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A billionaire probably couldn’t afford Haiti. 10 billion perhaps but instead of military means my guess it would have to be someone like an effective altruist who wants to be King. It would have to involve coming in and bribing a lot of people and then spending a bunch on aid. Call it $200 million a year to bribe gang leaders for support and $800 million in aid for half a decade. And then maybe they could establish a near kings power and try to establish sound policy of development.
And think you implied more of a Pinochet military coup with brutal oppression. That wouldn’t seem possible within the American sphere of influence. Though I’m a strong supporter of Pinochet I just don’t think it would as an outsider especially without having Haitian blood or the communists threat to encourage America to not pay attention to methods.
Right, that kind of coup is what I was envisioning but it wouldnt have to be how its actually gone about. The incentives for being the actual ruler (dictator or "prime minister with rigged elections", are the same.
Yea international attention I supposed from CIA and other more secretive international agencies I could see being a major concern.
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Haiti as an asset is probably a net negative - it relies on international charity to stay fed and produces very little of value. Assuming this would-be king was liable for the debts and maintenance of the nation, he should not pay anything at all. If anything he should be paid, and extremely well.
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