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Preface
On the border between North and South America, Colombia and Panama are bordered by a vast and deep jungle with rugged terrain and frequent wildlife infestations, not to mention snakes, insects, rats and ants.
In addition, this place is also occupied by gangsters all year round, ordinary people set foot in this jungle, the slightest carelessness can kill Huangquan, but it is such a dangerous place, but it is the "way of life" of the Haitian people.
Over the past few decades, countless Haitians have set foot in the "Forest of Death" and paid huge protection fees to gangsters in order to make their way through the jungle to live in the United States.
Life in developed countries is good, of course, but isn't it worth risking your life to go, and what is the situation in Haiti that makes the people here so desperate?
Haiti is a country so close to the United States, why didn't "Uncle Sam", who has always liked to run around and meddle in other people's family affairs, not take action this time?
Haiti's governance is 'world-renowned'
As we all know, we are a country that takes peaceful development as its main line, and we can help some countries with relatively difficult development, especially for some countries with relatively difficult development.
But in the face of Haiti, our ambassador said very harshly at the 2021 Security Council meeting: "The governance of the country is almost a failure!"
You know, except for some hegemonic countries, our rhetoric will be more intense, but for small countries, we are usually very peaceful, what did Haiti do to make the "good old people" so angry?
Let's start with the 2010 earthquake.
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Haiti, affecting millions of people and killing and injuring more and more people every day.
Because Haiti is an economically underdeveloped agricultural country, its own country's rescue forces are simply unable to complete the rescue mission, so the United Nations sent a multinational team to jointly rescue, and several civilian rescue teams from our country are also among them.
Not only that, countries around the world have also donated relief supplies to the disaster areas in Haiti, and the United Nations food relief organization has urgently raised 100 million ready-to-eat products to send to the disaster areas.
However, when the rescue team arrived in Haiti, they were confused by the situation in front of them, and it stands to reason that when the international rescue team arrives in a certain place to provide relief, the local government agency is responsible for deploying it to cooperate with the local rescue forces.
But Haiti at the time was still largely dependent on spontaneous rescue efforts by the population, many of whom were bleeding themselves and limping through the rubble searching for relatives.
The bodies of the victims were not disposed of in a centralized manner, but were laid out on the streets, their bodies decomposing and emitting bursts of stench, and the survivors had to apply toothpaste to their noses to hide the pungent smell.
At that time, there was only one word "chaos" to describe the scene, and it was only at the urging of the head of the international organization that the rescue mission and search and rescue scope were reluctantly assigned.
But a few days after the orderly rescue was launched, another accident occurred in Haiti!
Large-scale looting broke out in the area, and some youths who looked like students rushed into houses and shops that had not collapsed with bags on their backs, rummaging through things, and moving boxes of supplies from the shops.
When the others saw it, they were afraid that they would be a step too late, and they joined the ranks of the looters, including the elderly, children, and women, and when they grabbed them, they sold them directly on the street.
At first, they just robbed the local shops, but then these people actually had the idea of the supplies of the international rescue team, and a group of people directly took sticks and equipment and attacked the relief materials.
The turmoil in Haiti alarmed the United Nations, and then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Security Council to send more troops to Haiti to control the chaos.
In this case, 3,500 heavily armed peacekeepers arrived in Haiti, and the head of the rescue team demanded that the national rescue team must be accompanied by the peacekeeping force before continuing the rescue mission.
This kind of disaster relief scene has never been encountered before.
However, after 11 years, Haiti was hit by another earthquake in 2021, but the situation on the ground is still not much better, and no matter how much material aid the United Nations provides, it will not always be able to save such a country.
Haiti's problems have gone awry at the governance level, and it is no wonder that we are so helpless to use harsh words.
So why did Haiti become like this?
Historical causes of the chaos
On the map, Haiti is a small island located near the Caribbean Sea in North America, which was originally inhabited by Indians.
But with the advent of the great geographical discoveries and the criminal triangular trade, the Indians became fewer and fewer, and the blacks were trafficked here to become the main race of the land.
From 1502 to 1790, nearly 300 years of oppression, the blacks here suffered humiliation and finally made up their minds to resist, so there was the anti-French movement in 1790.
The campaign lasted on and off for 14 years, and by 1804 Haiti had achieved independence, but it also came at a heavy cost, with the French demanding 90 million francs in compensation from Haiti for destroying their property.
90 million francs, you must know that this is the financial revenue of France for several years at that time, and it is an astronomical amount for Haiti, which has just become independent, and Haiti was stunned to pay off this money from the early 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
Because blacks are not indigenous to the land and have no previous experience in establishing political power, Haiti has not fared much better internally, even if the colonizers have been driven out.
The improvised anti-French forces fell apart, and several leaders wanted to be the "number one" in Haiti, even though they had never run the country.
Prior to the U.S. occupation of Haiti, there had been 90 rulers, almost all of whom had not stepped down in a normal manner, either overthrown or assassinated.
What did the arrival of the United States bring to this ill-fated country?
19 years of U.S. rule in Haiti
In fact, although Haiti achieved independence in 1804, due to economic reasons, Haiti will still be affected by the influence of the great powers, and even once became a battlefield for the great powers.
For example, at that time, a German named Lüders, who was doing business in the local area, was arrested by Haitian authorities for beating a police officer and sentenced to one year in prison, but the matter was known to Germany.
Under the coercion of German force, Haiti not only finally released Lüdes, but also dismissed the judge who conducted the trial, and not only that, but Haiti officials also apologized to the German government and paid compensation.
In addition to the above-mentioned measures, Germany also demanded that the Haitian presidential palace raise a white flag in front of the palace to express repentance and surrender, which is undoubtedly "stepping on" the face of the Haitian government on the ground.
But there is no way, the saying "if you fall behind, you will be beaten" applies everywhere.
This incident has aroused the anger of not only Haitians, but also the United States, which of course does not want to do justice, but feels that Germany's actions infringe on American interests.
The American thinking is simple: I am the boss in the region, and I should take care of all affairs, and it is wrong for other countries to interfere.
So the United States began to throw olive branches to several American countries, and began to infiltrate Haiti from all sides, and in 1915, the new president of Haiti was assassinated in the street, and no one was in power, and the United States quickly sent troops to occupy it.
During the period of American occupation of Haiti, the United States achieved absolute control over Haiti, and even the president had to be appointed by the United States, not to mention the army.
At that time, Haiti was like an "enclave" of the United States, but unfortunately, the arrival of the United States did not bring order and stability to the Haitian people.
The troops stationed at the US military bases arbitrarily captured Haitian civilians for all kinds of manual work and paid them nothing, and they even set up so-called "labor camps" to detain people and force them to work.
According to statistics, during the years of occupation, at least 15,000 Haitians died unexpectedly, some of them were exhausted by high-intensity labor, and some died from the "shooting and killing Xi" of the US military.
In 1929, a general strike was held across Haiti, and some Haitians took to the streets to protest against the atrocities of the United States.
The arrogant US military shot and killed more than a dozen demonstrators in the streets, but this incident also caused dissatisfaction in the international community, and under great pressure, the Hoover administration had to announce the withdrawal of troops from Haiti, which did not end until 1934.
What's next for Haiti?
Haiti is still not at peace
After the withdrawal of American troops from Haiti, they did not completely let go, and for a long time, the presidential election in Haiti was still "remotely controlled" by the United States.
It wasn't until 1957 that Haiti was barely elected, but the poor Haitian people were once again deceived by the fact that their elected president was not a good man.
Before he was elected president, Duvalier was Haiti's health minister for a long time, and he is said to be a very kind person, often helping the poor, and also had a good record in health care.
The people were deceived by this appearance, thinking that he was an official who really considered the people, and voted for him in the position of president, but they never expected that after Duvalier became president, he was like a different person.
Not only did he appoint cronyism, but he also took his family to "suck blood" on national assets, and even the aid given to Haiti by the international community dared to be swallowed privately.
Frustrated, the public demanded that Duvalier step down, and some businessmen did not hesitate to close their factories and shops to protest against the Duvalier government.
In the face of popular protests, the new president did not relent, but allowed his "minions" to forcibly open factories and shops, and if merchants and factory owners were not open, they would take everything they had.
Fearing that the warlords would use their armed forces to overthrow him, he tried his best to suppress the army and prevent them from growing stronger by not giving them enough supplies and money.
After Duvalier's death, his family and his former subordinates once again began to fight for power, fighting each other but not focusing on improving the well-being of the people and developing the country's economy.
epilogue
Haiti was one of the first countries to rebel against colonial rule, so why is it that after hundreds of years, its development is still low? Even Trump does not look down on it and calls it a "".
In fact, it can be seen from the past history of this country that the Haitian government has always been without authority, either controlled by this group or held hostage by that country.
At the same time, the government of this country is unpopular, and so many years of corrupt regime have left the Haitian people despair and numb, and they do not believe that their government will save civilians.
Therefore, after the earthquake came, the people chose to save themselves and chose to "get" the supplies themselves, rather than waiting for the Haitian government to distribute them.