ABSTRACT
The export-led economic development strategy that international development agencies like the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development are implementing in Haiti is exacerbating the economic and political conditions that cause emigration to the United States. This chapter argues that Haiti’s agricultural and manufacturing export industries must maintain wages at or below the levels in other exporting countries to compete in international markets. A published analysis of the development strategy employed in Haiti in the early part of 1980s and its relationship to international migration provides ample arguments for termination of export-led development programs. Surveys taken by the Cuban Haitian Task Force in 1980 of emigres provided some insight into the individual decision-making processes of Haitian migration. Working with community groups in Port-de-Paix, Cap-Haitian communities have sister cities or support organizations in the United States, Canada and Europe established by earlier migrants.
