Neocolonialism through Debt: How French and US banks underdeveloped Haïti Caribbean Labour Solidarity zoom meeting – Sunday 4th May 2pm London time. All welcome, but you will need to register in advance: https://ucl.zoom.us/meeting/register/UC3PzC3ESYeROPPz9IjYYw
Speakers: Bernard Coard,Steve Cushion and a Speaker from Haiti

[Post courtesy of our Caribbean Labour Solidarity Comrades]. Two hundred years ago, the formerly enslaved population of the French colony of Saint Domingue defeated a French colonial army and declared the independent Republic of Haïti. Twenty years later, a French naval blockade forced the government of Haïti to agree to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate their former enslavers. In order to finance this, the Haïtian government contracted a number of loans from French-owned banks that left the country impoverished and underdeveloped, paving the way for the US invasion and occupation.

Steve Cushion explores how the banks managed to defraud the people of Haïti and examines the corrupt role of the Haïtian political elite in facilitating this. Steve Cushion is a Senior Research Fellow at UCL Institute of the Americas.

Bernard Coard brings the situation up to date and will explain how Debt and Neocolonialism operate in the World today. Bernard Coard was Minister of Finance in Grenada’s People’s Revolutionary Government 1979-1983.