Haiti fought a 12 year war led by slaves and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces, gaining independence from France in 1804. Haiti was the first independent nation from Latin America and the Caribbean, but it was forced to pay a crippling debt to France. Today, it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with a per-capita income of $350, while France is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Bigger Than Five went to Port-au-Prince to meet anti-corruption activist and economist, Emmanuela Douyon, who says it’s time for France to pay back the $21 billion she says it extorted from her country.
Reparations for Haiti | Bigger Than Five
