Bulletin N°57 mai 2025 Following a slave revolt, Haitians proclaimed their independence from the French colonists on January 1 , 1804. This independence was recognized by France, the colonizing power, on April 17, 1825.
The history of the island, which today houses two states: Haiti and Saint Domingue, is one of barbaric colonization by Spain and then France, and of the extermination of the indigenous population. Thus, of the million indigenous people on the island at the time of its discovery by Europeans 1 , only about 60,000 remained in 1507, 14,000 in 1514, 600 in 1533, and only 150 in 1550. This situation led to a policy of replacement from 1503, when the colonizers organized the replacement of the indigenous people with slaves taken from Africa by the slave trade.
The colony of Saint Domingue was the richest in the French Antilles. It exported coffee and cocoa, and by the end of the 18th century , its exports exceeded those of the United States. It goes without saying that colossal fortunes were made through the plundering of the colony and the overexploitation of slave labor.
Led by Toussaint Louverture 2 , who died in captivity on April 7, 1803, at Fort de Joux in Doubs in France , the slave revolt began in 1791. It was violently repressed and it was only in 1804, after a bloody war, that the colony declared its independence on January 1, 1804 , and became Haiti.
Not content with having plundered the colony and imposed a murderous liberation struggle on it, twenty years after the proclamation of independence, the colonizing power came armed to claim the interests of independence. Thus, an emissary of King Charles X came to issue an ultimatum: pay reparations to France, failing which war would be declared. Haiti, without allies and poor, could only pay the sum demanded: 150 million francs, to be paid in five annual installments. This shameful price demanded by the former colonizers for freedom is revealed today by an investigation by the New York Times 3 . According to this newspaper, it was a double debt. Indeed, Haiti had no other choice but to borrow from a French bank and thus be forced to pay the repayments and interest on the loan! The New York Times has calculated the cost of this debt, which is staggering for a country of extreme poverty whose GDP in 2023 was 20 billion US dollars (by comparison, France's GDP for the same year was 3052 billion US dollars): " Payments to France have cost Haiti between 21 and 115 billion dollars [between 20 and 108 billion euros] in lost economic growth."
To ensure Haiti was bled dry, France took control of the National Bank of Haiti in 1880. Here's what the New York Times says about it: "Controlled by a Paris-based board of directors, it was founded (…) by a French bank, Crédit Industriel et Commercial, or CIC, and generates huge profits for its shareholders in France. CIC controls Haiti's treasury—the government can neither deposit nor withdraw funds without paying commissions. "
Since then, the interference has not stopped and the attempts to free ourselves from this scourge of debt by demanding its repayment have resulted in coups d'état fomented by the United States and France.
Regarding the 2004 coup that overthrew President Aristide in 2004, the US and France behind the coup have "always stated that his ouster had nothing to do with the demand for restitution, blaming instead the Haitian president's autocratic turn and his loss of control of the country." But T. Burkard, former French Ambassador to Haiti, acknowledges that the demand for debt restitution "is probably also a little bit" that played a role in the decision to overthrow him because Haiti "risked encouraging other Caribbean and African countries to follow its example . "
These revelations from the New York Times expose the reality of colonialism and neocolonialism. They were and are tools for the perpetuation of capital accumulation and profit-making. The human price to be paid is of no consequence and tends to be masked by a discourse legitimizing acts of violence in the name of civilization. In all cases, physical and psychological violence, and acculturation are the weapons of the colonizers. The only way to confront them, and all historical experience shows this, is through armed struggle for national liberation.