Consider the following situation that Haiti is in:
- Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan
- The richest 1% of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti’s wealth
- The poorest country in the western hemisphere
- The world’s fourth poorest country in the world
- Ranks 146 out of 173 on the United Nations Human Development Index
- Has a life expectancy of 52 years for women and 48 for men
- Adult literacy is about 50%
- Unemployment is 70%
- 85% of Haitians live on less than $1 U.S. per day.
- Haiti ranks 38 out of 195 for under five mortality rate.
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The above statistics hide the fact that Haiti has had problems for decades. Furthermore, since its very beginnings as a modern state some 200 years ago, Haiti has constantly been affected by outside influences and interests, negatively impacting its own destiny.
In addition, coverage of issues in Haiti has often been accompanied by amazing media distortion leading to effects such as minimal or no coverage of problems and massive human rights violations during dictatorial regimes, while demonizing the one democratically elected leader.
Accusations and criticisms of cheap labor, resource exploitation and democracy stifling have been directed at outsiders such as the United States for various reasons, including:
- Support for dictators in recent decades;
- Hostility towards the (former) democratically elected president;
- Various interests of big U.S. companies.
This section looks into some of Haiti’s problems and tries to look at the mainstream media portrayal versus the reality. In addition, the influence of external actors such as the U.S. on Haiti’s destiny is also looked at.
