Imagine fighting a war to liberate yourself from slavery only to find that you are expected to pay your former owners for your freedom
Perhaps FRANCE needs to return all the REPARATIONS money Haiti had to pay them for over a Century. I'm sure Haiti would use that $100,000,000,000 Haiti paid (in modern dollars).
Perhaps FRANCE needs to return all the REPARATIONS money Haiti had to pay them for over a Century. I'm sure Haiti would use that $100,000,000,000 Haiti paid (in modern dollars).
Haiti was forced to pay France an indemnity (often called the "independence debt" or reparations) totaling around 112 million francs nominally.
"Key Details
Initial demand (1825): France, under King Charles X and backed by warships, demanded 150 million gold francs (paid in installments) in exchange for recognizing Haiti's independence (won in 1804 after the Haitian Revolution). This was framed as compensation to former French plantation owners for lost "property," including enslaved people.
Reduction: In 1838, France reduced the remaining balance to 90 million francs, to be paid over 30 years. Haiti paid it off around 1883.
Actual total paid: Due to loans (with high interest and fees) that Haiti had to take from French (and later other) banks to meet the payments, the effective total transferred was approximately 112 million francs, according to a detailed 2022 New York Times investigation that reviewed archives and payment records.
Haiti did not finish settling the associated debts (including interest and later loans) until 1947.
Modern EquivalentsThe payments equate to roughly $560 million in 2022 USD (adjusted for inflation).
Economists have estimated that this drained wealth (plus lost compounding growth) cost Haiti’s economy $21 billion to over $100 billion in potential development over two centuries."
I just to point this out because last time I was in Paris, French communists asked me why I was not ashamed of our history of slavery.
They, without exception had no idea about the above.
I just to point this out because last time I was in Paris, French communists asked me why I was not ashamed of our history of slavery.
They, without exception had no idea about the above.