in Haiti, along with payment of the indemnity imposed 150 million francs to France when he was taken together could be said to be the second root cause of poverty in Haiti. The purpose of these punitive measures are still felt by the people of Haiti up until today. However, an important contributory cause of poverty in Haiti is historically the inherent instability of the political terrain of Haiti. The period between the expulsion of President Boyer in 1843, after he capitulated to the demand of France for the indemnity, and the first American invasion in 1915, is generally regarded as chaotic era in Haitian history. A notable historian of the period, Leyburn summarizes this chaotic era in Haitian history as follows: "Of the twenty heads of state between 1843 and 1915, only one served out his prescribed term of office, three died while serving, one was made jump with his palace, one probably poisoned, one cut to pieces by a mob, one resigned. The other Catorce was deposed by revolution after incumbencies ranging in length from three months to twelve years. " This extremely high level of political instability contributed in no small measure to deprive the peaceful environment Haitians took to economic empowerment, which would have translated into economic development. The period of early American occupation of Haiti, though often touted as one of relative peace and progress in infrastructure development, was more of a peace of the graveyard. Several rebellions against the American occupation of Haiti's national soil were placed in the brutal. In one such incident, about two thousand Haitians, popularly known as the 'thieves', was killed by U.S. Marines while protesting American racism and economic deprivation. In another case, the unarmed peasants during a march protesting for better economic conditions were, in December 1929 in Les Cayes, Maule by Marines of the United States that killed more than ten unarmed Haitian peasants. The occupation all said and done, the Haitian American from 1915 to 1934, something that poverty among ordinary Haitians, only exacerbated their plight, while U.S. multinationals were the record level of profit by exploiting cheap labor Haiti. Instead of reinvesting these profits in easing poverty programs in Haiti, these companies repatriate their profits home to further boost American abundance, while Haitians unfortunate additional impoverishment. Thus we can say that the first American invasion and subsequent occupation of Haiti, is one of the root causes of Haitian poverty. Poverty in the modern day Haiti's recent political and economic history of Haiti is an extension of its past history. Before the Americans to leave Haiti in 1934, as always tend to do, installed a puppet government in Port-au-Prince, that the main concern was to address the commercial and business interests and so American feather their own financial hierarchies in the process. The development or extension beyond Haiti's Port-au-Prince was of no importance to them, and therefore the training of the masses in Haiti was put on suspension. The arrival of the Duvaliers, the father of Doc Duvalier and his baby `Doc 'Duvalier's son, was first announced as a ray of sunshine of hope in a dark cloud of misery and poverty. The poor masses soon had their hopes shattered. Although Doc's `dad started it in 1957 with a pinch of rural development programs, it soon turned into a tyrant who protected its power. To its advantage, it is worth mentioning that it also faced with repossession of the black eagle. When Papa Doc. died in 1971, his son Jean Claude Duvalier succeeded him. His father was a little more interested in the welfare of the masses in the countryside. Jean-Claude neglected the countryside and further exacerbated rural poverty. All proceeds generated from concessions and foreign bank loans in the world was lost in their consumptive lifestyle and those of his comrades and the new elite in Haitian society. The baby doc. just added another chapter to the sorry history of poverty in Haiti. Today, Haiti remains the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere and is the world's poorest. Compared to other developing countries of low income in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has not done much social and economic progress since the 80's. Haiti now ranks near the bottom of all countries in human development index of the nation united. The nearly eighty percent of the entire Haitian population lives in abject poverty, ranking the country second-to-last in the world as a measure of comparison of global poverty.
