The Caribbean - Haitian Apartheid

Who? What? Where?
Haiti was one of the many countries taken over by European imperialism. Europe was expanding vastly in the 18th and 19th century, countries were competing for territory and colonies and Haiti was a prize to be won in the Caribbean. In the mid 1700’s, France took control of Haiti, calling it St. Dominque. The island was of great value to the French, who used it to harvest such goods as sugar, rum, cotton, tobacco, and indigo. The French became thoroughly enriched from its resources, while the natives were enslaved. The money from Haiti and other colonies around the world ultimately went towards funding conquest. Britain and France had been warring for hundreds of years, and the leader of France at the time was the well-known conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the most infamous emperors of history. Truly, the people of Haiti were robbed, and then murdered slowly by their foreign invaders.

Pushing the Invaders Out
As the years passed, slave revolts occurred as a direct opposition to imperialism. Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave, led the way for justice. Loyal to France, L’Ouverture invaded conquered Spain’s territory of Santo Domingo, which was ceded to France in 1797. There he proclaimed a constitution, not independence. This gave Toussaint the title of “Governor-General,” which alarmed Napoleon. He then sent 20,000 troops to reinstitute slavery. The U.S., which supported the French, aided them with 40,000 and 1000 weapons. The French failed in their attempts to take control over Haiti, and the small slave-army was able to push the French out. On November 19th, 1803, the French left Haiti for good.

What has the United States done to Haiti?
In 1915 when the United States was entering the neo-colonial scene, the United States exploited Haiti’s political turmoil in its capital of Port-au-Prince by invading and occupying the country until 1934. US Marines brutally crushed the Haitian guerilla resistance led by Charlemagne Peralte. The United States exploited racism and changed Haiti’s foreign policy. Later on, Haiti was again in turmoil during the bloody family dictatorship of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier (1957-1971) and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1971-1986). One policy that the United States supported was the “Anti-Communist Law,” (obviously, since it had always been Democracy/Capitalism vs. Communism) which was used to torture, jail and kill Duvalier’s opponents. Eventually, after 1986 when Duvalier was driven from Haiti and moved to France by the US, military leadership took over and continued the brutality that Haiti had seen for decades. This military leaderships, or military junta, are supported by the US.

In 1991, the United States trained Haitian generals on the CIA’s payroll overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was a populist priest with a large group of followers. As a self-proclaimed socialist, Aristide received 67.5 percent of the vote in December 1990 and was the first democratically elected leader of Haiti that the nation had seen in years. After he was overthrown, the new junta slaughtered 1,000 in Port-au-Prince. After much begged help by Aristide to the US, Aristide was put back in place as president in 1994. When an intervention deal was struck with former President Bill Clinton, Aristide signed-off on an agreement that would allow encouragement of foreign investment in assembly sweatshops and privatizing public institutions. Even though the occupation of Haiti ended in 2000, the US continues to fund reactionary forces in Haiti.

The Economy of Haiti – Now
Due to underdevelopment, Haiti is one of the most, if not the most, underdeveloped country in the Western Hemisphere. The economy is peasant based, and is facing immense problems with ecological obstacles and development. Sanitary conditions are on the far extreme poor end of the spectrum. Children and the elderly are malnourished and suffering from diseased caused by polluted water and poor conditions. The country itself is extremely poor. In 1987 the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately 1.95 billion, or about $330 per capita, which ranked Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The World Bank defined a low-income country as a country with a per capita GDP in 1988 below US$425. This put Haiti below some other low-income countries in Africa and Asia during the 1980s.