Some Revealing Statistics Haiti is the size of Maryland and occupies the mountainous western one-third of the Island of Hispaniola southeast of Cuba. 1 TV per 271 persons. 1 telephone per 126 persons. 1 radio per 2.3 persons. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Poverty is desperate.
Malnutrition is widespread but most escape starvation by scratching out a living as subsistence farmers. History A slave revolt against the French in 1804 created the first black republic in the world. A troubled history of dictatorships and bloodshed have followed. The first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was only in office a few months before being ousted by the army in 1991. Official corruption and widespread human rights violations ensued until the U.S. returned Aristide to power late 1994.