Bill Quigley: Why the U.S. Owes Haiti Billions - 2 views
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Why does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.” The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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Paul Allison on 19 Jan 10This is right on the mark. How did I get students to understand the difference between charity and justice?
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Why does the US owe Haiti Billions?
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A powerful country with a failing economey, that gets into way too much business all around the world.
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Why7 do we owe haiti billions of dollars? I know haiti is poor, this is why?
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Maybe if the US had paid them back this money, then perhaps they would not be in such bad shape right now.
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US had get too much from haiti already, so they own haiti billion not really a very big problem
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“Pottery Barn rule.
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when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country.
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The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.
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The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
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Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.
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From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” - now translatable as against human rights for their people.
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Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.
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active in human rights
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Then the US dumped millions of tons of US subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture
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This is reparations. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a 1truly just response
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President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone
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By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world market for US rice.