When you look at Haitian history, it's amazing to see how far the country's come. But of course, its success was by no means inevitable. Your challenge is simple: screw Haiti.
 

Dolan

Banned
Have King Henry I Christophe being either overthrown in Republican Revolt, or killed by another claimant.

King Henry is neither a Saint nor an Exceptional ruler, but his long life and long reign enabled the newly independent ex-slave colony to become stable before he passed the Throne to his son.
 
A solid 15% of Haitian slaves were tasked with raising white land owners babies and were therefore educated. Once the slaves revolted and formed the kingdom, they had an educated elite right there.

Get rid of that 15%, and Hati is doomed
 
Charles X wanted to invade Haiti as soon as he took over. But a civil war broke out in France between the Constitutionalist and Charles X' forces, lasting for 5 years until 1830. The new regime of Henry V of France had to rebuild France far up in the 1860s under strong Liberal supervision. You can see the lack of real French missions outside Europe between 1825-1875.

Avoid this and Charles will invade Haiti regardless.
 
Prevent farming reforming and Hati will screw itself. Much of Hati’s early wealthy comes from its aggressive farming of cash crops like sugar but that has a side effect of completely devastating the land and soil. Farming reform meant that cash crop market took a blow but also allowed the economy to diversify and more sustainable land use
 
Which Haiti?

Republican Haiti got vassalized by Henry V.

Royal Haiti under King Christophe got its finances together and proceeded to expand and conquer Espana Boba from Spain.

Republican Haiti is an oligarchic mess run by Syrians, Germans, and creoles/persons of mixed-heritage. Royal Haiti is a stable if illiberal polity that's between middle income and developed depending on who you ask.
 
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Haiti's initial conquest of East Haiti/the 'Dominican Republic' got the ball rolling. Without that we have no later interventions in Porto Riche, the Leeward Islands, Jamaica, the Bahamas/Turks, etc. Stop that and stop the rest.

Keep Carlist Spain fron trying to overrun the place in the 1860s and it probably remains quite disunited instead of cohesive. That cohesion let it industrialize and fund the University of the West Indies, beginning its meteoric rise with synthetic chemistry, mechanical/electrical/civil engineering, and desalinization techniques. Also if they do not organize the MesoAmerican Trade Block maybe Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and Central America focus more on the US and less on themselves. That's one reason the average Haiti has a lifestyle comparable to the average in Northern Italy.
 
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