Foreign Intervention in Haitian History and Society
Background Colonialism and Slavery
To put into context the extent to which foreign intervention shaped Haiti, it is vital to explore the historical context against which issues play out, as they have a direct link to the events, sentiments, and assumptions that prevailed as history unfolded and shaped society, economy and politics in ways uniquely Haitian.
The Spaniards
The Taino people, when they existed, were a homely group who welcomed Columbus expedition in 1462 and helped them around the island. However, they also knew about sovereignty and bore an innate sense of justice which led them to resist the despicable oppression that quickly unfolded, being meted out on them by the colonizing Spaniards. The latter, using all manner of crude barbarism, wiped out the Taino, effectively clearing Haiti renamed Hispaniola of any natives.
The French
More foreigners arrived after Columbus. The French came in 1625 to fill the gap in the North and West of the island left by the Spaniards in 1606 following the King s orders. Their immediate impact was commercial rather than social, as no natives existed. Introducing crops such as cocoa, tobacco, and coffee, they found themselves in need of labor and so started importing Africans at an alarming rate. By 1789, there were half a million Africans being ruled by just 30,000 whites, making the Africans by far the majority. To suppress them, they used untold brutality such as boiling blacks in molasses, burying them alive, lashing them, etc, in a bid to kill all their fighting spirit. Yet, this only heightened discontent, with slaves escaping to form bands of rebellion that terrorized whites. One famous band was headed by Mackandal, operating between 1751 and 1758. From these we see the seeds of revolution and anti-authoritarianism that would grow monstrous in Haiti through the centuries to follow.
The French also raped African women or forced them to become concubines, giving rise to a new group of mixed race Haitians named gens de couleur or simply mulattoes. These were given much better rights than Africans, but much lower than whites. While up until this point, distinctions only existed between blacks and whites, the gens de couleurs and the status they were accorded brought in a whole new dimension that would work to undermine unity in the future, as there now existed multiple tiers of class.
The French unintentionally sparked Haiti s independence after the French Revolution inspired Julien Raimond and Vincent Oge to start the Haitian Revolution in 1790. A history of infighting was cemented at this point as the revolutionary leaders Mulattoes sympathetic to slavery, were debased by slaves led by Dutty Boukman the following year.
Independent Haiti
Blackmail
After declaring independence, Haiti was denied international recognition by Britain France and the US, all countries that practiced slavery andor colonialism. This was among the first significant foreign interventions in free Haiti, and it was devastating because Haiti s economy relied heavily on the export of its farm produce. The French used this in 1825 to blackmail Haiti s Boyer government into committing to repay France for losses incurred as a result of their expulsion from the island. This step seriously undermined Haiti s progress economically as they had to take out a loan at a very steep interest rate from the US to pay the French. These shackles would only eventually be cleared in 1947, over a century later. It must be born in mind that economic woes have been central to Haiti s problems to date.
The Vatican
The Vatican s intervention has been small but significant. In 1860, right after Geffrard had taken power in Haiti, he signed a treaty with the Vatican to institute Roman Catholicism as the official state religion. Catholic institutions that included schools and churches were set up under the treaty. This arrangement in itself was a noble one and worked to shape Haitian culture fundamentally as some of the population switched religions while others mixed their traditional voodoo with Catholicism to create something uniquely Haitian.
All the same, this intervention, noble as it was, would be at the center of conflict a century later when Papa Doc would wage war against it as un-African, instead imposing voodoo as the official state religion (Richman, 2005).
The US Occupation of Haiti
When any mention of intervention in Haiti is made, the first thing that comes to mind is the United States taking advantage and leading others into Haiti under the auspices of the United Nations. This picture is justified. When the Germans influence in Haiti grew to staggering heights at the dawn of the 20th century, the Americans became uneasy the former controlled 80 of Haiti s foreign trade, owned Port-au-Prince s tramway as well as most of the rail services. They had also shorted the Haitian Constitution s prohibition on foreigners ownership of land by marrying into elite Mulatto families. They were also influential in politics as they funded political factions fighting each other. The US was wary of all these given the geo-politics at the time, as nations got involved in an arms race in the run up to World War I.
Privatization
In view of the fears bred by Americans concerning Haiti, the National City Bank of New York in 1910 gathered a team of investors who bought a controlling stake in Banque Nationale d Haiti, Haiti s central bank and until then its only commercial bank as well. This meant that whatever profits the bank made was sent back to America, denying Haitians much needed re-investment capital. It also meant that the Haitians were no longer in control of their own country s monetary policy.
This undue influence was furthered dramatically by US President Woodrow Wilson s move in 1915 to occupy Haiti militarily. His administration was largely interested in exploiting Haiti s resources and labor under the guise of introducing foreign investment and democracy. They promptly installed their dummy President, Cartiquenave, whose first act was to sign away Haiti s sovereignty by allowing U.S interests to take control of the country s finance, constabulary, health sector, customs and more essentially everything important to a country, for a period of 10 years. But the Americans still had not had their way as their major interest was to own Haitian land. In 1917, the dictated a new constitution and shoved it to the democratically elected parliament which summarily rejected it because it allowed foreigners to own land. For this, that Parliament was dissolved. Perhaps, if it had been retained, the ensuing years of perpetual conflict would have been abated.
Enslavement
For 3 years after their arrival, the Americans virtually enslaved Haitians by forcing them to work on building roads under an archaic French law called corvee. They put the Haitians to work on building 760 kilometers of road without pay. By 1918, it was clear to Haitians that they had lost their sovereignty, leading to another revolution. To quash the rebellion, US marines killed an estimated 15000 people during clashes, although they gave an official figure of 2250.
The undemocratically elected president was succeeded by another undemocratically-elected dictator, Louis Borno, who continued exploitative measures. It was not lost on Haitians that they were being colonized again, and just like their ancestors who fled, they also took off to seek better opportunities in the tobacco plantations of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. It is estimated that 40,000 emigrants left annually for the plantations. This starved Haiti of much-needed labor for its own economic growth, resulting in further poverty (Renda, 2000).
Legacy of Resentment, Violence and Poverty
The United States only left Haiti when their own conditions at home became too harsh, at the height of the Great Depression. This was in 1934 under the good neighbor policy by the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. To prove that this exit was forced, Roosevelt was the officer under President Wilson who drafted the 1917 forced constitution that was rejected, meaning he personally championed the exploitation of Haiti by Americans.
In all the time Americans occupied Haiti in this period, the leaders imposed on the people had been mulattoes. This deepened the division that existed between the social tiers as resentment grew and bred violence immediately, suppressing the Americans left. The civil wars that dogged the country in subsequent years were largely a contest between the black poor and the mixed race mulattoes who owned most of the land and property. The plundering of the economy by US bankers and investors coupled with the exodus of manpower was only compounded by the Great Depression as commodity prices collapsed. The result was all round poverty that quickly got worse as violent conflict prevented any meaningful development (Renda, 2000).
Sponsors of Impunity
1957-71 were years characterized by unimaginable atrocities under the rule of Papa Doc, Francois Duvalier. When his son took over in 1971, this did not end but merely reduced. Yet amid Baby doc Jean-Claude Duvalier s sheer incompetence at governance and open looting of the country s resources, the US resumed the aid to Haiti that it froze. This influenced other countries to follow suit, effectively sponsoring state terrorism, impunity, and dictatorship. Further, in the guise of aid, USAID pushed through its recommendation to wipe out all creole pigs in the country following the outbreak of swine flu. These pigs were a mainstay for most, and the replacements brought in were weak and quickly got wiped out by disease, leaving the Haitians even poorer than they were before (Renda, 2000).
The United Nations
Their intervention started in 1991 when, following Jean Aristide s corrupt and murderous rule, the military deposed him. This was a good thing yet the UN passed Resolution 841 that imposed sanctions on Haiti and worsened their bad economy. In July of the same year, when the military rulers seemed unlikely to buckle, the UN passed Resolution 940 that required nations to send in troops to depose the military regime and install the democratically elected government. This was effectively an official sponsorship of terrorism and impunity in that, while the military tried to restore sanity, the UN essentially made it clear that they preferred bad rule. To the credit of the UN, however, they oversaw the transition between two democratically-elected leaders for the first time in Haiti s history.
Conclusion
Intervention in Haiti is as old as the known history of it. The centuries of slavery and revolution, rebellion, and impoverishment by rich nations have ensured that Haiti has never known sustained peace. This is especially so since peace is slippery when poverty is rife. Unrest is usually brought about by discontent by the poor with the gaping disparity in wealth between them and the elite class, and the resulting conflict is played out on the political arena. In Haiti, subsequent selfish interventions by the French, Americans and the UN have repeatedly interrupted Haiti s process of self-discovery, ensuring that conflict and poverty remains the staple to date.
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