Hollande promises to pay 'moral debt' to former colony Haiti

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian and agencies

Hollande promises to pay 'moral debt' to former colony Haiti

Agencies in Port-au-Prince
Wednesday 13 May 2015 00.22 BST

François Hollande on Tuesday became the first president of France to make a formal state visit to Haiti, where bountiful resources and brutal plantation slavery made it the European nation’s most profitable colony before an independence uprising more than two centuries ago.

For Haiti’s government and business community, the visit is a welcome opportunity to encourage more investment and highlight progress made since a devastating 2010 earthquake obliterated much of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

But for some in impoverished Haiti, Hollande’s presence is a reminder of the debilitating costs of the successful slave revolt that made Haiti the world’s first black republic in 1804.

Crippled by an international embargo enforced by French warships, Haiti agreed in 1825 to pay France an “independence debt” of 150m gold francs to compensate colonists for lost land and slaves. Although the indemnity was later reduced to 90m gold coins, the debt crippled the Caribbean nation, which did not finish paying it off to French and American banks until 1947.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/13/hollande-haiti-visit-france-former-colony

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. Well,

but 'moral' debt re-payments don't put food on the table though. Ah, thankfully our neoliberal power structure will allow Hollande a photo-op announcing a new project that will see a miniscule profit in the hands of Haitians, but stuff the wallets of the French investors. Is that called a back-handed-apology?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Absolutely. n/t