During the colonial era the French side was the better-off and much more populated side of the island. It was France's richest colony while the Spanish-speaking side had less than a fifth of the island's population.
During this century Haiti has had enough “progressive” and socialist policies to keep economic development strangled.
Remember, the Haitians made a deal with the French to pay them an indemnity for their slaves ~ and it took them 100 years to pay off the indemnity.
That's not Socialism, but it had pretty much the same effect, so when the Socialists came around to "improve Haiti" they'd already been ground down so thoroughly it couldn't get better ~ ever ~ and it hasn't.
The French should repay them the $22 billion indemnity.