Electric service was working only an hour a day. No potable drinking water. Roads had 10-foot potholes. Totally inadequate sewage systems. Few public services. Unemployment over 60%. Millions with no satisfactory homes, or are homeless.
Before French colonization, 97% of the land was forested. The French cut and seized the most valuable wood. By the 1800’s, only 60% of the land was forested. In recent years, desperate peasants cut the remaining trees for fuel. Currently, only 2% of the land is forested. Wholesale deforestation of the island has caused erosion of large parts of the arable land.
This, in turn, sent huge amounts of sandy soil into the sea, killing the coral without which the fish population dies, thereby impoverishing those making a living from fishing.
Port-au-Prince’s population has grown from one million in 1988 to over three million today. Two million impoverished rural people moved to the capital seeking jobs. There were at most 60,000 factory jobs at the peak of production in the early 1980’s. Hundreds of thousands stood on the streets, desperate for work.
Imperialism Destroys Local Agriculture
Imperialism has thrown most small farmers out of business. First, agribusiness shipped cheaper foreign-grown rice to Haiti. Second, the 1970’s “food-for-work” program was used to give Haitians free foreign-produced rice in return for road construction work. Third, another 1970’s-1980’s policy, “PL480,” under dictator Jean-Claude Duvallier, gave aid to local governments in the form of food; the local governments distributed this food, selling it below cost on the market. Fourth, in the 1990’s, the USA and Haiti lifted tariffs on foreign-produced food; this policy, initiated under military regimes, has continued under Aristide, Lavalas and Préval. Poor local farmers could not possibly sell their products under these conditions.
Finally, recent global food price increases have meant mass starvation in Haiti. Many now eat “dirt cookies” — dirt mixed with sugar and water and sold as “food” to stave off hunger. J
