Why Haiti Is So Dangerous And The Dominican Republic Is Thriving

Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Two countries that share an island, and little else. Because while Haiti has been making international headlines of late surrounding its current anarchy, the Dominican Republic is an otherwise pretty wealthy and stable country that makes for a lovely tropical vacation. So why are these two countries so incredibly different? Let's find out!

[rudyyarbrough]

As an airline pilot, I used to fly the Caribbean and landed in both Haiti and DR. From the air the border between the two is so dramatic that you have to rub your eyes to make sure they are working. There is not a single tree in Haiti except around the hotels etc. The rest of the country has been stripped of all growth for firewood. The border is like a green wall on the DR side and a desert on the Haiti side. It looks like it had an A-bomb test site.

[cambiteroswebmaster]

When you mentioned that Haiti received help from all over the world after the 2010 earthquake, you failed to mention the Dominican Republic. We used almost ALL of that year's budget only in help to Haiti, because we knew that if we didn't help them there, they would all come to our side.

[LuisRodriguez-tmld]

I’m Dominican and to all the haters here, we’re obviously not Switzerland but we are still very well off compared to most developing nations. One thing we dont do is go backwards. We might not be “first world” but we’re definitely heading there in a few decades.

Edit: 4.3k likes 👍 Awesome 😎
Good News: DRs doing fine
Bad News: Haiti has gotten worse

[philosopherking]

I'm Dominican and I was born very close to the Haitian border. My grandfather was a capataz in a batey (a sugar mill/processing plant) and he raised my father among Haitian workers and their families, to the point my father could speak Patois without an accent. He was both close enough to the Haitian community to love them dearly but not to romanticize them, or what I call real love. One of his favorite topics until he passed away (coincidentally the day before the Haiti earthquake in 2010), was that by having the only known successful slave revolution in the world, and the ensuing crushing French reparations that lasted for centuries and made sure that Haiti would stay crushed, Haitians became proud but distrustful of European influences. The revolution also didn't abolish slavery as much as it morphed it (both class exploitation and the horrible practice of the restavek persist until this day) The Haitian revolution just changed the color of the despots at the top. After Haitians invaded and were kicked out of the DR, there is a manifest destiny on their part that the "whole island is Haiti", and that is obviously something Dominicans hate. Us Dominicans are our own people, beautifully mixed and proud, with a different language, religion and culture.

While the Dominican Republic, for all its historical trips and slips, embraced progress and democracy, the Haitian vanguard was killed off or silenced while the despots took turns. So yes, Trujillo was the worst dictator in Latin American history (a tall order) but he at least surrounded himself with intellectuals and progressives who created a civil society that, unintended by Trujillo, moved the country toward democracy after his death. Progress and education take generations to take root, and with every passing decade, the Dominican Republic increased its literacy rate, its commerce, trade agreements and most importantly, love for the environment. Haiti did not, as has continued to lag. This disparity breeds a lot of resentment in poor Haitians.

I wish I had a magic pill for Haiti, there are many lovely people there, but the truth is that it will take generations to fix Haiti. Unfortunately, the only way I see Haiti improving is through foreign intervention. And with resources that have already been depleted by Haitian barons and their enablers in the US and Europe, there isn't much left to entice foreign powers to want to attempt it. The international community cannot expect the Dominican Republic to carry the corpse of a dying Haiti.

[tongkatali]

I once watched a Jacques Cousteau episode on Haiti where they dove all around the island and there wasn't a fish in sight. The people killed everything by using cyanide to catch fish and wire fish traps without ropes or markers because someone else would raid them, no size limits or any conservation at all. They also cut down all their trees for charcoal leaving the land wide open to erosion, he had an aerial shot of all the mud running off the shore into the ocean smothering the reefs. Probably the most poorly governed country in the world

[LBJurgens]

I personally know some “doctors without Borders, “ that went to Haiti to help out, and we’re promptly kidnapped, and one was tortured.

[gj]

Haiti isn’t deforested because of the French. A tree can grow quite tall in 30 years. It’s been 200 years since France left. Trees can grow back. The US was quite deforested because they used wood for ship building and wood for heating and even power trains before coal was common. Today the US has more forests than ever since we use less wood and don’t need newspapers. Haiti has no wood because the common people cut down trees for fuel. If they had a power plant they wouldn’t need to do that. However most Haitians have no reliable electricity or gas.

[pilgrimheart]

I realize that this is a channel that focuses specifically on geography, but one must recognize that it’s also the people that make a place what it is, not just geography. The stark contrast between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is a perfect illustration of this. Human beings are not just equally interchangeable units; they have different values, habits, strengths, and weaknesses. This is not only apparent on an individual basis, but also across cultures.

[jimmyohdez]

My family is Dominican and I visit DR every year. While I was in the Navy, I got a chance to go to Haiti and it was insane how poor everyone was. Like, they literally had nothing at all and it was so sad. In my head, I figured they couldn’t be much different than DR but unfortunately, it was worse than I could have ever imagined. Much love to my Haitian brothers.

[cbpd]

Wow! I've never been to Haiti, but visited the Dominican Republic briefly. I have nothing but kind things to say about all the people I met and interacted with, everyone was so friendly and kind.

[RiverRev]

Have you been to Haiti? I ask because when you said Haiti is drier than the DR I had to smirk. It probably does get less rain, but it's drier in the same way that a sponge is drier than a wash cloth. In my lengthy stays, the island gets daily rain. There is a season of less rain, but experientially, it gets plenty wet to be productive. What has done Haiti in is a lack of good agricultural practice. Soil never rests. Crop rotation is never practiced, and erosion from the denuded landscape on limited topsoil has robbed the nation of a future.

[Mannyvz]

Went to DR in May and totally loved it. Visited Puerto Plata and Samana. Can’t wait to visit again. Never been to Haiti.

[jackphillips]

Haiti's current deforestation is aggravated by the population making charcoal to sell as it is a primary fuel there. While it may have roots in Frances' resource export, the current situation is just another symptom of the desperation of the population.

[Dld]

I visited the Dominican Republic about 25 years ago and loved it. People were friendly and the area I was at was very nice. A friend of mine did some missionary type work to help the Haitians after the earthquake. He was on the island when it hit in 2010. One of the things he did for a local church was purchase a used Jeep in the USA for $7, 000 and shipped to Haiti. Once it arrived at the Haitian port they refused to release it to the church until another large sun of money was paid to corrupt port workers. He ended up paying it but was upset because he had planned to send over another Jeep after a few months but due to the corruption at the Haitian port he couldn’t afford too. So the people most out on much needed transportation. Pretty sad that there is so much corruption in the world.

[herbertrodriguez]

I'm Puerto Rican and my Ist time visiting the Dominican Republic reminded me so much of my Borinquen that I would consider moving there permanately

[someguy]

Watching this from Districto Nacional in Dominican Republic, my heart goes out to my brothers and sisters on the West of our border. I pray for the stabilization of Haiti and the people's living conditions🙏

[eikoGoldstein]

Japan has been ravaged by earthquakes and tsunami's for centuries. Its major cities were levelled by American bombing during World War II. Other than timber and rain, it has few natural resources. And yet it is highly advanced today, among the very first rank of nations. So you are going to have to dig a bit deeper to find a satisfactory explanation for why Haiti has been in a downward spiral for over 100 years. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "the problem is not in our stars but in ourselves." A Haitian living in Miami is lucky indeed.

[debbied]

About 15 years ago, my family and I went on a Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean, and we stopped in Haiti at Labadee, its private island stop. Even then, we could see armed men in the hills overlooking the private beach, and one of the first aide people there (I stepped on a sea urging) said that only the week before, his daughter was kidnapped while walking home from school with friends and he had to pay to get her back. He said that happens a lot because the gangs know which families are working and getting ok money and they kidnap those family members for a nominal fee. Crazy stuff.

[James-hbqu]

The right people can turn a desert into a paradise. The wrong people can turn a paradise into a desert. The former admit the mistakes they make along the way while the latter blame others for any mistakes they make.

[gloriadeipatre]

My father was an Optometrist who sold his private practice when he was on the younger side of life. He went to work for an Opthamologist and did refractions (eye examinations) for this Opthamologist.

The Opthamologist went to Haiti every year and took his staff with him.

He performed free eye surgery to the Haitian people and the rest of the staff performed their normal duties for free as well.

Even back then, 1970's-1990's I remember hearing how poor these people were.

This Doctor, was the real deal. He was a kind and generous man, incredibly smart and talented. He followed and acted on his beliefs to help these poor people stricken in poverty.