Haiti is the poorest country in Latin America: about 60% of the population lives below the national poverty line (2.41 USD per day) and almost a quarter of the inhabitants suffer from hunger or malnutrition.The country is periodically hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and periods of drought and has essentially been without the conditions for socio-economic development for decades. Just think that about 70% of homes do not have access to a latrine.
In this dramatic scenario, Cité Soleil (Sun City) is one of the poorest and most densely populated municipalities in the capital Port-au-Prince and is developed as a shanty town, one of the largest shanty towns in the northern hemisphere and has over 400,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in extreme poverty.
The area has virtually no sewerage, shops, electricity, health facilities or schools. Most of the inhabitants of Cité-Soleil are children or young adults and in fact the life expectancy in Haiti is 52 years, few people live beyond the age of 50 and the causes of death are due to diseases, such as AIDS, or attributable to violence. The United Nations has described the human rights situation in Haiti as “catastrophic”.
Cité Soleil continues to be plagued by conditions of extreme poverty and persistent unemployment, with high rates of illiteracy. Half of the houses in Cité Soleil are made of concrete with a metal roof, the rest are made of sheet metal.
It is in Haiti that Christopher Columbus landed on his first voyage to the Indies and created the European outpost in the Americas. The entire island became Spanish and the conquerors massacred the native indigenous people. In 1697 the western part was ceded to France, which established its colonial system of exploitation. It imported hundreds of thousands of Africans, in chains. On an August night in 1791, with a secret ceremony in the mountains, the voodoo priest Boukman unleashes the impressive slave revolt, which will be led by the charismatic leader Toussaint Louverture. Historically, this is the only place in the world where the (former) slaves won their war of liberation and abolished slavery.
With the victory over the Napoleonic troops of General Leclerc, Haiti becomes the first independent state with a black population in the world.
It is January 1804.
