ABSTRACT

A major goal of the United States' export-oriented development strategy for Haiti has been to curtail Haitian migration, especially of undocumented migrants, most of whom have sought refuge and employment in the United States. Export-led development may well transform Haiti's economic and social life over the next decade, but in doing so it offers little either to diminish the dictatorial nature of the Haitian government or to alleviate the poverty suffered by the majority of the Haitian population. According to Harlan Hobgood, director of Agency for International Development (AID) Haiti Mission between 1981 and 1984, the objective of the export-led development strategy is "to reduce the economic desperation which causes emigration". Based on World Bank population projections, AID has predicted that a "major, perhaps massive" migration of Haiti's rural population to urban centers would take place between 1981 and 1991.