You Owe Us $21,685,135,571.48 (France/Haiti)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-8-2003 | Henry Samuel

[blam]

You owe us $21,685,135,571.48

By Henry Samuel in Paris
(Filed: 08/10/2003)

Haiti has demanded that France hand over the staggering sum of $21,685,135,571.48 - today's equivalent of the 90 million francs that Haiti was forced to pay French landowners in 1825 in exchange for independence.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's president, said the sum did not take into account interest, penalties or the suffering and indignity inflicted by slavery and colonisation.

The French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, has rebuffed the demand, saying that the European Union had given Haiti more than $2 billion in aid in recent years. But with the bicentenary of Haiti's independence only months away, the government has refused to back down.

The country is awash in banners, bumper stickers, television adverts and radio broadcasts demanding a return of the money the fledgling state paid French landowners driven out by the slave uprising of 1804. "It's serious, and it's going to intensify," a spokesman for M Aristide said.

[JAWs]

The Hatians are wrongheaded. Getting rid of the damn French is was cheap at twice the price!

[Defendingliberty]

France should send them 20billion worth of Wine the were not buying....and 48cents

[Akira]

Would you like that in 10s or 20s?

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[1066AD]

Aristide looking for a lump-sum retirement payout. One thing's for sure, even if France paid it the ordinary Haitians wouldn't see much of it.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I know. Kind of like all of the money that GM and Intel spent to make Ross Perot go away. A bargain.

[Tempest]

Oh my! Why am I so happy today?! :^D

[per loin]

If the Haitians want some easy money, I can forward them the name of a guy in Nigeria who has a lot of it that he is trying to get out of that country.

[You Dirty Rats]

Haiti is in terrible shape. Nevertheless, if they can find a boat seaworthy enough to take a few dozen Haitians armed with machetes, they have an even money chance to capture Paris.

[Mark Felton]

Clinton is definitely behind this. Haiti was always a Clinton project.

Reparations have not gained a toe-hold yet in the US after several tries, so Clinton and pals have looked elsewhere in the world to establish a precedent.

By choosing a situation in which France was the target they would most likely gain more domestic sympathy.

This is pathetic, yet worrisome.

If Haiti wants their reparations they must get them the old fashioned way (and the only truly legitimate way)... they must conquer France.

[Ex-Dem]

Now there's an idea...

Has France paid us back what they owe for the Marshall Plan?

[Leo Carpathian]

What happened to Clintoon's Nation Building in Haiti?

[yankeedame]

Aristide looking for a lump-sum retirement payout. One thing's for sure, even if France paid it the ordinary Haitians wouldn't see much of it.

Much of it? Heck, they'd be lucky to see anyof it! Sort of like those blacks here who, when they hear the demand for "reparations" imagin themselves receiving boxes stuffed the hundred dollar bills.

[Cicero]

How about a duel to the death between Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Dominique de Villepin? Dress them in loincloths, tie their left wrists together, and give them each a knife.

I'd pay a quarter to watch it on pay TV.

[Dog Gone]

I hate to be giving the French advice here, but I'd ask Haiti if the deal involves them becoming a colony again and giving the land back to the French colonists.

If you're going to undo a deal, you have to move all the pieces back.

[blam]

"If you're going to undo a deal, you have to move all the pieces back."

That would be one way to get the French to pay. Give Haiti back to the French, lol!

[GeronL]

LOL

Actually the US should take up this cause in the UN

[NotQuiteCricket]

that is too funny. oh ~gasp ~snort ~giggle

"Haiti is in terrible shape. Nevertheless, if they can find a boat seaworthy enough to take a few dozen Haitians armed with machetes, they have an even money chance to capture Paris."

It just had to be said again.

[hoot2]

"Haiti has demanded that France hand over the staggering sum of $21,685,135,571.48 "

will they take a postdated check???