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Haiti’s Tortured History

The first Spanish colonizers arrived on the island of Hispanola at the end of the fifteenth century shortly after Columbus’ maiden voyage. The Spanish were concentrated on the part of the island that is now the Dominican Republic, while the other half of the island – now the Haitian nation – was colonized by the French in the 1600s. The French colonizers killed most of the indigenous inhabitants, both through direct genocide and through the indirect genocide of smallpox and other diseases, and began bringing in slaves from Africa to work their sugarcane and coffee plantations.

These slaves led the second democratic revolution in the western hemisphere in 1791, rising up against the French colonial authority under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and seizing control of the northern part of Haiti (at the time Saint-Domingue). They formed alliances with the mulatto population, whom the French used as an administrative class, and in 1804 defeated Napoleon’s Army, officially declared independence from France and established the nation of Haiti.

After independence, the mulattos began to act as a national elite, working on behalf of American interests to buy up most of the land in the country and dominating the political system. This elite supported the rise to power of Guillaume Sam, a dictator who ruled the country for over a dozen years until he was overthrown in another popular uprising in 1915.

The Americans, concerned that plantations owned by American businesses would be expropriated by the nationalist movement that overthrew Sam, invaded Haiti in 1915. They dissolved the Haitian congress and dictated a constitution that vested sovereignty over Haiti in the American military occupiers while they “prepared” Haitians for self-government.

Two decades of national resistance to the U.S. occupation began, culminating in the expulsion of the Americans in 1934 under the leadership of Stenio Vincent, although the Americans continued to run the economy until 1947 under an agreement that gave them control over the issuing of customs receipts.

In 1957, Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier was elected president with some financial support from American interests. Papa Doc moved quickly to establish control over Haiti, with the assistance of the CIA, by creating a paramilitary secret police force – the FRAPH, or tonton macoutes, as they were known. In 1964, Papa Doc declared himself president for life. With his U.S.-armed and trained secret police force, he crushed all resistance to his regime and ruled Haiti until he died in 1971, when he was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude (Baby Doc). Baby Doc also ruled Haiti with U.S. support, but the resistance movement against the dictatorship was growing, and he was finally overthrown by the Haitian people in 1986. Baby Doc fled to Miami, while a provisional government was established that drafted a new constitution, adopted in 1987. The Haitian constitution provides for an elected parliament, with the prime minister and cabinet elected by parliament, and an elected president as head of state.

In December 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti, with almost 70 per cent of the vote, on a mandate of increasing social spending and improving the standard of living of the majority of Haitians. He took office in February 1991, but was overthrown in a coup led by members of the army (mainly former members of FRAPH) in September 1991. Hundreds of Haitians were killed following the 1991 coup, and another 50,000 Haitians fled within a year of Aristide’s overthrow.

From October 1991 to June 1992, Joseph Nerette ruled as president in violation of the Haitian constitution but with the support of the armed forces and FRAPH. After the international community refused to recognize his rule, he resigned and Parliament appointed Marc Bazin as prime minister, leaving the position of president vacant. Bazin tried to negotiate for Aristide’s return, but the military and FRAPH forces refused. Bazin resigned in June 1993, the UN imposed an oil and arms embargo on Haiti, and the Haitian military and paramilitary agreed to negotiate for Aristide’s return. However, the military refused to abide by the terms of any agreements it signed, and in July 1994, the UN adopted Resolution 940 authorizing member states to use all necessary means to facilitate the departure of Haiti's military leadership and restore constitutional rule and Aristide's presidency.

Aristide entered into negotiations with the Clinton Administration in the U.S. and agreed to a U.S.-backed multinational force returning him to power, in exchange for significant concessions on his plans for social and economic reforms, including supporting privatization and opening up free trade zones. With U.S. troops prepared to invade Haiti, Aristide returned to power on October 15, 1994. However, he lost popular support after implementing the neo-liberal policies he had agreed to in exchange for power.

In 2000, vowing that he had learned from his mistakes, Aristide was re-elected on a platform of national economic and social reform. He began implementing his election promises, including increasing taxes on the wealthy and imposing taxes on foreign multinationals operating in Haiti, using the revenue to fund healthcare, education and literacy programs. He also took initial steps to disband the paramilitary groups that were operating throughout the country.

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