Haiti

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Haiti occupies one third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and also includes many smaller islands, such as La Gonâve, La Tortue (Tortuga), Les Cayemites, Île de Anacaona, La Grande Caye and Navasse. Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The total area of Haiti is 10,714 square miles (27,750 km²) and its capital is Port-au-Prince.

The country has gone through many turbulent times; from the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the slave trade to American occupation and recently the kidnapping and coup of then President Aristide and the continuing violence of occupation the people of Haiti have struggled for their dignity and freedom.

Haiti has many distinctions, including being the first independent black nation as well as now being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, ravaged by imperialism, poverty an AIDS epidemic and more.

1 Radical History
2 Current Situation
- 2.1 External Links

[edit] Radical History

Hispaniola was originally inhabited by the Taino and Arawak peoples. Contrary to popular belief, the island had some 100 million people living there. Upon the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the crew of the Maria the Spaniards were greeted and in fact saved from their inaccurate hopes of a quick trip to the East by the peoples of the island.

[edit] Spanish Rule

Rather than reciprocating the generosity of the Tainos the Spaniards responded with a gruesome campaign of slaughter and enslavement. As a result, the native population plummeted over the next quarter-century. Many have identified the Spanish behavior as genocide. Because of the decimated indigenous population, the Spanish began to import African slaves to search for gold on the island. Spanish interest in Haiti waned, however, after the 1520s, when vast reserves of gold and silver were discovered in Mexico and South America.

Fearful of pirate attacks, the king of Spain in 1606 ordered all colonists on Haiti to move closer to the capital city, Santo Domingo. However, this resulted in British, Dutch and French pirates establishing bases on the island's abandoned northern and western coasts. French settlement of the island began in 1625, and in 1664 France formally claimed control of the western portion of the island. By the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain ceded the western third of Haiti to France. France named its new colony Saint-Domingue.

While the Spanish side of the island was largely neglected, the French side prospered and became the richest colony in the Western Hemisphere, exporting large amounts of sugar and coffee. French colonial society contained three population groups: Europeans (about 32,000 in 1790) who held political and economic control; the gens de couleur, some 28,000 free people of color (about ½ of mulatto background) who faced second-class status; and the slaves, who numbered about 500,000 [1]. (Living outside French society were the maroons, escaped ex-slaves who formed their own settlements in the highlands.) At all times, a majority of slaves in the colony were African-born, as the brutal conditions of slavery prevented the population from experiencing growth through natural increase[2]. African cultures thus remained strong among slaves to the end of French rule.

[edit] Independence

Inspired by the French Revolution, the gens de couleur pressed the colonial government for expanded rights. In October 1790, 350 revolted against the government. On May 15, 1791, the French National Assembly granted political rights to all blacks and mulattoes who had been born free - but did not change the status quo regarding slavery. On August 22, 1791, slaves in the north rose against their masters near Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien). This revolution spread rapidly and came under the leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture. He soon formed alliances with the gens de couleur and the maroons, whose rights had been revoked by the French government in retailiation for the uprising.

Toussaint's armies defeated the French colonial army, but then joined forces with it in 1794, following a decree by the revolutionary French government that abolished slavery. Under Toussaint's command, the Saint-Domingue army then defeated invading Spanish and British forces. This cooperation between Toussaint and French forces ended in 1802, however, when Napoleon sent a new invasion force designed to subdue the colony; many islanders suspected the army would also reimpose slavery. Napoleon's forces initially were successful at fighting their way onto the island, and persuaded Toussaint to a truce. He was then betrayed, captured and died in a French prison. This backfired on the French, as it motivated Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, leaders of separate military factions, to resume the rebellion. Napoleon's forces were further troubled by a yellow fever epidemic that swept through the island.

Dessalines's army defeated the French forces at the Battle of Vertières on November 18, 1803. On January 1, 1804 the nation declared its independence, securing its position as the second independent country in the New World, with Dessalines as its first ruler. The name Haiti was chosen in recognition of the old Arawak name for the island, Ayiti.

The new State of Haiti supported the abolitionist cause wherever possible. Haiti aided Simón Bolívar, allowing him refuge and supporting his revolutionary efforts under the condition he free Latin America's slaves. The slaveholding powers surrounding Haiti isolated the new nation under a cordon sanitaire, fearing slave revolutions of their own. The Haitian Revolution is thought to have inspired numerous slave revolts in the Caribbean and United States. The blockade was virtually total. The Vatican withdrew its priests from Haiti and did not return them until 1860. France refused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs, to compensate for the losses of French planters in the revolutions, in 1833. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

In 1806, Dessalines, by now Emperor, was murdered in a power struggle with political rivals who thought him a tyrant. The nation divided into two parts, a southern republic founded by Alexandre Pétion (mulatto), the world's first independent black republic, while the north became a kingdom under Henry- Christophe. The idea of liberty in the southern republic was as license, a fondness for idleness shared by elite and peasant. Christophe believed that liberty was the opportunity to show the world that a black nation might be equal, if not better than the white nations. Consequently he worked the field hands under the same unrelenting military system he developed under Toussaint. He also built for himself eight palaces including his capital Sans Souci and the massive Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Western hemisphere.

In August 1820, King Henry-Christophe suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. When the news spread of his infirmities, the whispers of rebellion, deceit and treachery began. On October 2, 1820, the military garrison at St. Marc led a mutiny that sparked a revolt. The mutiny prempted a conspiracy of some of Christophe's most loyal generals. Some of his trusted aides took him from the palace of Sans-Souci up to his Citadel, to await the inevitable confrontation with the rebels. Christophe ordere his attendants dress him in his formal military uniform and on two days desperately tried to raise the strength to lead out his troops. Finally, from the desk he hard barked and snarled orders in these last days he ordered his doctor to leave the room. Shortly after he left, Christophe raised his pistol and shot himself dead through the heart.

Following Christophe's death the nation was reunited as the Republic of Haiti under Jean-Pierre Boyer, Petion's successor. Boyer invaded the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo and united the entire island of Hispaniola under Haitian rule until 1844 when the Dominican Republic obtained its independence.

[edit] American Occupation

Throughout the 19th century, the country was ruled by a series of presidents, most of whom remained in office only briefly. Meanwhile, the country's economy was gradually dominated by foreigners, particularly from Germany. Concerned about German influence, and disturbed by the hanging of President Guillaume Sam by an enraged crowd, the United States invaded and occupied Haiti in 1915. The United States imposed a constitution (written by future president Franklin D. Roosevelt) and applied an old system of compulsory corvée labor to everyone. Previously this system had been applied only to members of the poor, black majority. The occupation had many long-lasting effects on the country. United States forces built schools, roads and hospitals, and launched a campaign that eradicated yellow fever from the island. As their occupation resulted in the centralization of government and industry from the provinces to the capital, destroying the socio-economic fabric of the country and launching an exodus from the countryside, some nationalist rebels, called the Cacos, waged a strong guerilla warfare, headed by Charlemagne Péralte and later Dominique Batraville. As a consequence, the U.S.-controlled government created a National Guard which in future decades would become the Armée d'Haiti and be said to commit many atrocities against its own people. The occupation was ended in 1934.

[edit] The Duvaliers

The Americans left Haiti in the hands of the mulatto minority, but in 1946 Dumarsais Estimé became the country's first black president since the American occupation began. His efforts at reform sparked disorder, and when he attempted to extend his term of office in 1950 (as most previous presidents had done) there was a coup, followed by the second formal Military Council of Government led by Paul Magloire.

In 1957, Dr. François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") came to power in the country's first universal suffrage election; many believed this outcome was manipulated by the army. In 1964, he declared himself president for life. Duvalier maintained control over the population through his secret police organization, the Volunteers for National Security - nicknamed the Tonton Macoutes ("bogeymen") after a folkloric villain. This organization drew international criticism for its harsh treatment of political adversaries, both real and suspected. Upon Duvalier's death in 1971, he was succeeded by his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier (nicknamed "Baby Doc") as Haiti's new president for life. The younger Duvalier regime became notorious for corruption, and was deposed in 1986, ushering in a new period of upheaval.

[edit] Catholic pro-democratic movement

The unravelling of the Duvalier regime began with a popular movement supported by the local church and set in motion by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1983, who before embarking his plane gave a rousing speech ending with an angry exclamation: "Things must change here!" [4] In 1984, anti-government riots broke out throughout the nation and the Haitian Catholic Bishops' Conference initiated a literacy program designed to prepare the Haitian public for participation in the electoral process.

[edit] Aristide

The charismatic black leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president in 1991, but was deposed in a coup shortly after. There followed three years of brutal control by a military junta, before an American invasion in 1994 returned Aristide to power. One of the first acts of the re-installed government of Aristide was to disband the army, to great popular acclaim.

Aristide was succeeded by a close ally and former prime minister, René Préval, in 1996. While Aristide was the first democratically elected president in Haitian history, Préval's administration was most notable for the fact that he was the first person in Haiti's history to be elected president and to serve his complete term, leaving office voluntarily at the prescribed time. Every previous president had either died in office, been assassinated, been deposed, overstayed his prescribed term, or been installed by a foreign power.

Aristide returned to office in 2001 after elections that were boycotted by many of his opponents, who accused his party, Fanmi Lavalas, of counting votes improperly in a previous senatorial election, as well as threatening critics. Aristide denied the charges and accused his opponents of accepting U.S. assistance, and plotting to overthrow his government. The opposition mostly denied this, but many of its members continually called for his early resignation.

[edit] Current Situation

On February 29, 2004, Haiti's elected government led by Jean Bertrand Aristide was overthrown by right wing militias linked to Haitian elites and the US government. After the coup, American, French and Canadian troops occupied the country in order to preserve what had transpired, including the imposition of a puppet government and the abolition of the minimum wage. Elections were held in February 2006, and René Préval was again elected president. A year on, the puppet regime continues to repress Aristide's Lavalas Party, which is the largest and most popular in Haiti. The Canadian RCMP is overseeing the training of the Haitian police, which are committing massacres against the popular movements for democracy and Aristide's return. [1]