Tonight we visit Haiti. I’m calling in a favour. Tonight’s post from Haiti is in the form of a documentary.
There’s a lot I could say about Haiti. For example, Haiti is the most mountainous country in the Caribbean and boasts the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere. The imposing Citadelle Laferrière sits atop the Bonnet à l'Evêque mountain and was intended to thwart potential French incursions after Haiti’s newfound independence.
This isn’t what first comes to mind when thinking about Haiti though. The elephant in the room is how incredibly unlucky Haiti has been. It’s been plagued by more natural disasters than pretty much any other nation on the planet.
Haiti has also been unfortunate to have an ineffective and corrupt government, consistently ranking as one of the most corrupt nations according to multiple indexes.
For today’s post, I think it’s interesting to examine why Haiti is as it is today compared to the Dominican Republic which is thriving. While I could do this, I think Vox do a much better job with their fantastic documentary exploring how the Dominican Republic and Haiti have had such different fortunes despite sharing the island of Hispaniola.
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