Ransom or the double debt of Independence?” New York Time journalist Catherine Porter reports

It is a series of articles that has caused a stir in the press as well as in other spaces constituting the Haitian public opinion. Invited exclusively on the platforms of Zoom Haiti News to report on the work of his team, the journalist of the New York Times Catherine Porter reported on a work of investigation on “more than 200 years of injustice”.

For this experienced journalist who has traveled to Haiti more than thirty times, the idea for this investigation came after reading a book by historian Laurent Dubois on the double debt of independence while trying to understand the causes of Haiti’s poverty, of which corruption is the main cause.

Her desire to understand Haiti’s poverty increased in 2019 during the demonstrations organized throughout the country to demand the resignation of former president Jovenel Moïse, who died on July 7, 2021. From there, she wondered ”why Haiti is so poor, unlike the Dominican Republic and other islands in the Caribbean region”. It took us more than a year to complete this work. To achieve this we read many books, reports and consulted other official documents,” she said.

After the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, our editor was more interested in understanding this story of ransom or double debt of independence” explains the one who speaks in French with an English accent.

After more than a year of meetings with historians and other Haitian specialists, we finished our work. We traveled to France, the United States, and Haiti, and worked with economists to study and understand the numbers (…)” says New York Times reporter Catherine Porter.

The interest of this series of articles?

Regarding the interest of the New York Times to carry out this investigation, the journalist indicates that her team is part of a media (New York Times, editor’s note) “used to carrying out investigations on corruption, on heads of state and government”, while specifying: “we do investigations that sometimes last 10 years. And in the case of Haiti we have put the same resources to carry out this work. The only difference is that it is a case of injustice dating back more than two hundred years and the effects are still there in Haiti,” she said.

It was difficult to gather information, especially during the Covid 19 pandemic. Our colleague in France traveled a lot in France, especially to Bordeaux. It took him a long time to understand the numbers and account for the data. Journalists and historians also helped us compile the information about this debt,” she says when asked about the efforts made to complete the work.

I must tell you that at the time when France forced Haiti to pay this ransom for independence, other countries continued to build electrical infrastructure, drinking water, which was not the case in Haiti,” she said after consulting the archives and newspapers of the time specifying that “most of the documents were found in France.

The choice of languages for the publication

By publishing these articles in French and Creole, we decided to do this because it is part of the history of Haiti. Although French is an official language in Haiti, the majority of Haitians speak Creole,” said the journalist, before adding that the newspaper wanted to be transparent in the treatment and publication of the investigation. For the moment we are working to make these articles more accessible in order to put them in audiovisual version to facilitate access to a maximum of people possible” says Ms. Porter.

Noting the interest of the New York Times for the issues related to the poverty of Haiti, the journalist Catherine Porter informs that other reports will be published on Haiti on other themes not related to the history of the “debt of independence”.

What about the reaction of the French government

The history of Haiti’s independence debt is very little known by the French. Because it is not taught there. In terms of reaction, President François Hollande spoke of a moral debt in 2015 during his visit to Haiti. On this story, the French authorities refuse the fiscal side.
”We spoke with former French ambassadors in Haiti who recognized that this history of independence debt played a role in the fall of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was the one who brought the issue to national and international public opinion” evokes Catherine Porter.

A rehabilitation of Jean Bertrand Aristide?

This is said in Haiti after the publication of this series of articles in the New York Times. After the publication of the articles we contacted President Jean Bertrand Aristide,” said New York Times reporter Catherine Porter, adding that her team had not received a response from the former head of state. According to her, “the former head of state is pleased to have launched this campaign demanding the restitution of the debt of independence before his ouster from power. Wanting to know if he had the interest to participate in it after the publication of our articles, he pointed out that the work has already been done and that now he is concentrating on activities related to education and the management of his foundation,” says Catherine Porter.

On the gold reserves taken by the United States in 1914 estimated at more than 500 thousand dollars at the time, the journalist informs that this was not the subject of the investigation of the New York Times. However, she said that during the American occupation (1915 to 1934), “the Americans used the same formulas as the French to plunder Haiti and to run the administration of their country”.

Not wanting to comment on the hatred of the West towards Haiti after independence, the journalist of the New York Times Catherine Porter said she noted an attitude of these powers including France, England to want to “punish the country” to prevent other colonies to follow this example at the time.

To the question of whether France will repay the debt of independence Catherine Porter says “we will see what happens. However, she does not believe that this series of articles will harm Franco-American diplomatic relations, given that these two countries are closely linked in the Haiti issue, emphasizing their involvement in the Core Group.

At the beginning of this investigation, the New York Times journalists wanted to understand the origin of poverty, underdevelopment and the lack of infrastructure in Haiti. At the end of the investigation, they came to understand that if it were not for this ransom or double debt of independence, Haiti, like all its counterparts in the region, would be in a much better situation, particularly in terms of school and road infrastructure, health care, etc.

What if France decided to pay back the debt?

In any case, it is the hope of all Haitian society to see the former metropolis return the staggering sum estimated in 2004 by President Jean Bertrand Aristide to more than 21 billion dollars 685 million 135 thousand US dollars. Today the current value of this amount varies between 21 and 115 billion dollars, according to figures published in the New York Times investigation.

Today, some economists and historians such as Georges Michel, in particular, in remarks made on the air of Radio Magik 9 on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, on the program Panel Magik, believe that “this restitution must be made in kind and not in cash, therefore in the form of financing very long-term projects.

It should be noted that since the publication of the series of articles in the New York Times, the issue of the restitution of the independence debt has resurfaced in the media and in public opinion in Haiti in general. In the political class, in civil society and in popular organizations, there are many positions on what they consider to be “an unparalleled financial crime” by France against this young republic that had just been born following the feat of the heroes of independence.

In the past two weeks, several demonstrations have been organized in the capital, including one in front of the U.S. Embassy, to point out the involvement of Western powers in the poverty and the infernal cycle of instability and insecurity in which the country finds itself. Other rallies are planned for next week, this time in front of the French embassy in Port-au-Prince, to continue to put pressure on the restitution of this debt more than two hundred years after the liberation of the country from colonial rule.
While Haitian society and international voices believe that the demand for restitution of the independence debt is legitimate, the government in place has not yet reacted and set the official position of the country about the revelations of the New York Times concerning this story of nearly 200 years.
Some opinion leaders propose that the United Nations be asked to build a case and find convincing legal arguments to force France to return the money. Others believe that it is up to civil society to take ownership of the case given the lack of legitimacy of the government in place.
There is no shortage of proposals to demand this restitution. How to achieve it? This is the biggest question surrounding this sum to be recovered from the former metropolis in a context where poverty, underdevelopment and lack of infrastructure continues to worsen.