According to ehistorylib, in 2005, Haiti had a population of approximately 8.5 million people, composed of mainly African and French nationals. The main language spoken was French, with other regional languages having official status in certain areas. The economy in 2005 was largely based on agriculture and services, with a strong emphasis on exports. Foreign trade was an important part of the economy and Haiti had strong ties to its Caribbean neighbors as well as other countries around the world. Foreign relations in 2005 were mostly positive with the country having diplomatic ties to most countries around the world. Politically, Haiti was a republic under President René Préval who had been in power since 2006 following elections which saw his Lespwa party win a majority of votes. In 2005 there were multiple political parties operating in the country including both left-wing and right-wing parties as well as a free press which helped to ensure press freedom.
Yearbook 2005
Haiti. After many postponements, at the end of November, President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gérard Latortue decided that the elections for the presidential post and the 129 seats in Congress, originally scheduled for November 13, would be postponed yet again to early 2006. A major problem in the now several The years-long political crisis in Haiti has been to persuade President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party to stand in the elections. FL leaders said that some form of political gesture is required, such as releasing Aristide’s former prime minister Yvon Neptune, who has been incarcerated since July 2004. On the other hand, the electoral authority refused to register the equally imprisoned priest Gérard Jean-Juste as FL’s presidential candidate, which aggravated the conflict.
According to countryaah, Port-au-Prince is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Haiti. Political violence, although it is not always easy to distinguish it from ordinary crime in Haiti, has continued between criminal elements, including gangs of former police and soldiers, and the regular police and UN peacekeeping force MINUSTAH.
- Also see abbreviationfinder.org for how the acronym HT stands for the country of Haiti and other meanings of this two-letter abbreviation.
1803 Independence
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, with the assistance of Henri Christophe and mulatto Alexandre Pétion, took over the leadership of the liberation struggle and radicalized L’Ouverture’s strategy. After a series of heroic campaigns, they succeeded in creating unity between blacks and mulattoes, which forced the French forces to capitulate, and on November 28, 1803, Haiti was able to declare itself independent. The country thus became the first independent state in Latin America.
Dessalines gave his government a strong nationalist orientation, but at the same time sought to consolidate its own power by forming an autocratic state, similar to the one under development in France at the same time. Like Napoleon, Dessalines declared himself Emperor under the name of Jacques I. Pétion and Christophe immediately began conspiring against him, and in 1806 he was killed.
The western part of the island was recaptured by Spain (Paris Treaty of 1814), while in the west fierce power struggles took place between Christophe and Pétion, which resulted in a division of the country. Henri Christophe established in the northern part of Haiti a republic that was subsequently converted into a kingdom – he crowned Henri I, (1811-1820). In the south, Alexandre Pétion ruled a republic (1808-1818), which provided great money and weapons for Simón Bolívar’s rebellion against the Spaniards in Venezuela. Pétion was convinced that only the entire freedom of America could guarantee the freedom of Haiti, threatened by both the European colonial powers and the United States.
In 1818, JPBoyer was elected president to replace Pétion. In 1820, Boyer recaptured the northern part of the country and put an end to Christopher’s monarchist experiment. Two years later he conquered Santo Domingo (in the eastern part of the island), thus obtaining a fragile union of the two parts of the island, which lasted for the following 25 years. But in 1843, the Creole population of Santo Domingo carried out a revolution that led to the definitive division of the island into two sovereign states: the Dominican Republic in the east and Haiti in the west.
Despite the permanent political violence experienced by the country throughout the 19th century, foreign companies found ways to penetrate the Haitian market and built ports, railways and acquired rich plantations. But the new means of transport and communication merely contributed to making the country’s wealth even faster, towards the industrialized countries. This unequal trade swap plunged the country into debt, making it increasingly dependent on its lenders – especially in the United States.
In 1867, a bloody civil war takes place, and the period thereafter is marked by great political instability and economic crisis that continues until the United States in 1915 sends its marines in and militarily occupy the country, citing that it has not “fulfilled its obligations”. The following year, the United States invades the Dominican Republic, bringing the island as a whole under its control.
The US invasion of Haiti is heroically resisted by the “Revolutionary Army” led by Charlemagne Péralte, who in 1919 is betrayed and murdered. But the North American troops ultimately crush the resistance, control the life of the country, transform it into its colony and keep it occupied until 1934. This year, President Vincent succeeds in getting the United States to withdraw his troops, but the superpower continues to interfere in Haiti’s internal affairs.
