Forty years ago, as a young physician, I did a volunteer year working with The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) serving the people of Haiti. I worked seven days a week and cared for at least 80 patients a day.
Americans have no conceptual grasp of the misery that I witnessed — starvation, dehydration, end-stage tuberculosis and AIDS. A van went through the poor neighborhoods and collected the bodies of all the dead babies. At the end of the day, the van was piled with dead babies. I know this because I saw it myself.
Originally a French colony, The Republic of Haiti was established in 1804 after the only successful slave revolt in history. Many of the imported slaves were from fierce warrior tribes in central Africa, especially the Kongolese. They overthrew their white overlords, slaughtering many of them. Haitian revolutionaries made the BLM (Black Lives Matter) protestors look like the Vienna Boys’ Choir.
Napoleon sent an armada of 50,000 troops to quash this revolt. The Haitian generals knew they had little chance of defeating these soldiers, so they burned their towns and retreated, waiting for the rainy season — biological warfare.
Their strategy worked. The rainy season brought the Anopheles mosquito which brought malaria, decimating the French army. Haitian General Jean Jacques Dessalines grabbed the French flag — a red, white and blue tricolor — and ripped the white out. Today, the Haitian flag is only red and blue.
But by overthrowing colonial rule, Haiti never developed the democratic institutions of other now stable and prosperous Caribbean countries (except for Communist Cuba). Corrupt dictators ran the country and during my tenure there, the “President for Life” was Jean Claude Duvalier referred to as “Baby Doc.” His father, “Papa Doc” was so named as he was a physician and received his medical degree from The University of Michigan.
A coup sent Baby Doc packing in 1986 but the Haitians have been unable to establish a stable government since. This was highlighted by the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Haiti is now in anarchy with various bailiwicks controlled by violent gangs carrying automatic weapons. The most powerful warlord is Jimmy Cherizier nicknamed “Barbecue.” You don’t want to know why. Trust me.
The United States policy towards Haiti has always been characterized by incompetence, greed and racism. We refused to recognize Haiti as a country until 1863 because our government did not want their successful slave revolt to spread. This took a lot of chutzpah since Napoleon was forced to sell the Louisiana Territory to us for dirt cheap because the French army the Haitians wiped out could not protect it as planned.
We occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 ostensibly for miliary reasons, although several Haitians told me that the real reason was the Haitian government owed us money so we seized Haiti’s gold reserves.
Haitians were unfairly blamed by a health care bureaucrat named Dr. Anthony Fauci who publicized the risk factors for AIDS as the 4 Hs — Homosexuals, Heroin Users, Hemophiliacs and Haitians. Fauci theorized AIDS was prevalent in Haiti because of the “African connection.” In actuality, AIDS was brought to Haiti by gay American sex tourists seeking what their trade magazines referred to as “Nubian delights.” This virulent stereotype haunts Haitians to this day and destroyed Haiti’s tourist industry.
The Clinton Foundation used its political clout to exploit the 2010 earthquake to raise money for itself and their cronies while little went to Haitians.
There are multiple other examples, but you get the point.
The Biden administration’s response to this humanitarian disaster is to allow Haitians to illegally enter the country. This will be a net plus for the United States as Haitians are hard workers. The typical Haitian immigrant after five years has a mean income of $53,000, slightly lower than the average white family. This is truly remarkable given that most of these immigrants have little to no education and speak a language few non-Haitians speak — Haitian Creole.
But Haiti has a population of 15 million. It is not feasible to allow huge numbers to enter the United States. Furthermore, we are robbing Haiti of its most ambitious and productive citizens whose presence in large numbers will lower the wages of our working class.
A much better solution is for the United States to lead an international peace keeping force to stabilize the country. Once this is done, a referendum needs to be held in which at least 65% of Haitians must agree to allow us to stay. If not, we should leave.
I suspect the Haitians will vote overwhelmingly for us to remain. American corporations could rebuild their infrastructure. We could give companies such as Apple tax credits to set up manufacturing plants there instead of subsidizing our enemy China.
When I lived in Haiti, I found them to be the kindest and most polite group I ever had the pleasure of serving. They are remarkably upbeat and tolerant despite how they have been abused and exploited by outsiders.
With Haiti stabilized and safe, many Americans would flock to Haiti to help — especially Generation Z. Within several decades, it would be a paradise with a well-nourished population, improved health care, nascent industries and booming tourism. Other Caribbean islands except for communist Cuba are thriving. Haiti should join them. And we can make it happen.
Joseph Bentivegna M.D. is an ophthalmologist in Rocky Hill. He wrote a book about his experiences in Haiti entitled, The Neglected and Abused: A Physician’s year in Haiti.