Mennonite
Central
Committee

Break the chains of Haiti's debt

Latin America & Caribbean

Haiti, once known as the Pearl of the Antilles, is one of many nations bound by enormous debts owed to other countries or international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank.

Debt winds its way through the nation's history. Haiti was founded as a nation in 1804 after a slave rebellion against the French. After gaining its freedom, it was ordered to pay France $21 billion in today's dollars as retribution for the destruction of colonial plantations. Haiti did not finish paying off this debt until 1947.

Nearly half of the country's current $1.4 billion debt was accrued from 1957 to 1986 under the Duvalier family dictatorships. These funds were used to finance the Duvaliers' lavish lifestyle and support their brutal, 29-year rule. Yet the Haitian people continue to pay interest on these loans — money that could be spent on health care or education in a country where almost a quarter of children under age five are chronically malnourished and only 35 percent of students are able to complete primary school.

Haiti is now the poorest county in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to debt, the country faces enormous problems of deforestation and poverty. And U.S. pressure to reduce Haitian rice tariffs have made Haitian farmers' lot even more difficult.

In 1994, when the U.S. military restored Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the Haitian presidency, it forced Haiti to reduce tariffs on U.S. rice from 35 percent to 3 percent to make room for U.S. rice producers, who are backed by $1.3 billion in annual government subsidies. While U.S. agribusinesses profit from this, Haiti's rice farmers go out of business, and the country loses a piece of its hard-earned independence. (Swine fever led to U.S. campaign to kill pigs in Haiti)

Last year, Haiti was added to the World Bank and IMF's list of heavily indebted poor countries that are eligible for debt cancellation. However, Haiti will not see this relief until 2009 at the earliest.

After making 2006 payments, Haiti still owes $138 million U.S. between now and 2009, according to the Jubilee USA Network. Haiti's debt payments for 2006 to 2009 were estimated at $220 million U.S. That was more than double the amount Haiti spends annually on health care. Immediate cancellation of Haiti's debt would allow the country to stop paying interest on odious debts and free much-needed resources for the country to invest in health and education.