Por que es Haiti tan pobre?

Aca un pequeño essay contestando. Algunos highlights,

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere because of her history, her present social structures which grew out of her history and because she is caught in the impossible competition of modern economics.

The root causes are the political and economic systems which have dominated Haiti for the whole of her 182 years. These oppressive factors have come from the international community, especially France and the United States. However, the Haitian elite, comprising only 3% of the Haitian people has also been a major factor in creating and continuing these oppressive conditions.

French is the official language of the country. All state business is carried on in French, the schools educate mainly in French. Social prestige is related to the ability to speak French. Yet only about 10% of the people can even get along in French, with less than 5% knowing the language fluently. Creole is the language of the masses. 100% of the Haitians speak and understand Creole as their mother tongue.

One of the results of this oppression of language is a national illiteracy rate which is very close to 90% in the cities, and higher in rural areas.

Legally, education is free and open to all. Actually, state-sponsored education is limited and most secondary or university education goes to the children of the elite. Only about 30% of Haitian children ever begin school, and of the 30%, only 2% stay in school beyond the 5th grade.

Nearly everyone has heard about Haiti's disastrous soil erosion. Haiti is a mountainous country.

Ironically, Haiti, a primarily agricultural land, is a net importer of food.

Electricity is not available except for a tiny percent of the populace.

Haiti suffers many many ills which I've tried to catalogue above. Ironically, one often hears that Voodoo is the major cause of Haiti's misery. I want to address this claim because I believe it is a complete myth.

Aca 118 paginas de indicadores sociales y politicos de Haiti segun el World Bank.