Anthony, Che Guevara (among many others) has made the same point about Latin America and the Caribbean more broadly. Would you argue that aside from the level of poverty that Haiti is somehow distinct?

And not to be a wet blanket, but would you mind operationalizing ‘nation’? I have a real intellectual curiosity about how people use the term.

Reframing the question why is Haiti so poor is of particular importance. We might better ask why are there virtually no functioning social institutions and no reliable infrastructure in Haiti? For example, the pre-disaster national highway along the southern peninsula showed no significant improvements since 1985 despite there being numerous projects at improving Haiti’s highways and bridges including a major U.S. AID food-for-work initiative in the mid-1990’s. There always seems to be a road or bridge project by this agency or that country with no long-term improvements. Road repairs are simply never maintained and they quickly deteriorate. The Government of Haiti has never, or never been allowed to, develop an organization capacity for maintain roads. The lack of institutional commitment and organizational structure holds true for schools and health care facilities as well. In rural Haiti, nearly all education and health care needs are delivered by expatriate non-governmental organizations. The cultural implications of expatriates delivering core developmental and medical needs are profound. Rural Haiti is one of the least developed areas in the Western hemisphere — paved roads, electric grids and public water systems are nonexistent outside of provincial towns like Cap Haitian or Les Cayes. The Haitian central government bestows virtually no funding to rural areas, and provides no public services except for tax collection and judicial facilities – both being notoriously arbitrary and capricious.

An enlightening rhetorical response to why Haiti is so poor is why is 99% of Haiti so poor? We must not lose sight that Haiti has a small-scale very wealthy, very well schooled, very political astute elite caste. One cannot understand the Haitian situation without understanding Haitian elite’s very close ties with the U.S. Embassy. No one from any political stance can reasonably deny the U.S. role in the anti-Aristide coups. The fact that the Government of Haiti and the Haitian elite have been in absentia since the quake attests to their inability for civic engagement with the people of Haiti. The fact that in the days following the earthquake the U.S. Department of State confirmed signing two Memoranda of Understanding with Haiti to control its air space, to off-load all aid, and to give authority for U.S. medical personnel to operate on Haitian citizens attests to Haiti’s unofficial protectorate status vis-à-vis the U.S. The most important question may be, as Michel-Rolph Trouillot might ask, why has the Haitian state historically acted against the Haitian nation? As events unfold let us be vigilant to document if Haiti will be rebuilt for the Haitian state or for the Haitian nation.

http://newsfromthezona.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-am-screaming.html