The Future of Haiti

For anyone thinking that Haiti will be made better than before by being developed by the international corporations of the global economic system (and this would include Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) I am afraid that this is simply not going to happen.

Some have pointed out that the Dominican Republic is much better off than Haiti, so they have asked: "Why can't Haiti develop exactly like the D.R. has?" First, it should be noted that the Dominican Republic outside of Santo Domingo, Santiago and a small number of other towns is only marginally less poor than Haiti. The international corporations have preferred to invest (sweatshops and tourism mostly) in Santo Domingo and a few other select spots in D.R. because the D.R. has been much more politically stable than Haiti, and secondarily in some cases for racist reasons. Obviously, in the aftermath of the catastrophe, those corporations are not going to be suddenly more willing to "take a political risk with Haiti." They will be less willing if anything.

When the corporations and the US government make an already volatile Haiti worse by doing such things as demanding the dismantling of tariffs, by then dumping food on a lush tropical country that does not need to import food, and by overthrowing Aristide, and so forth, the resulting economic and political damage serves to intimidate all but the most fearless corporations and small investors from investing in Haiti.

For those who want to invest in a black Caribbean country, Jamaica has been overwhelmingly favored over Haiti, mainly because Jamaica has stubbornly resisted total dismantling of its government and total control by the US and by international corporations. Thus, when people think of going on vacation in an exotic Caribbean country, far, far more think of Jamaica (or Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic) than Haiti. To be blunt, although Haiti might be able to draw more tourists than it has in the past, it will not be able to effectively compete with those established tourist destinations.

The bottom line is that just as some workers in the US end up unemployed indefinitely due to the global economy, some countries indefinitely end up with the short end of the stick in terms of international investment. Obviously, there are many other countries besides Haiti that the international corporations are not rushing into to invest in. In case you have not noticed, not a few people and countries are ruined by this picking and choosing aspect of right wing economics.

So Haiti will have to develop without private international investment even more so than up until now. But Haiti can only do so effectively and efficiently with a non-right wing government that is not subservient to the United States. If they maintain the US dominated government, they will remain at least as dirt poor as up until now.

If this were 200, 100 or even 60 years ago, it would be all but certain or at least quite likely that the Preval government would fall completely, or that at least it would be effectively limited to Port-au-Prince and vicinity, and a new Haitian government based in the north of the country would form. The new government would simply disavow all debts and most other contracts made with foreign entities.

However, since this kind of response is inhibited indirectly by the current global power structure and by certain other features of modern life, it is simply unknown at this time what will happen politically in Haiti. Suffice it to say that Haiti is in uncharted waters in more ways than one.

For a detailed spreadsheet which shows foreign direct investment by country and by year, click here.

The above is in response to this article.
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