Haiti and the Reign of the Duvaliers

Haiti, once the wealthiest French colony which has the first successful slave revolt and not to mention, the first independent black republic now is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. A country that has so much to offer by means of natural resources; though the gold was exhausted by the French during the colonial era the need for sugarcane has always survived.

However, what keeps the country poor and yet a good source of labor is just that: the economy and cheap labor. As a result to history, why have economically issues changed so much? Why does the status of Haitians style of living reflect their country's economical status, and what events occurred to promote these events? And, how is there such a large gap between classes, and so much object poverty with so many American business abroad and so much American aide dedicated to Haiti over the past 30 years?

The Republic of Haiti consists now of the western third of Hispaniola island, which was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain in 1492. However, during its colonial times the king of Spain decreed that the colonist should move toward the capitol, Santo Domingo to protect themselves from pirates.

The French began to settle in 1625 and formally declared a colony in 1664, naming their part of the island, Saint-Domingue. The French's colony was extremely successful and soon became the wealthiest colony in the western area.

Amongst this colony there were three classes of people: Europeans - white people, gens de couleur - second class free mulatto slaves, and Slaves - mostly imported from Western Africa. After much frustration on January 1^st 1804 Haiti gained its independence from France under its fearless leader Toussaint L'Ouverture. This thus marked the first successful slave revolt, and the first independent black republic.

Since the start of the Republic the country has been under the control of the Germans, Americans and has independent control. During the times of the Americans there was a system of compulsory labor established for the construction of schools, hospitals, and roads. Upon retreat of the Americans in 1934 this system caused the Armée d'Haiti, which was once the American's National Guard forces and were said to be a group which caused atrocities against its own people.

Though America left the country in the hands of the minority Mulatto middle-class, it didn't take long before the systems of free elections and coups to begin. In 1950, after a coup d'etats there was a universal suffrage election which gave presidency to Dr. François Duvalier, who later came to be known as Papa Doc.

Papa Doc was 57 years old when we became "president," or dictator. Born in Port-au-Prince, he was privilege enough to be raised and trained as a doctor, serving in rural areas with an American aide project. There he won acclaim for helping the fight against typhus and other diseases.

In 1949, he was minister of Heath and Labor for the previous presidency. When he won, it was only be the use of assassins, armed gangs and the national army. He declared himself as both leader of religion, Voodoo, but also as the ultimate political leader. He said, "God and the people are the source of my power. I have twice been given the power. I have taken it, and damn it, I will keep it."

He was a very power hungry megalomaniac who destroyed what was once the Armée and employed a voluntary militia which was known as the Tonton Macoutes, or their preferred title, the "Silver Militia," which was patterned after the fascists blackshirts of Italy. A Macoute made no official salary, but rather made survived by way of crime and extortion of the people. In 1971, Papa Doc changed the name of the Macoutes to the official name of Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (Voluntary Militia for National Security).

Already the Voodoo leader and Political leader in 1966, he persuaded the Vatican to allow him to nominate the Catholic hierarchy for Haiti. On an ideological level, this perpetuated the notion of Black Nationalism by allowing the country to appoint its own bishops. It also allowed Duvalier to expand his control to encompass all religious institutions. In short, he straightforwardly compared himself, if not labeled himself as God.

The corruption and repression provoked an unfavorable response for the Kennedy administration in the United States, which attempted to seek a moderate alternative in hopes of preventing another Cuban-style revolution. However, U.S. pressure and sanction against Haiti eased in 1962, as the administration "grudgingly" accepted Duvalier as a bulwark against communism. Duvalier would later claim that Kennedy's assassination had come because he had placed a curse on him.

Duvalier keep close enough to Cuba to keep the Americans thinking if they didn't keep supplying aide than he would allow the county to go communist, which was the worse thing the Americans could hope for given the political standpoints of the world at that time. American therefore continued with great amounts of aide which ended up not assisting the country, but rather fattening the pockets of the Duvalier's and their closest bourgeois supporter.

Duvalier used ways of extortions and crime that killed as many as 30,000 people. Any attacks on the president were taken especially serious. And, such manners continued until Papa Doc's death. Before his death he rewrote the Haitian constitution to say his son would be successor upon this death. Realizing the situation in the Haiti was going to only get worse a large portion of the few privileged upper-class educated people fled in large amounts. At the same time, the not-so-privileged attempted to flee.

Large numbers of Haitians trying to give themselves a chance would over pile themselves into a small boat and flee anywhere they could, mostly to the lower United States. Unfortunately, the majority of these attempts failed and these people died and their bodies were washed up onto the shores.

Death was either a result to a failed passage and drowning or being killed and made an example of by the Haitian leaders. If by chance one had made it to the United States, since one could not declare economical asylum, one was often exported back to Haiti where his tongue was cut out, or worse imprisonment or death for treason to the "state."

Upon the death of Papa Doc, his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, "Baby Doc" took control of what now had become a monarch. He continued the dark ways of this father, however he was not as savvy as his father and the country took an extremely hard hit financially economically.

During the time of both Papa and Baby Doc there was an alliance with America and America's businesses. These companies were manufactures of coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, and corn and depended on the cheap labor guaranteed by the Haitians for their maximum profit. Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier concerned himself greatly with the world and Haiti's image. With U.S. aide in the millions and the large amounts of businesses in Haiti, the economy started to see a slight turn-around. This didn't last long because of Baby Doc's expenditure ways. He was hated by the people even more than his father; under his reign the Tonton Maucoutes rose to a gasping 15,000, and finally with the coup in 1986 he escaped death by the Americans assisting him in going to Europe.

Following the fall of the Regime of the Duvalier's Jean-Bertrande Aristide, a former catholic priest came to power as president, but was overthrown by the military to instate Raoul Cedras. After three years of brutal control by this military junta lead by Cedras there was a second American military invasion and in 1994, with the support of the Americans Aristide was reinstated.

Since that time, Haiti has been relatively stable with the exceptions of a couple of problems with elections in 2004, which caused American troops to step in for peace reasons. Nonetheless, the country is relatively stable; however they are still in utter poverty. The majority of the people, over eight percent, live below object poverty. This causes intensive problems between the class divide.

The question now presented is, is this all a result to the greed of the developed western world? Would there have been such a stable monarchal government for so long under the Duvalier's if America had not given so much aide and defied the claim for economical asylum because of that aide? The answer is rooted in history, so in other words, yes. History tells us that the control that was given to the Duvaliers by the Americans and supported by their funds.