The minimum you must know

Haiti is the second half of the peace-loving Dominican Republic, and a short distance from Florida. The proximity to U.S. shores makes the island-nation seem strategically important to some in the United States. The United States has tried to do a lot for the people there, for instance providing generous relief after weather events. There is also bipartisan support developing in the United States for improving relations with all island-countries. But there is also resistance to improving relations with Haiti, mostly because there are occasional reports of massacres there, such as in December 2024 that a human rights organization said cost over a hundred lives.

Currently the United States does have some restrictions in place, such as on the former President of the country. In August 2024, the United States officially designated “President Michel Martelly for his role in the global illicit drug trade.” This happened very unexpectedly. According to the U.S. State Department website, Martelly facilitated trafficking and sponsored multiple gangs. This allegedly contributed to instability. This was a contrast to the Haitian-American community, who are honest, peace-loving and some of the most respected members of society.

Haiti would love to feel safe depending upon the United States for economic growth and development. Close proximity means U.S. imports and exports can become increasingly important to Haiti. And the United States could easily become credible in Haiti - even the dominant economic and security relationship - by overcoming the opposite perception resulting from less friendly relations with other islands in the region.

Haiti might want to improve the country’s linguistics for two reasons. Haiti has a similar nomenclature issue to several countries in Africa that may be accidentally inciting to Americans. The name of the country sounds a little too close “Hate the.” And this writer would obviously prefer all English-speaking countries to love the island nation than to feel that way. Every time an English-speaking person hears the name, he might feel unhelpful to the people there. Why linguistically disincline helpfulness? So the national name could be changed to something positive instead (such as “Luvee” or something that will subliminally improve foreign relations with Americans). Also importantly, countries with local languages with countless words with “Ki” in them should give some thought to changing the ‘K’ in the vocabulary words in the language to ‘C,’ to avoid accidentally patterning “kill” (when words with “Ki” in them appear too close to words that start with or contain “ll”) to foreigners seeing their local language in newspapers and perhaps even street signs. This isn’t anywhere near as important to Haiti as it is to Rwanda, where five million people lost their lives perhaps because of that patterning. But why not spell words with ‘C’ instead of ‘K’?

(Virtually all sides globally are improving their patterning towards one another. So the island nation won't be alone in improving linguistics. The United States and Europe, for instance, have been patterning love & peace in the news. Cuba dropped inciting vocabulary words from their English-language newspapers almost entirely. And the government patterns peacefully to other leaders.)

The Haitian community in the United States has high hopes of tranquil U.S. Haitian relations. And the United States wants this as well. But the relationship has been framed as military instead of as diplomatic. The truth probably is that Haitians don’t want a U.S. military presence on the island but believe that’s the primary help being offered from the United States - because the U.S. is both deterred by the country and thoughtful of the global balance of power in the relationship with them. So some segments of society invite U.S. military alliance in hopes of avoiding confrontation, while other segments deter any U.S. presence there. Haitians in the United States long for great U.S. - Haitian relations, and wonder why that hasn't happened yet.

There were tragic events in 2021 for the President of Haiti.

Haitians need very helpful international relations after past weather events set them back significantly. Haiti benefited from substantial foreign aid but seeks a continuously successful growing economy with investment and trade from everywhere. The country is in a common path for summer hurricanes, and will encounter more weather in the future. Therefore, the highly creative nation is striving for great friendships at the United Nations, where Haiti has been exceedingly well represented. The United States has helped a lot. And perhaps the United States will respond with increasing civil generosity towards Haiti because it’s morally and ethically the right thing to do. Perhaps the U.S. will pursue closer relations with all islands in the region. (There has been great progress announced recently in this regard.)

The predominant language is Haitian Kreyole. This writer isn't sure whether the words "peace" and "love" appear with similar frequency in English as in Kreyole. Perhaps the currently increasing use of those words in popular culture can benefit Haiti-U.S. relations (following the already very principled example currently being set by Haitian leaders). Haitian leaders are currently doing an amazing job to improve relations with other countries.

The Haitian people are extraordinary. They're advanced, artistically creative, culturally exceptional and peace-loving in the United States. The Haitian community is more than just successfully integrating. They're an important constituency and some of the most respected members of society.