The Bifurcation of Hispaniola

Amidst the horror, criticism, and yes, punditry, only cursory attention has been paid to the forces that made Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, even before the earthquake. Haiti’s woes were not a foregone conclusion: over two centuries ago it became the second independent country in the Americas. As a colony Haiti accounted for about half of France’s foreign reserves. What happened? The Dominican Republic, which occupies the eastern side of the island of Hispañola, offers a standard of comparison.

Spanish is spoken in the DR, a glib observation no doubt, but one with vast implication. Spanish is the world’s second most widely spoken language, including over half of the Americas. Meanwhile, some 85-90% of Haitians speak Haitian Creole, leaving the country in a state of “linguistic isolation,” argues Jared Diamond, in his forthcoming book Natural Experiments of History. This not only impedes Haiti from integration with other parts of the Franco-sphere, save a few Caribbean outposts, it has nursed a chasm with Haiti’s elites, who speak formal French.

Environmental reasons also play a factor. Haiti is steeper than the DR, hence more prone to land slides and soil erosion, and drier, Hispañola’s rains come from the East, blanketing the DR before reaching Haiti. With scant natural resources and twice the population density of the DR, Haiti has few competitive advantages.

Still, Haiti’s retardation was not foreordained. Government has played a huge role. Two generations ago, a pair of ruthless strongmen, Rafael Trujillo in the DR, and Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier in Haiti, ruled each side of Hispañola. Trujillo was a cruel dictator, ruling from the 1930s until his assassination in 1961, but he sat in well with the US until the twilight of his reign because he was an ardent anti-communist. The DR progressively developed trade links to the outside world as Trujillo personally owned most of the nation’s exporting industries, from chocolate factories, to shipping lines, to timber. Calculating that he would stay in power for a very long time, Trujillo brought in Swedish advisors to make forestry sustainable in the DR. The plan worked. Thus, Trujillo left an economic legacy for the DR as democracy took hold after his death.

Papa Doc, on the other hand, loathed the United States. The invasion of US Marines in 1915, and a series of US-installed puppet governments over the course of the next two decades, forged his political views. Duvalier became a devotee of the anti-colonial négritude movement, and espoused Vodou. These antecedents bucked Duvalier’s political rise, but they did little to warm relations with foreign powers, or investors. After harshly (and bizarrely) quelling a coup attempt, and misappropriating aid money, the US cut off economic assistance to Haiti in mid-1962. Aid was soon renewed to help combat communism in Haiti. Foreign aid, dispersed under the reign of the Duvaliers (after Papa’s death, “Baby Doc” succeeded his father, until he was forced into exile in 1986), became the lifeblood of venal officials and family cronies.

Weighing these factors, some will home in on geography, others on language. Still others, like Jeff Sachs, insist that the United States has made Haiti a basket case. All played some part, but I believe that domestic governance, especially in the recent past, accounts for the disparity between the two sides of Hispañola. Half a century ago the DR was maybe 25% richer than Haiti–now the DR is six times richer than Haiti. Under his reign, Trujillo sought riches through trade. The Duvaliers were contented to raid the treasury. Haiti continues to pay the price.