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Haiti The Upper and the Middle Classes
The system of public and private monopolies, including
parastatals and import-substitution industries, developed
under
the Duvaliers
(see Growth and Structure of the Economy
, ch. 3).
These industries generated great wealth for a handful of
powerful
families in Port-au-Prince, which resulted in politicized
economic decision making. This elite sector saw itself
threatened
by the fall of the Duvalier regime. Under interim rule,
volatile
competition arose among certain business interests and
military
factions. Key members of the business community backed
Duvalierist presidential candidates who were likely to
protect
the lucrative business privileges established under the
old
regime.
Intermediary classes (those between the wealthy elite
and the
impoverished masses) grew significantly during the
Duvalier era.
François Duvalier's political strategy of appealing to the
black
middle class created a new constituency for political
patronage,
government employment, and the rapid accumulation of
wealth
through the political system. The growth of the black
middle
class was closely linked to the Duvalier era, and it
contributed
to the tremendous growth of Port-au-Prince after the 1950s
(see Demographic Profile
, ch. 7).
The long-standing tendencies toward the centralization
of
wealth and of power in Port-au-Prince greatly increased
during
the Duvalier era. The income gap between upper and lower
income
groups widened, and rural areas suffered accordingly.
Growing
rural-to-urban migration, primarily to Port-au-Prince, and
emigration, especially to the United States, also had an
impact
on the political environment and on aspirations for change
(see Migration
, ch. 7). The Duvalier era saw an unprecedented
level of
emigration to North America along with smaller waves of
emigration to other Caribbean countries, Latin America,
Europe,
and Africa. Emigration had an important impact on Haitian
politics. Emigrés maintained numerous fragmented political
parties in exile. Emigration also caused huge sums of
foreign
currency to enter into the economy through remittances. It
raised
Haitians' consciousness of the outside world, and it led
to
easier upward social mobility for members of the new
intermediary
classes by alleviating competition for scarce jobs.
Data as of December 1989
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