Sarkozy's Visit Sheds Light on Root Cause of Haiti's Poverty
President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy visited Haiti on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, and became the first French leader to set foot on Haitian soil since the island nation declared its independence from France 206 years ago. Sarkozy offered the solidarity of the people of France as well as financial assistance to help Haiti recover from the devastating January 12th earthquake.
Understandably wary of French intentions, many regard Sarkozy’s visit with scorn and are circulating a petition (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/restitution4haiti/) demanding that France pay back the 21 billion dollars that it extorted from Haiti for revenue that it lost when Haiti became independent.The attitude is that unless Sarkozyis coming to redress past wrongs, he really has no business on Haitian soil.
Sarkozy has inherited a problem that he personally did not cause. Frankly, there isn’t enough money in France to pay back what is owed to Haiti - the “indemnity” of 21 billion dollars, as well as reparations for the crime of slavery committed against the Haitian people. We do not know of any accountant who can calculate in terms of dollars the cost of one million lives ruptured from West Africa and forced to provide free labor for France for more than a century.
It is encouraging to see Sarkozy departing from the past and reversing the flow of capital which used to be from Haiti to France.In post- earthquake Haiti, the capital -a helpful 450 million- will flow from France to Haiti. Throughout the world, people have been asking why Haiti is so poor. If nothing else, Sarkozy’s historical visit has helped to shed a little light on the root cause of this poverty.