Defense Minister Nelson Jobim and Commander of the Army Enzo Peri board a Brazilian Air Force plane headed to Haiti, to join assistance efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake there.

To a lesser extent, there is the manufacture of food products, consumer non-durables, and building materials for the local market and for neighboring Haiti.

Although Dominican relations with its closest neighbor, the Republic of Haiti, have never been extensive, there are signs this would have changed with the government of President Hipólito Mejía.

Dahomey resembled Haiti in many ways, both geographically and culturally, and it was safer to film there than in Haiti.

Mainly or partially francophone or francosphere countries include France, Belgium ( Wallonia is almost entirely francophone, and there is a large French-speaking community in the Brussels-Capital Region and a few bordering municipalities ), Canada ( the province of Quebec is francophone, and there are large French-speaking communities in Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and other Canadian provinces ), United States ( South / Central Louisiana and parts of Maine ), Switzerland, Haiti, the French West Indies and several countries in Africa, including Congo, Burundi, Madagascar and Rwanda, that are former French or Belgian colonies.

Although there was a national census taken in Haiti in 2003, much of that data has not been released to the public.

Since then, and even in recent years, public spokesmen in Haiti as well as international academics and statesmen have denounced this event as the payment of an illegitimate debt, in several cases calling on the French government to repay it ( the French government has never been willing to repay it, though there was a hoax following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake involving a fake website purporting to offer reparation payment on behalf of the French Government ).

As of 2012 there was extensive exploration for commercially viable copper and gold deposits in the mineral belt in northern Haiti but on operations had begun on the numerous and extensive promising propects.

In Haiti, there is a superstition that werewolf spirits known locally as Jé-rouge ( red eyes ) can possess the bodies of unwitting persons and nightly transform them into cannibalistic lupine creatures.

In Haitian Carnival, there are beautiful costumes, floats, Rara parades, masks, foods, and popular Konpa bands known around the world, such as T-Vice, Djakout # 1, Sweet Micky also known as the new president of Haiti Michel Martelly, Kreyol La, D. P.

In Haiti there are also competitions between some band like T-Vice, Djakout # 1, Kreyol La, and Krezi Mizik.

conducted a $ 3 million party-building program in Haiti, training Aristide's political opponents, uniting them into a single bloc and, according to a former U. S. ambassador there, encouraging them to reject internationally sanctioned power-sharing agreements in order to heighten Haiti's political crisis.

Although there were accusations of human rights abuses, the OAS / UN International Civilian Mission in Haiti, known by the French acronym MICIVIH, found that the human rights situation in Haiti improved dramatically following Aristide's return to power in 1994.

Sometime after he had settled in Haiti, he brought his sister Marie there ; she married and had children.

Following a power struggle with Pétion and his supporters in the South, Christophe retreated with his followers to the Plaine-du-Nord of Haiti, the stronghold of former slaves, and created a separate government there.

In some cases, Kongolese slaves carried the celebration to the New World, and there are still celebrations of Saint James Day in Haiti and Puerto Rico.

Dessalines declared Haiti an all-black nation and forbade whites from owning property or land there.

Additionally there is a new emerging model from Haiti: direct carrier / bank co-operation.

In closed session, Sen. Sumner spoke out against the treaty ; having believed there would be difficulty with the foreign nationals, the chronic rebellion that took place on the island, and the African independence of Haiti, recognized by the United States in 1862, would be taken away.

Based principally in Saint-Domingue ( present-day Haiti ), he recruited Acadians, who had been expelled from their homeland by the British during the war, to settle there.

* In 1995 members of the Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force were deployed in Haiti as a part of Operation Uphold Democracy.

Between 2005 and 2009, Cuba, Haiti, and Honduras were the top three recipients of Brazilian assistance, receiving over $ 50 million annually.

The settlements of La Yaguana, and Bayaja, on the west and north coasts respectively of modern day Haiti were burned, as were the settlements of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata on the north coast and San Juan de la Maguana in the south western area of the modern day Dominican Republic.

Two of these chiefdoms, Marien and Jaragua, were on the territory of present day Haiti.

Five of the existing thirteen settlements on the island were brutally razed by Spanish troops including the two settlements on the territory of present day Haiti, La Yaguana, and Bayaja.

160 Poles were later given permission to leave Haiti and were sent to France at Haitian expense.

When Haiti announced that its first direct elections ( all men twenty-one or over were allowed to vote ) would be held on October 8, 1950, Magloire resigned from the junta and declared himself a candidate for president.

Haiti made some improvements on its infrastructure, but most of these were financed largely by foreign loans.

Most were denied entry to the United States and repatriated back to Haiti.

However, the elections were marred by controversy in the Senate race over the calculation of whether Senate candidates had achieved the majority required to avoid a run-off election ( in Haiti, seats where no candidate wins an absolute majority of votes cast has to enter a second-round run-off election ).

Aristide and his wife left Haiti on an American airplane, escorted by American diplomats and military personnel, and were flown directly to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, where he stayed for the following two weeks, before seeking asylum in a less remote location.

On February 29, 2004, a coup d ' état ousted the popularly elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, allegedly with the assistance of the French and United States governments ; U. S. and French soldiers were on the ground in Haiti at the time, recently arrived ( See controversy ).

In 2006, Haiti was ranked as the most corrupt nation out of the 163 that were surveyed for the Index.

In 2010, the following were radio and TV stations in Haiti:

The Taino were at first tolerant of Columbus and his crew, and helped him to construct La Navidad on what is now Môle Saint-Nicolas, Haiti, in December 1492.

Later that year, the 7, 000 surviving French troops were withdrawn from the island, and in 1804 Haiti declared its independence as the second republic in the western hemisphere.

The Army also participated in the Multi-National Force in Haiti in the 90's and were redeployed in 2010.

Saint Domingue became the independent republic of Haiti, and from 1808 onwards Spanish controlled Santo Domingo and Cuba were both opened to British vessels for the first time.

However, concordats were concluded with numerous states such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Tuscany, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti.

Almost immediately after the Aristides were transported from Haiti, Prime Minister of Jamaica, P. J.

CARICOM, an organization of Caribbean countries that included Haiti, called for a United Nations investigation into Aristide's removal, but were reportedly pressured by the US and France to drop their request.

On 7 November 2010, in an exclusive interview ( the last given before his return to Haiti ) with independent reporter Nicolas Rossier in Eurasia Review and the Huffington Post, Aristide declared that the 2010 elections were not inclusive of his party Fanmi Lavalas and therefore not fair and free.

Haiti ’ s justice minister told The Miami Herald the reports were false.