THE RANSOM: WHY DOES FRANCE HAVE TO PAY BACK BILLIONS TO HAITI?

In La Rançon, Mr. Fleury explains how France forced Haiti to pay ninety million gold francs for the recognition of its independence, and how the payment of this debt hindered and mortgaged the future of the nation.The author concludes by saying that France must repay the "double debt" that Haiti has paid. Cooperation is a first solution, especially in the areas of education, culture, higher education and research, public health, agriculture and sustainable development.In addition, says the author, France must help Haiti in the process of a total revision of the ultraliberal economic policies that have been strangling it for years and years. Policies dictated by international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO in which France plays a leading role.