Haiti and the Implications of Liberation: A Story of Resistance and Recolonization
By: Amel Mohdali
Haiti, a small Caribbean country of once enslaved Africans triumphed over its French colonial rulers and declared independence in 1804, marking a turning point in global history. The Haitian Revolution, the only successful slave uprising in history, not only ended slavery in Haiti but also built the first Black republic. This moment which should have been a historic event for black liberation and independence has been followed by centuries of economic punishment, foreign intervention, and political instability. In several ways, Haiti continues to pay the price for its liberation today.
The Haitian Revolution echoed across the Atlantic world, unsettling European empires and the United States by challenging the very foundations of colonial rule. Inspired by the French Revolution and led by Haitian revolutionaries such as Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haiti resisted the institutional enslavement and racial and economic hierarchy that sustained European colonialism. After more than a decade of combat, Haiti emerged triumphant.This revolutionary accomplishment sent shockwaves across the colonial globe. Fearing slave uprisings in their territories, European countries and the United States responded with isolation and animosity rather than assistance to France.
In 1825, under fear of invasion, France ordered Haiti to pay 150 million francs, later lowered to 90 million, as compensation to former French slaveholders for lost "property," meaning enslaved people. This ransom was the price Haiti had to pay for worldwide acknowledgment of its independence. The debt Haiti incurred encumbered the economy for years, costing the country an estimated $21 billion in today's money. Haiti obtained high-interest loans from French banks to settle its debt, resulting in a vicious cycle of borrowing and repayment that hampered Haiti’s infrastructure, education, and healthcare investment. Haiti's forced indemnity laid the groundwork for its long-term underdevelopment, keeping it economically subject to its previous colonizer.
France was not alone in attacking Haiti. Under President Thomas Jefferson, the United States refused to acknowledge Haitian independence until 1862, fearing the consequences of a Black-led country. His reaction was rooted in both economic and racial fears. The U.S. economy relied heavily on slavery, and Jefferson along with other leaders feared that acknowledging a Black-led republic born of a successful slave revolt would inspire similar uprisings among enslaved people in the United States. Instead of supporting Haiti’s struggle for freedom, Jefferson’s administration imposed a trade embargo, cutting off vital economic ties and isolating the new nation. This diplomatic and economic isolation by the United States lasted for decades, with formal recognition of Haitian independence withheld until 1862, during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, nearly 60 years after Haiti’s revolution. Throughout the twentieth century, US occupations, corporate exploitation, and Cold War intervention weakened Haiti's political structure. Instead of promoting Haitian sovereignty, Western countries have continuously intervened to defend their own interests, either supporting authoritarian governments or destroying grassroots democratic movements.
One of the most infamous interventions took place between 1915 and 1934 when the United States invaded and controlled Haiti under the pretext of restoring security following the assassination of Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. In reality, US banks and businesses had growing financial interests in the area, and the occupation allowed them to gain control of Haiti's economy and infrastructure. During the occupation, US soldiers altered Haiti's constitution, allowing foreign land ownership, which had previously been outlawed by Haitian law since independence. They also implemented a cruel corvée system, a form of forced labor, which coerced Haitians to work on roads and other public works projects under the threat of invasion. Thousands of Haitians passed away resisting this system, which many saw as a return to slavery.
The United States also seized $500,000 in gold from Haiti's national bank and transferred it to the National City Bank of New York (now known as Citibank), strengthening financial ties. Though US officials claimed to have delivered modernity, they left behind an entrenched reliance system, weak institutions, and significant widespread animosity.
In the following decades, US foreign policy influenced Haitian politics, often with disastrous effects. During the Cold War the United States supported Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, despite their autocratic rule, significant corruption, and severe human rights violations. In exchange for their anti-communist stance, the Duvaliers raised an estimated $900 million in US funding while imprisoning and murdering hundreds of political opponents through a secret police organization, the Tonton Macoutes.
In 1994, the United States, under President Bill Clinton, sent 20,000 troops to Haiti to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s authority-Haiti’s first democratically elected president who had been overthrown in a military coup in 1991. However, this help was conditional: the United States enforced a neoliberal structural adjustment program that compelled Haiti to decrease tariffs, privatize state companies, and open its economy to foreign goods, decisions that destroyed Haitian farmers and rendered the country more food-dependent than ever before.
Ten years later, in 2004, Aristide was deposed under questionable circumstances. He alleged that he was abducted by US soldiers and flown to exile in the Central African Republic. The United States, France, and Canada then helped to establish a transitional government backed by MINUSTAH, a United Nations peacekeeping organization that stayed in Haiti until 2017.
MINUSTAH pledged to bring stability to Haiti, but it became known for its abusive actions. UN forces from Nepal spread cholera to the nation by dumping polluted garbage into the Artibonite River, the longest river on the island of Hispaniola. The pandemic killed over 9,300 Haitians and infected over 800,000, resulting in a public health disaster. Furthermore, reports of sexual violence and child exploitation against Haitian civilians by UN forces solidified Haiti's distrust in MINUSTAH Many victims have never received justice or restitution, and despite overwhelming proof, the UN has refused to acknowledge full responsibility for the cholera pandemic.
These recurrent interventions, presented as humanitarian or stabilizing, continually emphasized foreign interests over Haitian sovereignty, thus exacerbating the issues they promised to solve. The cycle of external control, economic reliance, and political manipulation has eroded Haiti's institutions, leaving few choices for genuine self-determination.
Today, Haiti is once again the target of foreign intervention. Kenya, with the support of Western nations such as the United States and Canada, sent troops to Haiti in 2024 as part of a UN-authorized operation to quell gang violence. This humanitarian intervention is similar to previous foreign interventions that have failed to solve Haiti's core issues, which include poverty, inequality, and a lack of political sovereignty. Haitians argue that these so-called peacekeeping operations accomplish nothing to empower Haitian civil society, instead reinforcing outsider control over Haitian administration. Calls continue to grow for France to pay reparations for the historical debts it imposed on Haiti, but no real compensation has been given.
Despite strong backing, the UN mission has experienced delays. In January 2024, a Kenyan court declared the deployment unlawful, and officials have halted planning until a new Haitian administration is in place. Meanwhile, gangs control more than 95% of Port-au-Prince, hospitals and shops are running low on supplies, and the United Nations reports that over 362,000 Haitians have been displaced.
Experts warn that the current crisis stems from decades of poor foreign policy and internal political turmoil. Haiti hasn't held a general election since President Jovenel Moïse's killing in 2021. An unelected official, Prime Minister Henry, resigned after pressure from armed groups and foreign entities.
President Jovenel Moïse took office in 2017 and aimed to liberate Haiti from foreign influence and corrupt elites. He intended to invest in rural infrastructure, increase energy availability through renewables, and automate government services to promote transparency. Moïse advocated for constitutional change to alleviate political deadlock and improve stability in a country with contested leadership.
Moïse aimed to challenge the oligarchy-controlled economic system and criticized outside intervention in Haitian matters. Moïse opposed pressure from foreign governments and international non-governmental organizations, insisting on Haitian-led development. His enemies accused him of authoritarianism, particularly after extending his tenure due to disagreements over election dates. In contrast, others believe he was a leader unafraid to confront internal and external control structures.
His assassination on July 7, 2021, stunned the country. Armed mercenaries, including Colombians and Haitian-Americans, attacked his home, murdering him and severely injuring his wife. Investigations have revealed a network of international contractors, economic elites, and political operatives behind the killing. Reports indicate that Jovenel was severely battered before being killed, pointing to a brutal and personal nature to the attack. Americans, Haitian politicians, former president Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, members of the Haitian bourgeoisie, and Colombian mercenaries were all implicated in the plot. The assassination was planned across borders, with key operations reportedly orchestrated in the United States and the Dominican Republic. While several conspirators have been sentenced in U.S. courts, the full scale of the conspiracy remains obscured, highlighting the deeply entrenched power networks that continue to destabilize Haitian governance and sovereignty.
Moïse's death weakened Haitian sovereignty by leaving a power vacuum. While the presidency was controversial, his desire to establish Haiti's independence in global affairs was a daring attempt to reclaim the legacy that began with the 1804 revolution.
The West has also contributed to tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, typically through policies based on racism, anti-Blackness, and economic exploitation. Though both countries share the island of Hispaniola, their histories differed dramatically following Haiti's revolution. The Dominican Republic, which earned independence from Haiti in 1844, has frequently positioned itself against its neighbor, assisted by a worldwide narrative that demonizes Haiti.
Foreign governments and international organizations have traditionally perpetuated this separation by providing favorable trade accords, financial incentives, and diplomatic assistance to the Dominican Republic while seeing Haiti as a failing state needing external administration. Western media usually depicts Haitians as impoverished, desperate migrants endangering Dominican security, which contributes to xenophobic measures like mass deportations and citizenship revocations for Haitian descendants.
The 2013 Dominican court verdict that retrospectively removed citizenship from thousands of persons of Haitian heritage, a move widely criticized as ethnic cleansing, elicited a subdued international response despite its blatant violation of human rights. Western powers have also disregarded labor abuse in Dominican businesses, where many Haitians work in harsh conditions in agriculture and construction.
Rather than fostering regional cooperation, Western interference has frequently widened the divide, utilizing Hispaniola's geopolitical instability to seize labor and resources while keeping both countries reliant. True reconciliation and partnership between Haiti and the Dominican Republic cannot occur without challenging the foreign forces that profit from their separation.
The Haitian Revolution remains one of the most radical events in world history. However, Haiti's penalty for daring to be free demonstrates how firmly embedded racial capitalism is in global politics. Today, Haiti requires more than just troops and aid. Justice, stolen money compensation, debt relief, and genuine political sovereignty are needed. The world owes Haiti recognition for its past and accountability for its future. Until that happens, Haiti will continue to bear the burden of a liberation that came at a price that no nation should have had to pay.
