The Lie of the “Failed State”
It’s become something of a journalistic reflex: call Haiti a “failed state,” imply its dysfunction is homegrown, and lament how, despite international aid and good intentions, nothing ever seems to work.
This is dishonest.
Haiti is not failing on its own. It’s being deliberately sabotaged. Its institutions weren’t just weak — they were gutted. Its economy isn’t underdeveloped — it’s been systematically looted. And the so-called international community? More like the international criminal syndicate, with Washington and Paris at the top of the food chain.
Independence — and Immediate Punishment
Start with the foundational crime. In 1804, Haiti did the unthinkable: it overthrew its French enslavers, routed Napoleon’s army, and declared itself the world’s first Black republic. It was the only successful slave revolt in history.
That act of liberation sparked panic across the slaveholding world. The U.S. refused to recognize Haiti for nearly 60 years. France, ever the colonial extortionist, demanded reparations — from the formerly enslaved. In 1825, under threat of reinvasion, Haiti agreed to pay French slaveholders 150 million francs (roughly $21 billion in today’s dollars) for the loss of their “property.”
To pay it, Haiti took out predatory loans from French banks. The ransom bled the country dry for generations. A 2017 analysis pegged the economic impact at $115 billion in lost GDP. Think of it as the first IMF-style structural adjustment — before the IMF even existed.
The U.S. Occupation and the Seeds of Sabotage
Then came the Marines.
In 1915, the United States invaded, occupied, and reengineered Haiti’s political system to serve American business interests. U.S. forces seized the national bank, rewrote the constitution to allow foreign land ownership, and imposed forced labor — not for the benefit of Haitians, but for American corporations.
When the occupation ended in 1934, it left behind a militarized state and a ruling elite friendly to Washington. The pattern was established: Haiti would be run by locals, but governed in the interests of foreign capital.
Duvalier Dictatorship, U.S. Backing
That foreign-backed system reached its grotesque peak with the Duvaliers — François “Papa Doc” and his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc.” They ruled with iron fists and death squads, building one of the most brutal dictatorships of the 20th century. The U.S. sent weapons, cash, and praise. All in the name of “anti-communism.”
Haiti became a model client state: impoverished, dependent, but obedient.
Aristide and the Crime of Caring
This arrangement was briefly interrupted by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest who dared to believe the Haitian poor deserved education, food, and dignity. Elected in a landslide in 1990, he was quickly overthrown by the military.
When Aristide returned in 2000, he raised the minimum wage and called on France to return the $21 billion in stolen “reparations.” He was punished for his audacity. In 2004, U.S. forces abducted him at gunpoint and flew him into exile. A coup in all but name.
His removal cleared the path for technocrats, NGOs, and “stabilization forces” to run the country from hotel boardrooms.
The UN, the Earthquake, and the Great Aid Heist
After Aristide came the United Nations occupation — an unaccountable foreign force that introduced cholera into Haiti’s water supply, killing over 10,000 people. No apology, no justice.
Then came the 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 300,000. International donors pledged $13 billion. Less than 1% went to Haitian institutions. The rest lined the pockets of international NGOs, foreign contractors, and Beltway-connected firms.
The Clinton Foundation oversaw much of the reconstruction effort. Its signature project? An industrial park for sweatshops making clothes for U.S. retailers — built miles from the quake zone. Meanwhile, U.S. rice, subsidized by Washington, flooded Haitian markets and destroyed local agriculture.
Aid became extraction. Charity became conquest in khakis.
Assassination, Gangs, and Manufactured Chaos
In 2021, Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home. The hit squad included mercenaries tied to DEA informants and U.S. security firms. No real investigation followed.
In the chaos, an unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, took power — backed by the U.S. and largely ruling by decree. Meanwhile, armed gangs multiplied across Port-au-Prince, many linked to the same business elite who profited from coups and foreign contracts. Guns flowed in from Florida. Impunity reigned.
This isn’t state failure. It’s state capture.
Haiti Didn’t Fail. It Was Made to Fail.
Haiti’s condition today is not the result of bad luck or poor leadership. It is the product of centuries of calculated interference, foreign plunder, and elite betrayal. It was punished for freeing itself from slavery, looted for daring to be sovereign, and sabotaged whenever it tried to chart its own course.
So the next time you hear someone say Haiti is a “failed state,” correct them.
It didn’t fail.
It was pillaged.
The Luddites were right to be upset at technology because the rapid introduction of automated textile machinery directly threatened their livelihoods and the economic stability of their communities. Skilled workers who had long relied on their craft were suddenly replaced by cheaper, less skilled labor operating new machines, leading to mass unemployment, falling wages, and widespread poverty. The new factory system also undermined established labor practices, eroded job security, and forced workers into harsher conditions for lower pay, all while the government and factory owners prioritized profit over workers’ well-being. Their protests were not against technology itself, but against the way it was used to exploit labor and destabilize traditional ways of life without offering protections or fair compensation to those displaced.