About Haiti

Early History
1492 - 1915

The island of Hispaniola, which today comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was one of several Caribbean islands which Christopher Columbus explored in 1492. He established a makeshift settlement. Soon after, larger waves of Spanish colonists arrived. They established agricultural plantations and enslaved the native population to work the land. The native inhabitants were known as the Taíno. Within mere decades, the entire Taíno population had been exterminated through slavery and smallpox.  An estimated hundreds of thousands were killed, although some speculate millions.

Following this genocide, like other European powers throughout the region, Spain began to bring slave labor from Africa. Africans, in the minds of the colonial powers, were more "robust" and better suited for the harsh working conditions needed to generate more product for the ever increasing supply and demand of products like sugar, indigo, coffee and cotton. In 1697, France laid claim to the western side of Hispaniola that is now Haiti. It became France's most lucrative slave colony, and also its most brutal. Killing slaves during this time was considered no more than family entertainment for the colonial settlers.

Haiti formally renounced its colonial bond with France in January 1804, as the result of the only successful slave rebellion in world history. One leader in the rebellion was Toussaint L'Ouverture, a freed slave. Following his capture and imprisonment in France in 1802, it was Jean-Jacques Dessalines, another leader in the revolution, that led the final victories over France's army of occupation and rid the country of the last remaining colonial power. The newly sovereign nation was named Haiti, or "Ayiti" meaning 'Land of mountains' in the language of the aboriginal inhabitants.

With the aid of the United States, France later coerced Haiti to compensate the slaveowners for the loss of their "properties." From 1825 to the 1950's, Haiti paid 150 million gold franks (some U.S. $21 billion, including incurred interest) as a condition of diplomatic recognition and commercial exchange. This all but bankrupted the country.

The years following the birth of the Republic saw a small group of Haiti's elite vying for control of the country in order to keep business relations open with former colonial powers and to hold onto what meager power they had within the imperialist market. With little investment from these elite into social programs and modern infrastructure for the peasant masses, the population was yet to really reap the rewards of becoming an independent and free nation.

It must be noted that during this period, Haiti was a supporter of the liberation movement in Latin America and a financial contributer to Simon Bolivar's fight to rid Latin American countries of colonial rule. Military coups and dictatorships were a sign of the elite's power in Haiti, but after the US Marines reformed the Haitian Army in the 1930's, the era of the foreign bankrolled coups and puppet governments came to fruition.

Modern History
1915 - Present

Over the span of almost two centuries, Haiti has never known a period free of dictatorships or coups because it has never been free from foreign interference. Haiti has seen three foreign military occupations. From 1915 to 1934, the United States Marines occupied the county. In addition to disbanding the Haitian Army and reforming it as a repressive force against Haiti's own citizen's, they took brutal measures to control state owned enterprise and dissolve the Haitian National Assembly in order to rewrite the constitution.  One edit to the document abolished the prohibition on foreign ownership of land - the most essential component of Haitian law.

1994-95 saw the US military return, and from 2004 to the present, there has been a UN stabilization mission in the country that goes under the operative name, MINUSTAH. This Brazilian led mission was accused of carrying out a massacre in Port-au-Prince's mass slum of Cite Soleil in July 2005 and many times, the Haitian population have staged revolts to rid their country of this occupying force. As of August 2011, Brazil's newly-appointed defence minister, Celeso Amorin, has called for a withdrawal of their UN troops.

A less talked about occupation in Haiti, is the foreign NGO (Non Governmental Organization). Per capita, there are more foreign NGO's and religious missions in Haiti than in any other country in the world. This has led Haiti to be nicknamed "the Republic of NGO's". Some multinational NGO's have been accused of destabilizing Haiti's agricultural industry and economy through food aid and development programs. Up until the 1970's, Haiti was still exporting goods, somewhat self sufficient and were really no worse off than any other country in the West Indies. This changed however when food aid arrived in the country and export laws became overly stringent. This initiative started around the same time that the Duvalier regime opened the door to foreign industrialists who saw Haiti as the new Taiwan and could exploit the population as a cheap labour force.

As a result of these years of foreign intervention, Haiti's history has been punctuated with tyranny, repression, racial animosity, economic hardship. It has also had a major hand in stifling Haiti's political system.

The Duvalier regime was a internationally backed dictatorship that ruled the country through fear and repression from 1957 to 1986. They formed the Ton Ton Macoute's, a militia force better known as a roaming death squad, to round up people who were suspect of having democratic values. The Duvalier's, with the help of the army and the Ton Ton Macoute's, committed endless atrocities against their people for 29 years. Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) was in power until his death in 1971 and was succeeded by his 19 year old son Jean-Claude (Baby Doc). Baby Doc fled the country in 1986, seeking asylum in France and taking with him millions of dollars in embezzled government funds.

In early 2011, Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to Haiti, much to the general populations horror. The national and international community called for his arrest for stealing government funds and his legacy of human rights abuses. He was detained for a short time following his arrival, but was released almost immediately after.  A number of organizations, including the Institute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) are currently building cases to bring him to justice.

When at last the Duvalier's reign had ended, a new popular movement swept the nation, calling for land reform and basic rights for the poor majority. This movement was led primarily by Haitian Catholic clergymen who used the pulpit to preach liberation for the poor and to organize the masses. Leaders and followers of this movement were targets of assassination plots premeditated by Haiti's elite class. One such incidence claimed the lives of hundreds of peasant farmers.

Under yet another provisional military government in 1986, the population banded together to demand a new system of democratic governance be adopted. In 1987 the Haitian constitution was rewritten to provide an elected and decentralized government. Haiti's first free election was to take place on November 1987, but was cancelled when troops massacred voters in Port-au-Prince on election day.

Even running against a candidate that had once worked for the World Bank, one leader in this grassroots movement would rise to become the first democratically elected president of Haiti in 1991. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was a priest that vigilantly stood for the rights of the poor majority, a platform that would earn him 67 percent of the vote.

This desire to dedicate himself to building up the poor class by raising the minimum wage and calling for union rights, did little to gain this leftist president support amongst the elite, the diaspora and foreign industrialists. Seven months after coming to office in 1991, he would be ousted in a military coup d'état for the first time. This savage military force ruled the country until 1994 and carried out countless human rights abuses with impunity. It was US President, Bill Clinton that finally convinced the authorities to let Aristide serve out the rest of his term. Upon his return, Aristide disband the Haitian Army, which had been pitted against the poor since its reforming by the US Marines in the early 1900's. He did however keep the Army's marching band on the payroll.

In 1995, elections were held and once again it was Aristide's coalition, Lavalas Political Organization that had a sweeping victory. Aristide's ally, René Preval, was elected and was the first president to serve out his full term. In 1999, Aristide ran again in the presidential election, this time winning 90 percent of the vote.

Although he was successful in implementing public social programs for the poor, he was soon choked out by the second Bush administration, by process of blocking capitol and development aid from getting into the country. On top of this, the Aristide government was forced to pay interest on these blocked loans.

Soon began a smear campaign led by a civil society group, that was made up of a small number of Haiti's wealthiest families. This organization, calling themselves Group 184, was lead by Andy Apaid - Haiti's most prosperous sweatshop owner and a US citizen. With the help of local and international media, Aristide was made to look like a brutal dictator, although no evidence of his alleged crimes has ever been brought forward.

A US funded rebel army, formed from ex Haitian military, came in from the Dominican border with the purpose of dislodging President Aristide and his government in a coup d'état. As they marched to the Capitol, they indiscriminately terrorized and killed innocent bystanders. When this rebel army finally bared down on Port-au-Prince, some of the cities residents were waiting for them - having constructed roadblocks, as to slow them from reaching the National Palace.

Early in the morning on February 29, 2004, the US military, forced President Aristide and his wife to leave the country. They were exiled to the Central African Republic, then Jamaica and finally South Africa. Aristide supporters were up in arms and demanded his return, but would not be allowed to return until mid 2011. Upon his return, Aristide said he would not run as president again, but rather focus his time on building the education sector through the foundation he had setup during his time in office.

The 2004 coup d'etat was followed by another two years of unrest under a brutal interim government, and once again Haiti descended into violence. Famni Lavalas party members and Aristide supporters were assassinated and imprisoned without trial, and incidence of kidnappings skyrocketed.

Elections were held again in 2006 and it was René Preval who would once again be president. After President Preval's return to office, the political violence and unrest in the country settled, although now, it would be a series of natural disasters that would wreak havoc on the country. This included a number of devastating hurricanes and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that would plunge Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area into chaos.

The earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010 was made infinitely worse due to the hundreds of years of economic oppression suffered by her citizens. Over population, shoddy construction and the lack of healthcare infrastructure in the Capitol and beyond, led to the mass death tolls and the countless displaced families who would be left with nowhere to sleep. Thousands of camps were erected in any open area of the city. The majority of these camps were makeshift, using bed sheets and scraps of tin to create any kind of shelter. Epidemic cases of water born illnesses, malnutrition, and security in these camps and throughout the country sprouted up soon after and have yet to be resolved.

In 2010, Haiti was to hold their third presidential election, but it was postponed indefinitely due to the, "instability in the country" because of the earthquake. The elections were wrought with controversy from the start, as Haiti's popular party, Famni Lavalas - created by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide - was banned from participating in the elections.  Even though they were adamant about participating in the electoral process, those hundreds of thousands of people still living in camps were not able to vote.

Elections finally took place on November 28, 2010, but a run-off election had to be held as not one candidate had received 50 percent of the vote. When run-offs were held in March 2011, it was presidential candidate Michel Martelly who won the election.

With the endless bloodshed and hardships suffered in Haiti, its citizen's as a collective, are proud of what they have contributed to the worlds history. It was they who signaled the demise of the African slave trade. We must begin to see Haitian's, not as a never ending charitable endeavor, but as citizen's of an independent nation who deserve the chance to shape their own future with access to basic securities, such as public healthcare, education, economic stability, food, water and shelter. Haitian's must realize the dream of that free nation they set out to build over two centuries ago, when through unity, defeated the mightiest nations in the world to break the bonds of slavery.