More Misery For This Feeble Country - Haiti Already Struggling With Corruption, Poverty

Even before Haiti's worst earthquake in more than a century caused untold damage and devastated the nation's already-fragile economy, Haiti held the dubious distinctions of being the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished and corruption-ridden country, a combination of circumstances that tended to reinforce each other.

That history now overshadows Haiti's future, as the United States and its partners mobilize an international relief mission to help the country recover and rebuild from Tuesday's earthquake.

"On the edge of despair before the earthquake, Haiti has now fallen into the abyss," said James Roberts, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who served as economic counsel at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti in 2006 and 2007.

Haiti "began with a very shaky start and has had a very destabilizing history ever since," Mr. Roberts said.

Weak government institutions and a culture of corruption, he said, have combined to prevent the country from achieving sustained economic development.

The roots of the country's woes run deep.

In 1804, Haiti became the world's first black republic to declare its independence, after a rebellion by impoverished slaves defeated their French colonial masters. Haiti is the hemisphere's second-oldest independent country.
For generations, however, the vast majority of Haitians have led grim economic lives. An estimated 80 percent of Haiti's 9 million people live below the poverty line, and more than half live in abject poverty.

With a gross domestic product of about $7 billion, the per-capita GDP is less than $800 per year, or barely $2 per day. In addition to widespread unemployment, more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs.

More from The Washington Times story here.