HAITI in Brief:  An Historical Overview The Republic of Haiti occupies the Western third of the mountainous Caribbean island that Columbus called “Española” (or Hispaniola) upon his arrival there in 1492. The original inhabitants, Arawak and Taino peoples, called the island “Ayiti” meaning “land of green mountains”.  Following Columbus’ conquest the native population diminished from nearly 1 million to fewer than 60,000 in little more than a decade. Within two generations the indigenous population numbered fewer than 500. Failing to find much silver or gold on the island, Spain quickly lost interest in this first colony in the New World.  French pirates  (”buccaneers”) soon established a refueling station on the Western part of the island and eventually began a permanent settlement there. The Western third of the island was formally ceded to France in 1697 and the French colony of St. Domingue quickly became the most prosperous colony in the New World (the “pearl of the Antilles”), with its valuable crops of sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo and cotton cultivated under brutally harsh conditions by hundreds of thousands of slaves imported from West Africa. What began as a general uprising of slaves in 1791 grew quickly to become a bloody, full-scale war of liberation that resulted in the abolition of slavery and the re-unification of the island under General Toussaint L’Ouverture in 1801.  An expeditionary force from Napoleon’s army arrived in 1802 to restore control of the richest colony in the New World to France, but met a crushing defeat at the hands of an army of former slaves determined to wrest their freedom at any cost.  Independence from France was declared on January 1, 1804 and the first Black Republic in the world was born and given back the original Arawak name “Ayiti”. The history of this republic has been troubled and violent, marked by coups and counter coups, military dictatorships, and sometimes savage, violence, not unlike many (or even most) of the independent countries emerging from colonial domination in the 19th. century. Haitian politics during the last half-century was dominated by 30 years of dictatorship under François (“Papa Doc”) Duvalier and his son, Jean Claude, followed by a succession of military rulers. A brief glimmer of democratic government shone through the remarkable popular election of December 1990 when a Catholic priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was elected president by an overwhelming majority in what are generally regarded as the first free and fair elections Haiti has seen in its two hundred year history. Despite a promising beginning, democracy in Haiti was short-lived. A violent military coup d’etat overthrew the Aristide government and plunged the country into a period of renewed brutality and repression.  Following an ineffective international embargo and an equally ineffective blockade, the US sent more than 20,000 troops to Haiti in September 1994.  Hours before the invasion began the military accepted a negotiated settlement that would result in Aristide’s return to office under the protection of a strong UN military presence dominated by US forces. After Aristide’s term expired elections in 1995 resulted in a peaceful democratic transition, but the new government struggled against international pressures and internal economic and social challenges.  After a succession of prime ministers it drifted without real leadership until the elections of 2000 that returned Aristide and his Lavalas political party to power.  An ongoing dispute between the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) over the manner of counting votes for 9 seats in the Senate has lead to the withholding of loans to the Government of Haiti and has resulted in the virtual non-functioning of the government since May 2000.  The economy has suffered greatly as indicated dramatically by the exchange rate for Haitian currency going from 25 gourdes to the US dollar to over 40 gourdes to the US dollar. In 2003 gasoline is selling for about US $3 a gallon.  Other basic commodity prices have increased multifold. Local food production is stagnated and, in some areas, declining. Malnutrition has increased and hunger is becoming a serious problem even in the capital city of Port au Prince. In the countryside deforestation, soil erosion, and climatic changes threaten sustainability.  The political situation has been marked by violence on both sides with accusations and counter-accusations becoming more frequent. The task of reversing these trends in the face of overwhelming obstacles is staggering and the prospects for change at the national level are grim. In spite of these tremendous obstacles there are some signs of hope coming from a few grassroots peasants organizations. These associations of peasants are part of a grassroots phenomenon that began with the flourishing of Christian “base communities” (Ti Kominote Legliz, TKL) after the 1978 assembly of Latin American Catholic Bishops. This Haitian movement contributed to the fall of the 30 year Duvalier dictatorship and later shaped the beginning of democratic government in Haiti. A striking example of the difference such grassroots associations make in rural Haiti is found in Fondwa, a region located some 90 minutes drive South West of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.  There, among six villages having a combined population of more than 40,000, the approximately 400 members of the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF) have been working since 1988 to empower the people of that region to assume responsibility for improving life for themselves and for the larger community around them. APF members have worked together for more than a decade creating infrastructures including access to roads, health care and education, various kinds of financial services through a branch of Fonkoze (Haiti’s alternative bank for the organized poor) and technical assistance, especially relating to agricultural activities.  By doing so they are improving the quality of life for the entire region of Fondwa. The APF is developing a model of sustainable rural development that can be applied to other parts of Haiti and to other impoverished countries as well. Partners In Progress (PIP) is working “men nan men” (“hand in hand”) with APF in order to overcome lifetimes of misery, decades of environmental degradation, and chronic scarcity of resources. This work is truly “transformative” and an authentic sign of HOPE in a tortured land! Learn More: Agroforestry and sustainable resource conservation in Haiti: A Case Study