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France’s president says that making Haiti pay for its independence was unjust (apnews.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Timbits@lemmy.ca to c/world@quokk.au

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French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that historic injustice was imposed on Haiti when it was forced to pay a colossal indemnity to France in exchange for its independence 200 years ago.

Macron also announced the creation of a joint French-Haitian historical commission to ‘’examine our shared past’’ and assess relations, but did not directly address longstanding Haitian demands for reparations.

France ″subjected the people of Haiti to a heavy financial indemnity, ... This decision placed a price on the freedom of a young nation, which was thus confronted with the unjust force of history from its very inception,’' Macron said in a statement.

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[–] yigruzeltil@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

Opportunism indeed. Maybe he's thinking France needs any potential business allies in the future now that the US might be gone out of the picture, although the reconstruction of Haiti and building a consumption-happy middle-class there would take long time... If that's the case, it might be bound to remain a pale attempt compared to China showering investments into African and Asian infrastructure.