Santo Domingo, DR.
The Dominican Republic must endorse and support the initiative undertaken in 2003 by former President Jean Bertrand Aristide through which Haiti formalized a legal claim once morest France for an amount of US$21,685,135,571.48 (twenty-one thousand six hundred eighty-five billion dollars one hundred thirty-five thousand five hundred seventy-one and forty-eight cents). Other calculations put the compensation owed to Haiti by France at $115 billion.
In July 1825, following 21 years of having proclaimed its independence, King Charles X of France sent an intervening fleet to Haiti, ordering the then Boyer government to immediately pay 150 million francs or face another war. The demand, in addition to being illegitimate, was colossal and was established not only knowing that Haiti might not pay it, but precisely for that reason, to once once more and without shackles, chain blacks. Boyer, fearful of a return to slavery, relented and Haiti was forced into debt beyond its means.
63 years later, in 1888, to pay the last installment of that debt, Haiti had to borrow once more, this time with American banks. They added grievance to insult; They were also unable to pay and in 1915 the bankers promoted the invasion and occupation of Haiti by United States troops for 19 years.
Today’s Haitian misery is the embarrassing product of having been forced to use most of their income not to develop the country but to pay an illegal debt where former settlers, bank intermediaries and some elements of the Haitian political elite filled their coffers.
The legitimacy of the claim that Aristide made and that cost him power following a coup in 2006, is supported by abundant documentation, legal expertise, financial historians, financiers and at least one former French president, Francois Hollande, who in 2015, having declared the Haitian claim to the debt legitimate, he found himself harassed by modern elites and backed down saying that the debt was only moral.
To the claim for monetary compensation, the Dominican Republic, on behalf of and in favor of the Haitian population, must add the launch of a campaign of “historic compensation for damages” through which the two countries most seriously involved and directly responsible for the Haitian tragedy -France and the United States- must commit to an annual quota for receiving immigrants until they have reduced the total Haitian population living in their country to half of what existed at the time the agreement was forged.
For their part, the Dominican authorities should facilitate, within what current laws allow, Haitians interested in trying to emigrate abroad, especially to the United States. In the specific case of Haiti, Canada, France and some French-speaking colonies are equally attractive for this emigration. Traveling to those countries is only part of the compensation due to the Haitian people for 200 years of iniquity.
Given that Haiti is not in a position to undertake these initiatives on its own and considering the relative importance of the Dominican Republic in the region, it will be necessary to take on these campaigns and manage an international instance with some countries not linked to the Haitian tragedy capable of acting. as a supranational entity until local capacities have emerged that can participate in the design and administration of the resources and possibilities generated in the points described.
In the face of Haitian chaos and anarchy, the best protection of Dominican sovereignty and independence is to understand that demonizing Haiti is not a solution and is, in fact, the precise verification of the lack of a policy in this regard. It has not been understood, more than occasionally, that Haiti should have been the center of Dominican foreign policy. Now it is also necessary to understand that helping Haiti by supporting and defending its legitimate demands eliminates at a stroke of the pen the accusations that have been made once morest the country and the denunciation and enmity will be followed by an atmosphere of cooperation and respect. The more solid and efficient Dominican democracy is, the more secure our border, our society and our country are; There is no better way to protect its institutions and the democratic process than to contribute to the restoration of order in Haiti.
The Haitian danger is not military in the traditional sense; they don’t even have an army to invade us militarily, but they do export to us the disorder and anarchy in which they live. In fact, part of the Dominican disorder, the loss of some values, the breaking of some rules of conduct is related to the massive presence of Haitians throughout the territory.
The more organized we are, the cleaner the Police, the more professional the Army, and the more neat and independent the administration of justice, the safer we Dominicans will be among ourselves, but also once morest foreigners, whether or not they are Haitians.
Cleaning up justice and cleaning up politics are the flags of Rescate Democrático and are essential to our survival as a nation and as a society.
The only Dominican alternative to this course of action, and in the absolute certainty that all other policies have no chance of success, is to proceed with the slaughter and extermination of millions of Haitians. Those who are ready and able to implement such a solution, have the floor.
