法国总统奥朗德访问前殖民地海地

French President Francois Hollande visited Haiti Tuesday and pledged to help the impoverished Caribbean nation recover from the 2010 earthquake that left much of the island in ruins.

The trip is the first official state visit by a French president to Haiti, the former crown jewel of French colonialism until 1804, when it became the world's first independent black republic after a slave revolt.

But Haiti is now the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, due in part to an 1825 agreement that forced Haiti to pay France compensation for land and slaves lost in the rebellion - a sum now estimated to be as much as $19 billion.

A small crowd gathered outside the Champ de Mars to protest Mr. Hollande's trip, demanding France return the money it forced Haiti to pay.

During a stopover on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe earlier this week, Mr. Hollande admitted that France owed Haiti a "debt," but officials later insisted he was referring to a "moral" debt, instead of a financial one.