Former French colony demands reparations – RT World News

Haitian interim leader Edgard Leblanc Fils has demanded France “just and appropriate reparations” to compensate for the colonial-era debts imposed on his country. His call to “respect” went viral for other reasons, after he drenched himself with a jug of water during the speech.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Leblanc, the head of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, described his country as “The great victim of a historical injustice that has slowed down its development and burdened its population.”

“This debt has been an unjust punishment that has suppressed the potential of the Haitian people for generations.” Leblanc told this to the UN meeting. Haiti, he said, is “not looking for charity, but for justice, respect for his dignity and his right to a dignified and prosperous existence.”

As Leblanc said the word “dignity,” he raised a large jug of water and tried to drink from it, spilling water all over his suit. Video footage of the incident quickly went viral, with Leblanc apparently being the only speaker at the meeting who drank straight from the pitcher rather than filling a glass first.

However, he quickly recovered and subsequently demanded money from France. Haiti, he said, is looking “the implementation of just and appropriate reparations, which will allow our people to free themselves from the invisible chains of this unjust past.”

Leblanc was referring to a debt imposed by France on Haiti in 1825, 20 years after a slave revolt ended Paris’ rule over the Caribbean country. Under the arrangement, Haiti was ordered to pay France 150 million francs in five annual payments in return for diplomatic recognition and to compensate Paris for the loss of its most productive colony.

Haiti had to borrow money from France and the US to pay for even one installation, effectively creating double debt. When Haiti made its last payment in 1947, the impoverished country was estimated to have transferred a total of 12 million francs, which today amounts to more than 560 million dollars.

Leblanc did not say how much money he is seeking, but activists have previously demanded up to $200 billion, using opaque methods to calculate interest on the $560 million Haiti has paid, plus the potential economic growth hampered by a century of refunds. France has already ruled out any payment of reparations.

Haiti has lurched from crisis to crisis in the decades since its last debt payment. Father-and-son dictators Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier ruled the country from 1957 to 1986, during which time the national debt soared and the Haitian population remained the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere . More recently, Haiti was devastated by a 2010 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people, and the country was plunged into anarchy following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

A confederation of criminal gangs served as de facto rulers of Haiti until the Transitional Presidential Council was created earlier this year to govern the country until a president is elected.