Poverty, political instability, earthquakes … five things to know about Haiti

Haiti, located on the island of Hispaniola that it shares with the Dominican Republic, was the scene of the assassination of its president Jovenel Moïse, on the night of Tuesday July 6 to Wednesday July 7. The Caribbean country suffers from severe poverty, faces political instability and is particularly vulnerable to climatic disasters.

Haiti occupies a third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, between Cuba and Puerto Rico, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.

Its population is 11.4 million, according to the World Bank.

Under Spanish domination until 1697, then French, Haiti became the first independent black republic, in 1804, after a slave revolt led by Toussaint Louverture.

• Chronic political instability

Since independence, Haiti has known a succession of dictatorships, interspersed with some democratic alternations and foreign occupations.

From 1957 to 1986, François Duvalier (known as “Papa doc”), then his son Jean-Claude (“Baby doc”), subjected the population to total control under the control of death squads, the “tontons macoutes” . Driven out by a popular revolt in 1986, “Baby doc” went into exile in France for 25 years, before returning to Haiti, where he died in 2014.

In 1990, the priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected in the first free election. Overthrown by a coup d’état in 1991, he went into exile, then returned to Haiti in 1994 after an American intervention. One of his relatives, René Préval, took over the presidency in 1996.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president again in 2001. Under American, French and Canadian pressure, from an armed insurrection and a popular revolt, he resigned in 2004 and went into exile. René Préval, who returned to power in 2006, is the only Haitian leader to have completed his two terms authorized by the Constitution.

Michel Martelly, ex-carnival star elected president in 2011, restored Haiti’s armed forces in 2015. On February 7, 2016, he ended his mandate without a successor, after the cancellation of the first round of the presidential election in October 2015 due to disputes and massive fraud.

The Parliament then appoints the president of the Senate Jocelerme Privert as provisional president.

• Jovenel Moïse, a president contested then assassinated

Jovenel Moïse, invested president in 2017 after a long electoral crisis, quickly concentrated popular anger, fueled in particular by a rise in prices and then a shortage of fuel. In 2019, he was charged with “embezzlement” before taking office.

From 2020, without a functioning parliament, the president governs by decree.

While justice decrees that his mandate ended on February 7, 2021, Jovenel Moïse remains in power, estimating that he had one year left, because he had been elected in a poll canceled for fraud, then re-elected for one year. later.

On Wednesday July 7, Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home, two days after the appointment of a new Prime Minister responsible for organizing elections.

• One of the poorest countries in the world

Haiti remains the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean and one of the poorest in the world, according to the World Bank, with 60% of its population below the poverty line.

It is ranked 170th out of 189 by the United Nations Development Program for its human development index.

Its GDP contracted by around 3.8% in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the already weak economy and political instability, according to the World Bank.

It is one of the few nations that has not yet started its vaccination campaign against Covid-19.

In this very unequal country, the majority of the inhabitants do not have access to basic health care.

• A country not spared by earthquakes and hurricanes

Haiti is very vulnerable to natural disasters, to which 96% of its population is exposed, according to the World Bank.

On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and its region, leaving more than 200,000 dead, over 300,000 injured and 1.5 million homeless.

Much of the billions in international aid pledged never arrive, and the country’s recovery efforts have been hampered by political instability.

In 2018, a scandal broke out concerning the sexual abuse committed by some employees of the British NGO Oxfam after the earthquake.

In addition, more than 10,000 Haitians have died of cholera, introduced into the country in 2010 by Nepalese peacekeepers.

In 2016, Haiti was devastated by Hurricane Matthew – more than 500 dead and nearly $ 2 billion in damage.

With AFP