The Billions Haiti Paid France Could Really Help Right Now 4.23K Jeff Neumann 08/15/10 02:11PM Filed to: Haiti Haiti France nicolas sarkozy Debts Money Almost 200 years ago, Haiti (Saint-Dominigue) had to pay the equivalent of nearly €17 billion to France for an "independence debt" because of the money France lost after the slave revolt. Some people want France to pay it back.