In part because Haiti's political class has zero desire to change things.
In part because they have become experts at taking a mess and making it a bigger mess. The Haitian government has over 200 years under their belt doing just that. You can't teach new tricks to an old dog sort of thing.
In part because the DR is right next to them with all that land.
I remember reading an old letter once where a group of high class Haitian mulattoes clamoured to the then French Ambassador in helping them turn the eastern part of the island into a refuge for the mulattoes wishing to get away from the threats of the blacks.
This also brings to mind what supposedly Thomas Jefferson (one of the founding fathers of the USA) once said: Lets make sure that mess (aka, the Haitian Revolution) stays on that island.
Even before the Haitians took over their part of the island and sent the French either away or a few feet underground, the French often wrote of how much more superior they were than the Spaniards of the east and that was more than enough reason to justify why they should had the entire island to themselves. They said that the French knew how to make the most use of the island while the Spaniards lived a life resembling a 'vegetable' where the entire focus of life was worrying of the afterlife (religion was the centerpiece of life on the eastern part of the island). While the Spaniards lived a tranquil and modest life revolving around simple pleasures and religion, the French saw that immense territory with dollar signs all over the place, if only they had control of it to make those dollar signs a reality in their pockets.
There's this French guy named Weuves (if anyone know where I can find a copy of his writings about the island, let me know; I have only read about him in writings by various Spaniards/Dominicans from colonial times) that was cited saying that he felt disgusted every time he had to visit the Spanish part of the island for business, because the Spaniards thought nothing about having people of color in several political positions and even as priests. According to Weuves, that was one of the reasons why the Spanish part was so much poorer than the French part, all those impure people 'in control of the first orders of society'. The French part was under a completely white government, hence kept things prosperous, according to him. He even criticized the relaxed treatment the Spaniards gave their slaves, treating them as if they were people instead of mere property; and he hated the fact that Spanish law stipulated that any runaway slave from the French part was free as soon as they stepped on Spanish (now Dominican) soil and couldn't be forced back into slavery nor returned to their French owners.
In the end, the 'superiority' of the French did wonders in creating one huge mess. And, of course, the poor Spaniards on the eastern side were left with the broken plates.
Now that's what I call a f**ked up deal. Cleaning up someone else's mess. Not cool, but it has been going on for a long time and modern signs suggest it will not end soon. For many around the world that are aware of the existence of the island, the DR is Haiti's solution. No one is thinking what would happen if the DR was to degrade to the level of Haiti. What territory will become the solution to the island?
Aaah, those crickets do sound nice. LOL
