VCS Mining
Why Haiti Now?
Located in the Caribbean, Haiti has a land area of 27,750 square kilometers on the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which is shared with the Dominican Republic to the east and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Caribbean Sea to the south, and Cuba to its west. It is two thirds mountains with the rest of the country occupying great valleys, plateaus and small plains. Its largest and capital city is Port-au-Prince with a metro area population of 1,764,000 with the whole of Haiti at 9,035,536.
The current President-elect since 2006 is Rene Preval of the Republic Party, who in turn designated Jean-Max Bellerive as Prime Minister in November 2009. Official languages spoken are Creole and French, with English becoming more popular in the business community.
Despite being the third largest country in the Caribbean with the second longest coastline, Haiti unfortunately ranks 148th out of 179 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (2008). It has a life expectancy at birth of 54 years, adult literacy rate of 39% and 51% enrollment ratio in education. The population not using an improved water source is 42%, and the percentage of children under five who are underweight is 22%. According to information on the Central Intelligence Agency website, 80% of the population is living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Haiti is also the only country in the Americas on the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries.
Haiti's History
Discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the island was claimed for Spain from the Taino Arawaks; the original Amerindian inhabitants. Within 25 years, the Spanish settlers virtually annihilated their population. Dictated to work in the gold mines, those who refused were either slaughtered or forced into slavery. Those who survived that calamity died from chronic infectious diseases brought to the island by the Europeans, against which they had no natural immunity.
In 1517, Charles V authorized the draft of slaves. Spanish governors began importing enslaved Africans for labor in the sugar, coffee, and indigo industries. French buccaneers soon settled the western part of Hispaniola, where they succeeded in growing tobacco.
In 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick was signed which divided Hispaniola between France and Spain. France named its western third Saint-Domingue. From 1713 to 1787, 30,000 colonists immigrated to the island. By 1790 it became the richest French colony in the new World and overshadowed its eastern counterpart in terms of wealth and population. Heavy importation of African slaves made it possible to thrive in the forest and sugar-related industries. The government established ‘Code Noir' which established rigid rules on slave treatment and permissible freedom. Sadly, a third of new arrivals died within a few years.
An insurrection erupted among the slave population of 480,000 in 1791, known as The Haitian Revolution, which resulted in a Declaration of Independence by Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l'Ouverture in 1801. Napoléon Bonaparte suppressed the independence movement, but it eventually triumphed in 1804 under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who gave the new nation the Arawak name of Haiti. Haiti thus became the world's first independent black republic.
In 1825, the King of France, Charles X, wanted indemnity for profits lost from the slave trade and sent a fleet of fourteen vessels with troops to reconquer the island. To maintain independence, a treaty was signed by President Boyer that required a payment of 150 million francs (reduced in 1838 to 90 million francs) as lost compensation.
This wrecked Haiti's economy. Combined with disputes with neighboring Santo Domingo, racial disputes between the lighter skinned mulattoes with the majority black skinned population, and dictatorships, Haiti went into receivership from 1905 - 1941. To bring stability, U.S. Marines occupied Haiti (the most densely populated nation in the Western Hemisphere) from 1915 - 1934.
Dictatorship rule began again in 1949 under General Paul Magloire and continued until 1986 when the Duvalier family succeeded him in 1957. "Papa Doc's" political reign was ruled with brutal efficiency turning the nation into a hermit kingdom with an abundance of corruption. Private armies and terrorist death squads known as Tonton Macoutes caused many Haitians to exile to the USA and French speaking province of Quebec, Canada.
Upon his death in 1971, his son Jean-Claude or "Baby Doc" continued to rule Haiti into one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere. Extreme unrest began to occur in the 1980's. With AIDS becoming an epidemic, the tourism industry vastly depleted from fear and this caused increased unemployment. This crisis forced Baby Doc to flee the country in 1986.
December 1990 Jean-Bertrand Aristide won the election and took office in February 1991. By August 1991, his government lost a non-confidence vote within the Haitian Chamber of Deputies and Senate 83 to 11. With support from a US-backed coup d'etat in September 1991, Aristide was flown into exile. New elections were called for December 1991 which were blocked by the international community and chaos again ensued into 1994.
In September of 1994, a UN force led by the U.S. — Operation Uphold Democracy — was prepared to infiltrate the region and was to be the largest airborne assault in history since D-Day in WWII. This became a peacekeeping mission as U.S. General Colin Powell led a diplomatic effort with support of former President Jimmy Carter and persuaded the leaders to step down and return Aristide to power until 1995.
From 1995 to 2000 Rene Preval was President.
Re-elected in 2000, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's term was ridden with accusations of corruption. By 2004 he was removed by U.S. marines from his home in what he described as a kidnapping and flown to the the Central African Republic. This was known as the 2004 Haitian Rebellion, a paramilitary coup backed by France, the USA, and Canada.
Since the Rebellion of 2004, the United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti (MINUSTAH) has been present and is authorized until October 2009 to assist in maintaining civil order. The mandate has most recently been extended by the Security Council until October 2010 "with the intention of further renewal" according to Wikipedia's November 2009 update on United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti page. Led by the Brazilian army, the force is composed of 9,055 uniformed personnel including 7,174 troops and 1,881 police, who are in turn is supported by an international civilian personnel, a local civilian staff and United Nations Volunteers.
Many further international initiatives have also been implemented and have been instrumental in improving the situation in Haiti. Most recently, in July 2009, Haiti received 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in debt relief for completing the Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). Haiti is the 26th country to reach the completion point to receive approval by the boards of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
To achieve said relief, Haiti has taken steps to stabilize their macroeconomic situation and implement a national strategy for poverty reduction which includes; improvements in tax, customs administrations, management and reporting of debt, producing an audit of public accounts, implementing laws on the declaration of assets, and adopting a law on public procurement. A new funding mechanism has allowed more than 50,000 additional children to attend school and has provided for an advanced training program for teachers. In the health sector, a program has been approved to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and to improve the immunization rates for measles and DPT3.
To encourage foreign investment, President Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive are cutting red tape to stimulate new business ventures and create thousands of jobs. Infrastructure is being rebuilt including the expansion of basic services, rebuilding of roads, and development of an environmental disaster protection plan. Improvements in security have prompted both the USA and Canada to revise their travel advisories for business people and tourists visiting Haiti.
A company thriving in the private sector is cellular telecommunications operator Digical, which signed up more than 1.7 million clients in 15 months. Flour milling and cement companies privatized in the 1990s are doing well. Haiti has further plans to privatize the telephone company. Backing this project is a group of local and foreign investors who plan to build a 30 megawatt power plant. Building on that momentum, the Soros Economic Development Fund has launched the Haiti Invest Project; an equity investment program with an initial commitment of $25 million. Industries under consideration for investment include garment manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, tourism, energy, and housing.
An incredible opportunity being considered by Haiti Invest is to potentially employ up to 25,000 workers in Cite Soleil (one of Port-au-Prince's largest slums) in an enterprise zone in the capital's harbor to provide manufacturers with reliable and affordable utilities and services.
Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, and Geroge Soros, chairman of the Open Society Institute state the following quote in a recent article. "There is no shortage of potential business deals in Haiti, whose people have proven time and again that they are energetic, motivated, industrious and, perhaps most of all, creative. Trouble is, most often they only get a chance to demonstrate these virtues when they move abroad. It is time for opportunity to arise at home."
