Haiti. story. History History of Haiti or the island of bad luck
On December 5, 1492, Columbus discovered the island of Haiti. Here he saw “the most beautiful valleys in the light, very similar to the lands of Castile. For this reason, the admiral named the island Hispaniola. Isla de la Espanola means "Spanish Island" in Castilian.
The native name - Haiti - means "mountainous" (according to another version - "stony land" or "high"). In the XVI-XVIII centuries, the island was usually called Hispaniola or Santo Domingo (after the name of the main city). In 1804, an independent state was formed in the western part of the island, and soon this name spread to the entire island.
Emergence of a nation
The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and was the first island in the New World where the Spaniards settled. In 1550, the original culture of the Taino Indians disappeared from the island, and the island began to be ruled by the people of the Spanish Empire.
In the mid-1600s, the western third of the island was filled with shipwrecked fortune seekers and wayward colonists, mostly French, who became pirates and lived on the island, preying on wild cattle and pigs, which were raised by the first European settlers. In the mid-1600s, the French used pirates as mercenaries (filibusters) in an unofficial war against the Spanish.
In the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, she forced Spain to cede the western third of the island to Haiti. This area became the French colony of Saint-Domingue. By 1788, the colony had become the "pearl of the Antilles", namely the richest colony in the world.
In 1789, a revolution in France caused divisions in the colony, which at that time already had a population of half a million slaves (half of all slaves in the Caribbean). Twenty-eight thousand were mulattoes and free Negroes, many of whom were wealthy landowners. In addition, about thirty-six thousand white planters, artisans, overseers and smallholders lived in Haiti.
In 1791, thirty-five thousand slaves organized an uprising, razed several thousand plantations to the ground, and took to the hills. Thirteen years of war and plague followed the uprising. Spanish, English and French troops soon began to fight each other for control of the colony. The imperial militarization forces trained the slaves in the art of modern combat.
Grand Blanc (wealthy white colonists), Blanc (white-skinned small farmers and working class), mulattos and free blacks fought against colonial power. Each local group had an interest in what was happening in the country, each of the groups tried to achieve its political and economic goals at every opportunity. Out of the chaos on the island emerged some of the most talented black military personnel in history, including Toussaint Louverture.
In 1804, the last European troops were defeated and driven from the island by a coalition of former slaves and mulattos. In January 1804, the rebel generals declared their independence, and they also declared the island of Haiti as the first sovereign "black" state in the modern world and the second colony in the Western Hemisphere to gain independence from imperial Europe.
Since independence, Haiti has become an island of instant glory. During the eighteenth century, the island was ruled by Henri Christophe, during his reign the territories in the north prospered and prosper. The end of the nineteenth century was a period of intense internecine warfare in which a large number of people fell victim to political action.
In 1915, US Marines occupied the island for nineteen years, during which time Haiti was one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere.
National unity, ethnic relations in Haiti
In the long century of relative isolation from the world that followed after independence, the peasantry developed and perpetuated distinct traditions in cuisine, music, dance, dress, ritual, and religion.
Some elements of African cultures survived, such as certain prayers, phrases and dozens of clerics, but the culture of Haiti is still very different from African and other cultures of the New World.
The population of the island has several divisions: Syrians who immigrated at the beginning of the twentieth century, white Haitians who arrived from Europe and dark-skinned Haitians who are of African descent. All three groups sincerely consider themselves indigenous to the island of Haiti.
In the neighboring Dominican Republic, despite having a large population (over a million) of Haitian agricultural, white and urban workers, there is an intense prejudice against Haitians. In 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the massacre of fifteen to thirty-five thousand Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.
HAITI. STORY
Discovery and colonization. The island of Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus on December 6, 1492, the day of St. Nicholas, so the bay on the northwestern tip of the island, where the caravels anchored, was named Puerto de San Nicolas. The Indians who inhabited the island called it Haiti (literally "mountainous") or Quiskeya ("Mother of the Earth"). Columbus named the island Hispaniola. Not far from the current Cap Haitien, the admiral founded the port of Villa de la Nividad, where he left 39 settlers. When in 1493 he returned to Hispaniola, he learned that the entire garrison had been killed by the Indians in retaliation for their mistreatment. To the east of the former fort, Columbus founded the new settlement of Isabella. The exploration and colonization of the island was continued by Admiral Bartolome's brother. The Spaniards, who declared the entire island their possession, colonized mainly its eastern regions. Around 1625, English and French pirates settled on the island of Tortuga near the northwestern coast of Hispaniola, who turned it into their base and began to organize raids against the Spaniards. Gradually, the enterprising French forced the British out of Tortuga and began to develop the northern coast of Hispaniola. In 1664, Louis XIV gave West Hispaniola to the French West India Company, appointing Bertrand d'Ogeron as governor of the territory. In 1697, under the Ryswick Peace Treaty, Spain ceded to France the western third of the island, which was called San Domingo (the Spanish part of the island was called Santo Domingo During the 18th century, Saint-Domingue became one of the richest French colonies. On the Northern Plain and in the valleys of the Artibonite and Cul-de-Sac rivers, extensive plantations were established, on which slaves imported from Africa worked. sugar cane, indigo, coffee, cocoa and cotton By the end of the 18th century the population of the colony consisted of 42 thousand whites, 50 thousand free mulattos and blacks who had property, although they were limited in their rights, and 452 thousand black slaves .
Insurrection. In 1790 the mulattos revolted, demanding social equality; the uprising was quickly crushed, and its leader, Vincent Auger, was executed in February 1791. Meanwhile, the discontent of the free mulattoes was transferred to the disenfranchised slaves. The slave uprising that broke out in August 1791 devastated the colony and plunged it into violence and cruelty. At the head of the uprising stood the Negro Francois Dominique Toussaint (1743-1803), nicknamed Louverture (lit. "Opener"), who came from a family of a slave. In February 1794, the Jacobin Convention in Paris adopted a decree abolishing slavery. Toussaint-Louverture with the rebel army went over to the side of France and took part in the fight against the British and Spaniards who invaded Saint-Domingue. In 1795, under the Treaty of Basel, the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo passed to France. In 1797 Toussaint Louverture was appointed commander in chief of the armed forces of Saint Domingo; by 1801 he had subjugated the entire island to his influence, proclaimed the abolition of slavery, formed a government, and, in accordance with the adopted constitution, from July 1801 became the life ruler of the island. In 1802, Napoleon, then First Consul, sent a military expedition of 70 warships and 25,000 soldiers to the island, led by General Charles Leclerc, to bring the colony into submission. Leclerc tricked Toussaint into a trap, took him prisoner and sent him to France, where he died in captivity. Despite this, the French troops found themselves in a difficult situation: the soldiers were mowed down by tropical fever, the rebels put up stubborn resistance, and the English fleet threatened the French ships. The successful struggle against the French was led by a former slave, Toussaint's closest associate, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines (c. 1760-1806).
Independence and anarchy. Having won a number of victories, on January 1, 1804, Dessalines proclaimed the independence of San Domingo, restoring its Indian name - Haiti. Appointed governor-general for life, Dessalines, in imitation of Napoleon, proclaimed himself emperor in October 1804 under the name of Jacques I. The new ruler began his activities by distributing the lands of their former masters among the freed slaves. However, in the absence of white masters, no one could force the Negroes to work, so Dessalines, like his predecessor Toussaint Louverture, was forced to introduce forced labor. This caused outrage, and in 1806 the emperor was killed. A period of anarchy followed, and as a result, in 1807 the country split into two states, each with its own ruler. In the northern part of the former colony of Saint-Domingue, the State of Haiti arose under the control of Dessalines' associate Henri Christophe (1767-1820), who proclaimed himself King Henri I in 1811; in the southern and western parts, the Republic of Haiti was formed, headed by the mulatto president for life, Alexander Pétion (1770-1818).
An association. Pétion's successor in power, President Jean Pierre Boyer (1876-1850), was able in 1821, after the death of Christophe, to unite the country into a single state of Haiti. Shortly before that, in 1809, the Spaniards restored their power in the eastern part of the island, securing it with the Paris Peace Treaty of 1814. In 1821, the colony of Santo Domingo, following other Spanish colonies in America, declared independence. The new state intended to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with Haiti, but instead, Boyer captured Santo Domingo in 1822, which remained part of Haiti until 1844, when, as a result of an uprising, the former Spanish colony separated into an independent state called the Dominican Republic. Boyer established a one-man dictatorship and introduced a austerity regime, as France recognized the independence of Haiti (July 1825) with the condition that compensation be paid for the expropriated property of French planters. To pay compensation, he was forced to resort to loans from French bankers. The discontent of the population forced Boyer to step down as president (1843) and leave Haiti. The history of the country began a long period of political anarchy, dictatorships, corruption and impoverishment. In 1847, General Faustin Eli Suluk came to power, proclaiming himself Emperor Faustin I two years later. He established a bloody despotic regime in the country, devastated the treasury, and conducted a series of unsuccessful military campaigns against the neighboring Dominican Republic. As a result of the uprising, led by General Nicolas Fabre-Gefrard, Suluk abdicated and fled to Jamaica. Until 1915, the country did not come out of the political and economic crisis. Attempts to restore republican institutions, carry out reforms and normalize the economic life of the country were made only during the reign of Fabre-Gefrard (1859-1867) and Louis Etienne Felicite Salomon (1879-1888).
US intervention.
Due to the ongoing economic and political chaos, the governments of Haiti refused to pay their foreign debts. The New York National City Bank, which provided a number of loans, put pressure on the Haitian government to ask the US government to take control of the country's finances. Other creditors, such as France and Germany, were more and more insistent with similar demands. In February 1915, General Jean Villebrin Guillaume San came to power as a result of another coup d'état. The political situation in the country was on the verge of an explosion. On July 28, 1915, an angry mob dragged Sun out of the French diplomatic mission, where he was hiding, and tore to pieces. On the same day, a North American Marine landing force occupied Port-au-Prince; in September, the United States forced the new Haitian government to sign a treaty under which the United States established control over customs duties and carried out the necessary reforms in the country. During the military occupation of Haiti, the North Americans pursued a generally balanced policy and actually created a new constitution for the country (it was written by Franklin Roosevelt, then Secretary of the Navy). Since the military often abused its power, the United States sent civilian representatives to Haiti. With their assistance, it was possible to carry out a number of reforms, stop financial chaos, balance the budget, pay interest on external debts, regulate taxes, curb corruption, implement a number of public programs (sometimes using forced peasant labor), including the development of agriculture, health care and education. . However, the occupation caused resistance in all sections of Haitian society, including among the mulattoes. There were peasant uprisings; in 1919, the rebel army led by Charlemagne Peralt tried to overthrow the puppet president Philip Sudra Dartigenava. In the same year, Peralt was captured by the US Marines. The ongoing struggle forced President Herbert Hoover to heed the recommendations of the commission appointed by him and begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from Haiti. During the reign of President Roosevelt, who proclaimed the "Good Neighbor" policy, the last units of the Marine Corps left the island (1934). The following year, the United States officially announced the end of the occupation of Haiti, although it maintained financial and customs control over the country until 1947, when the final payments on external debts were made.
Haiti in the 1930s-1950s. From 1930 to 1941, President Stenio Joseph Vincent was in power. At the end of 1937 Haiti was on the brink of war with the Dominican Republic. The reason was the massacre of tens of thousands of Haitian peasants, unleashed by the Dominican troops. In January 1938, the Inter-American Commission ordered the Dominican Republic to pay Haiti $750,000 in compensation. Vincent was replaced as president by Elie Lescaut. He continued the authoritarian type of government of his predecessor and in January 1946 was overthrown in a military coup. In August of the same year, under the pressure of the military junta, the new congress elected Dumarset Estime as president. Estimé designed and attempted to implement a program of social reform; in particular, under him, the first laws on labor and social security in the history of Haiti were adopted. He granted Haitians unprecedented civil liberties, including freedom of speech and the legal functioning of a number of opposition parties - such as the Christian Social Party, the Movement of Workers and Peasants led by P. E. D. Fignolet and the People's Socialist Party, which united Haitian communists. In May 1950, Estime was removed from the presidency by a military triumvirate. For several months the country was ruled by a provisional government. In December 1950, presidential elections were held, the only candidate in which was General Paul Eugene Magloire, a member of the triumvirate that overthrew Estime. His six-year dictatorship is marked by rampant corruption. At the same time, he continued Estime's social policy, including education and housing programs. Magloire repeated the mistake of his predecessor when, in December 1956, he tried to extend his presidential powers. The first nine months of 1957 power passed from one hand to another. In May and early June, it seemed that the situation was stabilizing: the new interim president, Pierre Eustache Daniel Fignolet, began the reorganization of the administrative apparatus and taxation, and vigorously launched an election campaign. However, due to his popularity among the Negro population of Port-au-Prince and other cities, after three weeks of his tenure, he was overthrown as a result of a conspiracy of army officials organized by Francois Duvalier.
Duvalier's dictatorship. In September 1957, presidential elections were held under the auspices of the military. Four candidates applied for the highest post: Francois Duvalier, a doctor by education, a protege of army circles; Clement Jumel, Minister of Labor in the government of Magloire, who enjoyed the support of trade unions; Louis Dejouy, conservative, leader of the merchants of Port-au-Prince; and Fignole. electoral campaign the military allowed only Duvalier to be seen off - he was elected. Shortly after coming to power, Duvalier established a one-man dictatorship. He removed from his post and expelled from the country many senior army officials, created an armed secret police - the Tonton Macoutes. The dictator created a semblance of stability through unprecedentedly brutal repressive measures. Freedom of speech and other civil liberties no longer existed; trade unions were banned and their leaders imprisoned or expelled; all attempts at resistance were accompanied by raids on the supporters of Dejouy and Fignolet. In the elections of 1961, held in an atmosphere of terror, Duvalier won re-election for a new six-year term, and in June 1964 he adopted a new constitution that proclaimed him president for life. During the 1960s, he steadily tightened his repression, which forced the United States in 1963 to stop providing assistance to him. In 1971, the constitution was amended, according to which Duvalier received the right to appoint his successor. As a result, after the death of Duvalier at the end of the same year, his nineteen-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc", took over as president for life. In fact, he continued the policy of "Papa Doc", his father, although he released a number of political prisoners from prisons in order to improve relations with the United States and other countries and receive international financial assistance. By the end of the 1970s, the Duvalier regime began to expand political repression, increasingly using the practice of torturing political prisoners. The number of refugees trying to reach Florida by boat and raft rose to 4,000 a month. In September 1981, the US government, which supported the dictator, tried to stop the exodus of Haitians and ordered the return of the fugitives to their homeland, explaining their actions by the fact that Haitians were fleeing poverty and did not have the right to claim the status of political emigrants. However, these measures failed to stop the flow of refugees. By 1984, deteriorating living conditions led to the first open protests since the Duvalier dynasty, when hundreds of starving people rushed to rob food warehouses in provincial cities. In opposition to the Duvalier regime, many Catholic and Protestant priests stood up, who, through church radio stations, began to call for a fight against the government. The growing resistance to the regime could no longer be suppressed by either political repression or cosmetic reforms. By the end of 1985, demonstrations against the dictator swept across the country. The United States stopped supporting Duvalier and removed him from the presidency by force: on February 7, 1986, the US Navy blocked the harbor of Port-au-Prince. The dictator himself and his family were flown to France on a US Air Force plane.
After Duvalier.
Power in the country passed to the army commander-in-chief, General Henri Namfi and the national government council, which included a number of top officials of the Duvalier government. The army took under its protection the associates of the former dictator, who feared revenge. The government council was criticized by the Haitian general population for failing to initiate reforms, for subordinating policy to the US military and business circles, and for brutally suppressing strikes and demonstrations. However, despite the new government's authoritarianism, Haitians have taken full advantage of their newfound freedom of speech and assembly. In a referendum in March 1987, a new constitution was adopted that limited the central government. In accordance with the constitution, an independent council was created to hold elections in November 1987. However, the army blocked the work of this public body. On election day, soldiers, backed by Duvalier thugs, rioted at the polling stations and disrupted the elections. In January 1988, new elections were organized by army circles and, with numerous irregularities, they installed civilian President Leslie Manigata. Four months later, as soon as Manigat tried to reform the army, he was replaced by the military, and power was seized by a military council headed by General Namfi, whom the Haitians nicknamed Namfi II. Namfi's open dictatorship soon proved unbearable even for the military. The drop that overflowed the cup of patience was the raid of soldiers and duvallist thugs on the church, in which Jean Bertrand Aristide, a representative of the so-called. "liberation theology", held Sunday Mass. The soldiers killed at least 13 parishioners and burned the church, Aristides himself and his assistants barely escaped. A week later, in September 1988, Namfi was removed and replaced by General Prosper Avril, financial adviser to both Duvaliers. It soon became obvious that Avril was striving only to strengthen his own power. At the end of 1989, three opposition leaders were arrested and beaten; later, on the orders of Avril, thirty more oppositionists were arrested and severely beaten. Avril introduced censorship of the media and repealed certain provisions of the 1987 constitution. World public opinion strongly condemned these actions; A wave of protests began to spread in Haiti. In March 1990, Avril was forced to retire and emigrated to Florida. Erta Pascal-Truillot became interim president. State Council(19 seats) was formed from regional representatives and leaders of democratic movements. The task of the interim president and government included the preparation and holding of free elections. Despite provoked street riots, corruption in the highest echelons of power and military abuse, Trouillot remained in office and did not back down from her intentions to hold genuinely democratic elections under the supervision of an international commission. In the elections of December 16, 1990, 65% of the votes were won by Father Aristide, who put forward his candidacy just two months before the vote. As president, he tried to improve the state apparatus, to military reform and stop the activities of drug traffickers who have turned Haiti into their transshipment base. The army and the highest authorities conspired and overthrew Aristide during a bloody military coup on September 29, 1991. The conspirators were led by Brigadier General (later Lieutenant General) Raoul Sedra, whom Aristide appointed chief of the general staff, and Cedra's right hand, the chief of police Major (later lieutenant colonel) Joseph Michel Francois. Aristide took refuge outside of Haiti. Cedra transferred nominal power to a former judge elected by the legislature as president pro tempore. The US, UN and the Organization of American States (OAS) refused to recognize the new government of Haiti.
Dictatorship of Cedra and François. The usurpers plunged the country into an atmosphere of terror for three years. People who supported Aristides were kidnapped, imprisoned, beaten, tortured and killed. Tens of thousands of frightened people, fleeing terror, tried to swim across in boats to the United States, but the North American government put a barrier of warships in their way and ordered the return of the fugitives to their homeland. In late 1991, many US courts ruled that such actions against refugees were a violation of international law; then the United States began to interne emigrants from Haiti at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba). Here they were interrogated, after which, as a rule, they were declared "economic refugees" and returned to their homeland; only a few were allowed to enter the US. In 1992, the US Supreme Court allowed President George W. Bush to resume the practice of mass return of Haitian refugees. This practice continued into 1993 under Bill Clinton, although the latter was sharply critical of his predecessor's brutal policies towards Haitian emigrants. In early October 1991, the Organization of American States called for a trade embargo against Haiti. The Dominican Republic openly refused this measure, other states tacitly violated the embargo, so the sanctions had no effect on the dictator and the ruling class of Haiti. To avoid complications, Sedra replaced a number of puppet civilian governments in power and began "negotiations" with the United States and the OAS, promising to restore a legitimate government in the country. In June 1992, the UN Security Council approved a ban on the import of oil and military equipment into Haiti. Although the Dominican Republic continued to supply oil, other countries respected the embargo. In early July, Cedra met with representatives of the UN and the OAS in New York, at which a compromise agreement was reached that Aristide would be allowed to return to power in exchange for an amnesty for the organizers of the putsch. Under US pressure, Aristide signed this treaty. At the end of July, he appointed Robert Malval as interim prime minister. Following that, the UN lifted the embargo. Malval's government was virtually unable to function due to the terror unleashed by the police. On October 15, 1993, Minister of Justice Guy Malari was assassinated. Cedra and François refused to leave their posts. By that time, the US Navy, ready to invade Haiti, had been withdrawn and UN monitors had left the country. The international community has renewed the oil and arms embargo on Haiti. On October 28, 1993, Aristide addressed the UN General Assembly, pointing out that by disrupting the agreements reached, the dictator made it impossible for him to return to Haiti. Aristide categorically rejected the plan for US military intervention in Haiti and called for putting pressure on the dictator through a "total and complete blockade." The US government called for "negotiations" to continue and forced Aristide to make even greater concessions than those he had made in the previous round of the negotiation process. Aristide promised not only to expand the scope of the amnesty, but also to include the supporters of the putschists in the government. In December 1993 Malval resigned. In early 1994, the Haitian army, police and secret agent units (the so-called "attache") unleashed a new wave of terror against Aristide's supporters. The Haitian Senate, controlled by the pro-army bloc, declared the presidency vacant in April and elected Émile Jounessin, the eldest member of the Supreme Court, as interim president in May. After that, the UN Security Council imposed an embargo on the delivery of any goods to Haiti, with the exception of food, medicine and fuel for cooking. In July, the dictator expelled UN/OAS human rights commission observers from the country. In early August, the UN Security Council, with the forced support of Aristide, decided on the intervention of US troops in Haiti in order to put an end to the dictatorial regime. Under the threat of an imminent invasion, Sedra and his chief of army staff in negotiations with former president USA Jimmy Carter, held September 18, 1994, agreed to resign. The next day, the US launched a military operation. François, who refused to participate in negotiations with Carter, fled to the Dominican Republic in early October. Sedra officially resigned on October 10 and emigrated to Panama. Jounessant stepped down as president on 11 October. Aristide returned to Port-au-Prince on 15 October and remained president until the end of his term. René Préval, Aristide's political successor, won the presidential election on December 17, 1995. Against 13 other candidates, he won 89% of the vote. Upon his return to Haiti, Aristide faced resistance from law enforcement agencies and difficulties in implementing economic reforms. In January 1995, he disbanded the security service and transferred its personnel to the police units. However, beatings and political assassinations continued in the country. In September 1996 Preval asked the US and Canada to replace his own security force.
Collier Encyclopedia. - Open society. 2000 .
See what "HAITI. HISTORY" is in other dictionaries:
The Republic of Haiti, a state in the West Indies, occupying the western third of the island of Haiti (formerly Hispaniola) in the Greater Antilles group. The rest of the island belongs to the Dominican Republic. The border between these states has ... ... Collier Encyclopedia
The island of Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and named by him Hispaniola. Contents 1 Spanish Hispaniola 2 French San Domingo ... Wikipedia
1) an island in arch. Bol. Antilles, West Indies. The Indian tribes inhabiting the island called it Haiti mountainous or Kiskeya mother of the earth, big land. In 1492, the island was discovered by Columbus and named Spanish Hispaniola, since its sowing. coast... Geographic Encyclopedia
Haiti island was discovered on December 6, 1492 by Christopher Columbus, who named the island Hispaniola because its valleys seemed to him similar to the lands of Castile. The gradual colonization of the island began. A few weeks later, the ship landed on the reefs. With the help of local residents, all guns were removed from the ship, as well as provisions. From the wreckage of the ship, a fort was built on the island, which was named La Navidad (which means "Christmas" in translation).
In 1677, the western part of the island came under the influence of France, while the central and eastern part remained under the control of Spain (Santo Domingo). Local Indians were destroyed, and black slaves from Africa were brought in their place. In 1789, there were already about 500,000 blacks on the island, 36,000 whites and 28,000 mulattos (who had freedom, unlike black slaves). At the beginning of 1804, a successful uprising took place, as a result of which an independent state of black Haitians was formed, while the mulattos formed their own republic. France then recognized the independence of Haiti in 1825.
From 1915 to 1934, Haiti was occupied by the troops of the United States of America, and in 1957 the dictator François Duvalier became president, who transferred power to his son in 1971. Then in 1986, this regime was overthrown, there were several coup d'état, after which a democratic government came to power, and the following year, a new Haitian constitution was introduced, which was supported by the majority of the country's population.
In August 1991, a military coup took place in the country, as a result of which the former priest Aristides, who was in power, was overthrown. A period of political instability began, which ended in 1994, when, with the help of US military power, Aristide was reinstated in his position. After the dissolution of the army in 1995, an era of armed formations began, which staged anarchy in the country until the moment when President Aristide left the country and French troops took control of all key places in the capital.
In the summer and fall of 2004, a series of landslides and hurricanes hit the country, killing several thousand people. In the winter of 2006, René Preval, who had previously been the country's president and prime minister, was elected president of the country. In early 2010, a massive earthquake hit Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Almost immediately after their burial, a cholera epidemic broke out in the country. In March 2011, Michel Marteilly was elected President of Haiti in the second round of elections, who resigned in February 2016 amid ongoing demonstrations and the postponement of the second round of a new presidential election. Currently, the acting president of the country is Jocelerme Priver.
Haiti is the first state of blacks liberated from slavery as a result of an uprising ... But alas, the History of Haiti is not a romance of Freedom, but an almost ready-made scenario for a trash-horror movie!
Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Haiti (Hispaniola) in the Greater Antilles group. The rest of the island belongs to the Dominican Republic. In a mestizo-mulatto DR, pleasant in all respects, there is peace and quiet, the sun, tourists and an eternal carnival. How can a tragic misunderstanding called Haiti exist right next to it? I'm incomprehensible...
The history of Haiti is surreal and utterly bloody, beginning with the "discovery" by the adventurer Columbus. Haiti was unlucky from the very beginning, if the Spaniards settled in the east of the island, giving rise to the modern Dominican Republic, then the west became a haven for pirates and related lumpenized elements from all over the world (the center is the coastal island of Tortuga), eventually formally recognizing the authority of France. "Adventurers" by the middle of the XVII century completely massacred the indigenous Indian population.
Gradually, the French, both outlaws and official representatives of the royal power, began to establish permanent settlements. In 1659-1660, tobacco and sugar plantations, cultivated by Negroes, began to appear on the island. France officially took over western part islands only in 1697. The eastern part, covering 2/3 of the island, remained Spanish, although in terms of population and wealth it was significantly inferior to the French part.
In the 18th century, the French part of the island, called Saint-Domingue, became the most important and richest colony of France. About 40% of sugar, 60% of coffee consumed in Europe was produced in Saint-Domingue. In addition, large quantities of sugar, cocoa, indigo and cotton were exported from this colony.
Of course, such prosperity of the colony became possible only thanks to the large-scale use of slave black power.
The exploitation of slaves was really very tough. Most of the slaves died after a few years of working on the plantation. But by this time they had already paid back all the expenses for the purchase and maintenance many times over, so that the owner could safely buy new slaves. Saint-Domingue accounted for a third of the entire transatlantic slave trade in the mid-18th century. From 15 to 40 thousand slaves were brought to the island per year. Since most of the Negroes in Haiti at that time were brought from Africa, and were not local natives, as in most other American colonial possessions of European states in the West Indies, this led to the fact that African features prevailed in the life and culture of the Negroes of Haiti. In many ways, today's Haitians have retained African features of life. In particular, although almost all Haitians are considered (and consider themselves) Catholics, the African pagan religion of voodoo actually dominates the country, quite a bit diluted with Catholic terms and rituals.
By the end of the 18th century, there were 500,000 slaves in Saint-Domingue, 32,000 whites, 28,000 mulattoes, and approximately 20,000 free blacks. In fact, the population was even larger, since the slave owners hid part of their blacks from the censuses in order not to pay a tax on the ownership of slaves, several thousand fugitive blacks - maroons, lived in mountainous areas, were also not counted, and finally, among the whites there were many who had problems with the law, and therefore they tried in every possible way to hide from official statistics.
The leading role in the life of the colony was played by white colonists. Although in the 18th century there was no sociological concept of "standard of living", according to historians, the white population of Saint-Domingue had the highest standard of living in the then world. Of course, not all whites were rich; rather, on the contrary, the "little whites", that is, the poor of European origin, made up the bulk of the entire white population.
Mulattoes occupied second positions in the society of the colony. Although the mulattoes were forbidden, for example, to wear swords, to marry whites, they were personally free and could own property. By the end of the colonial era, a third of all plantations and a quarter of all blacks belonged to mulattoes. As is often the case, the mulattoes as slave owners were even more greedy and merciless than the Europeans. Among the mulattoes themselves, there were (and still exist) various categories, depending on the proportion of Negro blood. So, those who had 1/8 of the blood of blacks were called mustifs, 1/4 were called quadroons, mulatre - those who were half blacks, griff - 3/4 black, marabou - 7/8.
Free blacks were even lower on the social ladder, although among them there were also a certain number of planters and slave owners. Mostly free blacks were engaged in petty trade and crafts. Maroons hid in the mountains, who periodically staged attacks on the plantations. In 1751-58, the Maroon leader Makandal terrified the colony with his raids. As a voodoo priest, Makandal preached the complete annihilation of all whites and mulattoes. According to official figures, 6,000 people, mostly whites, were killed at the hands of the Makandala maroons. Only 7 years later Makandal was arrested and executed.
In 1789, a revolution broke out in France. This was reflected in the history of Haiti in the most direct way. In the colony, an armed struggle began between royalists and republicans. The strife among the whites led to the strengthening of the role of the mulattoes, who revolted, demanding for themselves the same rights as the Europeans. Finally, in 1791, a huge uprising of black slaves broke out. In the first two months, the rebels killed 2,000 whites and an indefinite number of mulattos and free blacks, burned 280 plantations. The rebellion was largely put down, but order was not restored to the colony. Several thousand rebels, led by an educated ex-slave Toussaint-Louverture, continued to fight. Meanwhile, in France, the Jacobins proclaimed the abolition of slavery in all colonies. This could not fail to attract many colored people to the side of the French Republic. In addition, France, along with all its overseas possessions, found itself in a state of war against all of Europe. English and Spanish troops landed in Haiti. A war of all against all has begun in Haiti. French royalists and republicans fought each other, mulattos tried to create their own state within the island, fighting whites and blacks, there was no unity among the negro atamans, and for the most part they fought with each other, sometimes uniting against whites and mulattoes. The British and Spaniards also fought each other.
Toussaint Louverture chose to fight on the side of the French Republic, which abolished slavery. His black army defeated the English and Spaniards, rival Negro generals, and French royalists and mulattoes. In 1801 Toussaint Louverture became the master of the island. He abolished slavery, confiscated the property of the whites, which passed into the hands of the Negro elite (the mulattoes were bypassed, which caused a new surge in the war between blacks and mulattoes). A constitution was adopted, under which France formally continued to own Saint-Domingue, but the actual power belonged to the governor for life, who was Toussaint-Louverture himself.
Napoleon, who came to power in France, refused to approve this constitution and sent a punitive expedition to the island. On 60 ships, a 40,000-strong army sailed to the Caribbean Sea under the command of General Leclerc, who was married to Napoleon's sister Pauline Bonaparte. This circumstance, as well as the number of troops sent (twice as large as the army with which Napoleon had just tried to conquer Egypt), clearly testified to the importance that Bonaparte attached to Haiti. The expeditionary army included not only the French, but also natives of countries subject to Bonaparte. There were Italians, Belgians, Swiss, Rhenish Germans, and even 6,000 Poles from among the Polish emigrants.
Leclerc was initially successful. The mulatto leaders Rigaud and Pétion, a number of Negro generals, went over to his side. Toussaint Louverture was captured and taken to France, where he died in 1803. Influenced by success, Napoleon announced the restoration of slavery. By the way, the entry of blacks into France was banned, as well as the marriages of the French military with black women and mulattos in the colonies.
However, the restoration of slavery instantly raised almost the entire colored population of Haiti against the French. The main ally of the rebels was yellow fever, which decimated entire regiments of the French. General Leclerc also died of a fever. The new wars of Napoleon that began in Europe made it impossible for new reinforcements to arrive on the island. Negro generals Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, the mulatto general Pétion raised an uprising, and at the end of 1803 French rule was forever ended.
On January 1, 1804, General Dessalines declared the independence of the state, which was given the name Haiti, which the Indians used to call this part of the island. By order of Dessalines, in commemoration of independence, an unprecedented massacre of the white population began in Haiti. Within a few (!) days, the Negroes killed absolutely everyone, to a single man, whites and mulattoes - more than 100 thousand people. After that, there was practically no European population in Haiti.
Until now, the history of Haitians can cause sympathy. Indeed, the first victorious slave uprising in history, the first independent Latin American country, and finally the first black state to retain its independence in the future. And yet the state of African Americans had its own historical features.
The leader of the victorious uprising, Jacques Dessalines, a few months after the declaration of independence, declared himself emperor. Of course, feuds between the freshly baked monarch and his recent comrades in arms immediately began. Already in 1806, Emperor Dessalines was killed, and Haiti plunged into civil strife. The mulattos, led by Petion, created their own state in the southern part of Haiti, and the blacks, led by Henri Christophe, created their own in the north.
Christoph soon proclaimed himself king. His associates, illiterate former slaves and commanders of the former rebel detachments, King Henry turned into marquises, counts and princes. The king and his "nobles" took possession of the abandoned plantations and effectively restored slavery. A former slave and later field commander, King Henri Christophe built himself the sumptuous Sanssouci Palace. Not far from the palace, 20,000 slaves spent 13 years building the fortress of La Ferriere, which is still the largest fortification in the Western Hemisphere. In 1820, having learned about the rebellion of the army, the king shot himself. But at the same time, Christophe showed a kind of extravagance, shooting from himself a bullet cast from pure silver.
Mulattoes from the south managed to capture the former kingdom, uniting the country. Moreover, for two decades, the Haitians managed to master the entire island, capturing the Spanish part. But the country was still ruled by dictators who cared only about satisfying their whims.
In 1847, Fausten Suluk, a completely illiterate Negro, seized power. He proclaimed himself emperor. Suluk became famous for wild antics. Like Christophe, he made his associates nobles, and he came up with aristocratic names like “Count Entrecote”, or “Duke Vermicelli”, drawing them from the menu of a French restaurant. Suluk dressed his guards in Russian furs, having bought them in Russia (the only trade deal between our countries in history). What use in the tropical climate of Haiti from furs, apparently, only the emperor knew.
Suluk staged an invasion of the neighboring Dominican Republic. The invasion ended in defeat, but Suluk declared it a great victory, building many monuments to himself in honor of the "victory".
After the overthrow of Suluk, Haiti was again declared a republic, but political regime remained the same in the country. In the area of the economy, Haiti was in complete decline.
The plantation economy was destroyed. Former slaves became small peasants. Lacking the necessary agronomic knowledge, the Haitian peasants destroyed much of the rainforest, causing erosion. A significant part of the lands of the tropical island in the fertile Caribbean climate have turned into semi-deserts. In general, the amount of cultivated land at the beginning of the 21st century has become less than at the end of the colonial era two centuries ago. The peasants of Haiti lead a subsistence economy, barely supporting a half-starved existence.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Haiti was still being followed by coups after coups, governments were changing with kaleidoscopic speed, there was no industry, and Agriculture was in complete decline.
The United States intervened in Haiti in 1915, occupying the country without encountering resistance. Haiti remained under American occupation until 1934. The Americans created telephone communications in Haiti and built a number of secondary schools. However, the invaders had to face a number of Haitian uprisings, the largest of which was led by Charlemagne Peralta in 1918-20. In the end, the Americans came to the conclusion that the cost of occupying Haiti exceeded the income from exploiting the country. In 1934, US President F. D. Roosevelt withdrew American troops from the island. After that, everything went on as before.
Twenty-three years later, Haiti was under the terrorist dictatorship of the infamous François Duvalier, a voodoo priest and former orderly known as "Papa Doc" (his saying: "I am the banner of Haiti, one and indivisible"). The state slogan was "black power", and the actual state "religion" - voodoo. Under Papa Doc, the country finally turned into a real embodied trash-horror movie. He officially proclaimed himself "Baron Saturday", as well as "Sun of Haiti", "King of Fortune", "Celestial Rainbow", "Apostle of Unity", "Great Benefactor", "Anointed of the African Gods", "Vampire and Zombie Lord". Duvalier's main support was the "tonton-macoutes" - terrible squads of voodooists in obligatory sunglasses that destroyed hundreds of thousands of people (often just like that, for no reason), brutally killing Christian clergymen, army officers who did not have time to emigrate Haitians with any education. "Tonton Macoutes" did not receive a salary and existed on self-sufficiency. In literature, it is customary to consider them the most real people from the afterlife, who did not have the need for material wealth and were obsessed with the thirst for murder. One of the minor associates of the "President for Life" later admitted that he received orders from Duvalier to kill at least five hundred people a year.
Republican and Democratic US presidents - especially Eisenhower and Johnson - consistently supported and sponsored the Duvalier regime for geopolitical reasons, in view of the proximity of Cuba (the use of Haitian airfields and ports). Only Kennedy was horrified by the lawlessness that was happening in Haiti and suspended economic assistance. In response, Papa Doc publicly poked Kennedy's wax figure with needles, and Kennedy's death was presented as a consequence of this rite. In 1971, Papa Doc was replaced by his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier, aka "Baby Doc". Leopards were added to the Tonton Macoutes; most Haitians sought to escape the island. In 1986, after the food riots, Baby Doc was overthrown and set sail with the looted billions of dollars to the French Riviera, where he happily hangs out to this day.
Haiti's usual series of coups followed. In 1994 there was a short-term American intervention, in 1995 the army (or what was called the army) was disbanded. Monthly local riots flared up, which turned into complete chaos in 2004, a war of all against all (one of the main opposing gangs has a symbolic name - "Army of Cannibals"; words from a statement to the press of their leader: "in respect for democracy, we did not eat killed, but only cut off their ears and burned them"), in which the ex-"tonton macouts" take an active part. The then president, a mentally inadequate defrocked priest, leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, fled to the homeland of his ancestors in the Central African Republic. Now the presidency is (if you can even say so after the catastrophic earthquake) a former waiter from New York's Haitian quarter, René Préval.
The earthquake that left the 2.5 million-strong capital of Port-au-Prince in ruins was preceded by catastrophic epidemics, landslides, floods, droughts and hurricanes recent years occurring at roughly equal intervals of time.
Truly a "black hole" on the world map. Absolute poverty, absolute cruelty, absolute chaos. Lack of mineral resources, deforestation, soil erosion, unsuitability of roads for transport, huge infant mortality, extremely low life expectancy (40 years) and literacy (20-25%). Satanism Voodooism. AIDS. Hunger. Darkness.
Mood: we are well fed here
Music: there in Haiti...
The island of Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and named by him Hispaniola.
colonial period
After the discovery of the island by Columbus, the colonization of the island by the Spaniards began, which by 1548 had exterminated almost all the Indians. To work in the mines and plantations began to import black slaves from Africa.
In 1697, according to the Treaty of Riksvik, the western part of the island went to France, receiving the name of St. Domingo. It produced sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton and cocoa. The main part of the population was made up of black slaves imported from East Africa and made up more than 90% of the population.
Haitian revolution
Main article: Haitian Revolution
In the autumn of 1790, an uprising took place on the island, which was preceded by the Great French revolution in France. The mulattos, led by Jacques Vincent Auger, demanded equality with the whites. The rebellion was suppressed, its participants were executed, but the Constituent Assembly equated blacks and mulattos with whites.
In August 1791, an uprising broke out on the island, led by the black voodooist Alejandro Boukman. With the help of the United States and Great Britain, the uprising was crushed, and Bookman was captured and executed.
In 1793, the island was invaded by the British, who fought with France. Spain, which opposed the revolution in France, attracted the rebellious slaves to its side, promising them freedom. In February 1794, rebel leader François Dominique Toussaint defected to France and took possession of Santo Domingo in May. Then he became the de facto leader of the north of the country, and in 1798 he finally expelled the English troops from the island. In January 1801, Toussaint-Louverture abolished slavery, the land of the white planters became the property of the Negro elite. In 1802, France made an attempt to regain control of the island, and an expeditionary force landed there under the command of Napoleonic General Charles Leclerc. The Negro troops were defeated. Toussaint-Louverture was taken prisoner and taken to France, where he soon died.
However, in June 1802, a tropical fever passed through the island, from which the French had no protection, one regiment after another died out. In November, Leclerc himself died.
Soon the Haitian generals Dessalines, Christophe and Pétion again launched a war against the whites. A year later, French troops fled the country, three-quarters of the French soldiers died.
Independence
On January 1, 1804, the rebel leader, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, proclaimed the creation of an independent state in the western part of the island and called it the ancient Indian name of Haiti. In the same 1804, he declared himself emperor Jacques I. In 1805, a constitution was adopted that abolished slavery and introduced a ban on the purchase of real estate by foreigners in Haiti. A massacre of whites was organized in 1804 and a strong army was created in the amount of 10% of the population. The lands were given to former slaves, which caused discontent among the former military and planters. In October 1806 they mutinied and proclaimed Henri Christophe president. On October 17, 1806, Jean-Jacques Dessalines was assassinated. Due to civil strife between blacks and mulattoes, the state split into the "State of Haiti", controlled by Henri Christophe and the "Republic of Haiti", controlled by the mulatto Alexandre Pétion.
In 1811, Christophe proclaimed himself King Henri I. In his state, a noble class consisting of blacks was created, schools were founded, an army was created, and trade began to develop.
In the Republic of Haiti, controlled by Petion, a number of measures were taken that gave impetus to the development of the economy: in particular, land was distributed to small landowners and a tax of a third of the crop was abolished. Pétion supported the struggle for the independence of Latin America and helped Bolívar.
After the death of Pétion in March 1818, Jean-Pierre Boyer became president, who managed to spread his influence over the entire island and became the ruler of all of Haiti.
Boyer ruled Haiti until 1843. He secured recognition of independence from France, but in exchange he had to pay compensation for confiscated property. In March 1843, after an armed uprising broke out, Boyer resigned. He was succeeded as president by Charles Erard, under whom Santo Domingo seceded from the country in 1844.
Until 1847, 5 governments changed in the country, after which Fausten Elie Suluk was elected president in March 1847. In August 1849, he proclaimed himself Emperor Faustin I, persecuted mulattoes and spent public funds unrestrainedly, which led to poverty among the population and growing discontent. Efforts to bring the Dominican Republic back under Haiti's control failed. In January 1859, General Fabre Zhefrard overthrew Suluk and tried to bring the country out of the crisis: he took measures to develop the economy, created maritime, art and medical colleges. In 1867 he was overthrown. Until 1879, chaos reigned in the country: governments were replaced one after another. In 1879, General Etienne Salomon came to power, who carried out a series of reforms and paid off the foreign debt. After the fall of his regime, the country again fell into crisis.
20th century
The situation worsened even more in the early 20th century, when the authorities printed money that quickly depreciated. The country was overwhelmed by inflation.
On January 27, 1914, strikes and uprisings led to the resignation of President Michel Orestes. Mass riots and pogroms began throughout the country. In order to suppress the unrest on the island, US Marines landed, who occupied the country's Central Bank and seized the country's gold reserves. On February 8, Emanuel Oreste Zamor became president. The ongoing unrest led to his resignation. In February 1915, pro-American Jean Villebrin Guillaume San came to power. Riots broke out again in the capital, and Guillaume Sun took refuge in the French embassy. On July 27, 170 political prisoners were executed in the capital's prison. In response to this, on July 28, a furious crowd of city residents broke into the embassy, dragged General San to the square, where he was stoned to death.
American occupation
In August of the same year, under US pressure, Philippe Sudre Dartigenave was elected president. The US command carried out mass arrests and disbanded the army. The situation in the country continued to be unstable, peasant riots constantly flared up. In 1917, Dartigenave disbanded the Legislative Council after it refused to approve the American-drafted constitution for Haiti. In 1918, a new constitution came into effect. She recognized ownership of real estate and land by foreigners, approved the American occupation. At this time, a major uprising broke out in the country, led by officer Charlemagne Peralt. There were 40,000 men in his army. In October 1919, his army tried to storm Port-au-Prince and overthrow Dartigenawa, but his army was defeated, Peralt himself was captured and executed. By 1920, the partisan movement in the country was suppressed, killing more than 13 thousand Haitians.
In 1929, peasant and student riots and anti-American protests broke out in the country. US President Herbert Hoover sent a commission to Haiti to prepare for the withdrawal of US troops from the island. Under US pressure, President Louis Borno resigned. Louis Eugène Roy served as president from March to November, and in November 1930 Stenio Joseph Vincent became president and began negotiations to withdraw American troops from the country. In July 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States, an agreement was signed on the withdrawal of American troops from the country. From August 6 to August 15, 1934, American troops were withdrawn from the country, and on August 21, the American flag was lowered from the presidential palace. However, US control over the country's economy remained.
Period 1935-57
In 1935 a new constitution was introduced. In 1937, a massacre of Haitians took place in the neighboring Dominican Republic, which nearly led to war between the two countries. War was averted when Rafael Trujillo agreed to pay compensation to Haiti. In April 1941, Elie Lesko became president of the country. With the outbreak of World War II, he declared war on Japan.
In January 1946, a general strike broke out in the country, forcing Lesko to resign on January 11. Until August 1946, Frank Laveau, chairman of the military executive committee, was in power. In August 1946, for the first time in 30 years, the Negro Dumarset Estime became president. When he came to power, he gave American companies the right to own land. In 1950, he tried to be re-elected for a new term, but was not supported by parliament and dissolved it. On May 10, Estime was overthrown by the army. In December, Colonel Paul Eugène Magloire became president. In 1954, he tightened repression against the opposition. In 1956 he tried for re-election. This decision caused a general strike in the country, and on December 12 Magloire's regime fell.
New elections were called. In the period leading up to the elections, there was a struggle for power between supporters of various candidates. In May 1957, the former Minister of Education and leader of the Workers' and Peasants' Movement, Pierre Fignoll, became interim president. On June 14, 1957, General Antonio Quebro carried out a military coup and banned the Workers' and Peasants' Movement. Elections were held in September and won by former Health Minister Francois Duvalier, M.D.
Duvalier's dictatorship
On October 22, 1957, François Duvalier officially assumed the presidency and established the bloody dictatorship of the Taunton Macoutes. Having come to power, he proclaimed the slogan "power to the blacks." He purged the army, banned trade unions and the opposition. Through the secret police ("tonton macouta"), Duvalier cracked down on dissidents and kept the population in fear. In April 1961, Duvalier dissolved Congress.
In 1961, Duvalier won re-election to the presidency for a second term. In foreign policy Duvalier focused on the United States. In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Duvalier provided the Americans with Haitian ports and airfields. He posed as a staunch anti-communist and US ally with the "red threat". In 1963, relations between the United States and Haiti deteriorated when Kennedy accused Duvalier of dictatorship. Then Duvalier publicly announced that he would put a curse on Kennedy. A month and a half later, on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated.
In 1963, relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti worsened. The President of the Dominican Republic provided assistance to Haitian emigrants who fought to overthrow Duvalier. All this led to the fact that the Dominican Republic almost attacked Haiti, but the conflict was settled by the Organization of American States.
When the movement of blacks for their rights increased in the USA, Duvalier said that the USA did not help Haiti much, because the majority of Haitians were black, and demanded more money to fight the "red threat". In June 1964, Duvalier declared himself president for life.
In 1967-1968, peasant riots constantly broke out in the country, and there were repeated attempts to overthrow Duvalier. In 1968-1969, groups of emigrants landed on the island several times in order to overthrow the dictator. On April 14, 1967, when Duvalier's 60th birthday was supposed to be celebrated, several bombs were detonated by the rebels in Port-au-Prince, and the celebration ceremony was disrupted. Duvalier responded to the opposition with brutal repression. In April 1970, part of the Haitian fleet rebelled against Duvalier: the crews of the coast guard ships fired at the presidential palace. The rebellion was suppressed with the help of American aircraft.
In the late 60s, Duvalier, suffering from diabetes and heart failure, began to think about a successor. Shortly before his death in 1971, Duvalier amended the constitution to allow him to appoint a successor. He chose his son Jean-Claude Duvalier as his successor. The age limit for the presidency was reduced from 40 to 20 years. But at that time, Jean-Claude was 19 years old, and the constitution had to be amended again.
On April 21, 1971, François Duvalier died. His death was announced only a few days later, fearing popular unrest. "Baby Doc" continued the work of his father. Under him, part of the "tonton-macoutes" was transformed into "leopards", which did not change their essence.
Baby Doc failed to hold on to power - in January 1982 there was an attempted uprising, in 1984 food riots began in the country. In July 1985, Jean-Claude declared himself president for life, but at the end of the year mass uprisings against the dictator began in the country, which could no longer be stopped by either political or forceful methods. On February 7, 1986, the US Navy blocked the coast of Port-o -Prence. The dictator and his family fled the country to France.
Period after the dictatorship
Power in Haiti passed to the white general Henri Namfi. However, the position of Duvalier's supporters was strong, and they continued to terrorize the population. In January 1988, the leader of the United Progressive National Democrats, Leslie Maniga, won the election. He did not find a common language with the army, and the left opposition accused him of conciliating with Duvalier's supporters. On June 20, 1988, Maniga was overthrown, and Henri Namfi returned to power, who continued to persecute the opposition. On September 17 of the same year, he was overthrown. The new military head of the country was Prosper Anvil, who continued the policy of his predecessor. Mass protests resumed in the country, and on March 10, he was overthrown.
On December 16, 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest, an adherent of the "liberation theory", was elected president. He was going to carry out a series of political and social reforms, but his plans met with resistance in parliament and the army. On September 29, 1991, Aristide was overthrown, General Raul Sedra seized power in the country, who began terror against Aristide's supporters.
The US refused to recognize the Sedra regime. In 1994, the United Nations placed an embargo on the entry into Haiti of any goods other than food and medicine. The United States set itself the task of returning Aristide, who was overthrown by the junta, to the country and demanded Cedra to resign. A broad propaganda program against the Haitian regime was launched, ships of the American Navy approached the shores of Haiti. On September 19, 1994, 3,000 US Marines landed on the island, and on October 15, Aristide, overthrown by the junta, returned to the country and assumed the duties of president. He reduced the army and disbanded the security service, then created the Lavalas political movement.
On December 17, 1995, Lavalas candidate René Préval won the election. Having come to power, he launched neo-liberal reforms, which aggravated the already difficult situation in the country. In 1997, mass strikes began in the country, often turning into clashes with the police. The Lavelas movement split, Aristide's supporters created their own movement, the Lavelas Family.
21 century
In 2001, Aristide returned to power in the country. An "alternative government" was created, led by the self-proclaimed President Guargue. In 2003 Guargue was arrested. The Aristide government refused to hold early parliamentary elections.
AT economic policy Aristide took unpopular measures, making a number of concessions to the IMF, which complicated the already difficult situation in the country.
On February 5, 2004, an anti-government rebellion began in Gonaïves, led by the Artibonite Revolutionary Resistance Front. The rebels occupied the north of the country, almost all major cities and surrounded the capital. They demanded the resignation of President Aristide. On February 29, 2004, Aristide resigned and fled the country. Bonifas Alexandre, Chief Justice of Haiti, became interim president. He appealed to the UN with a request to send international forces to the country to restore order. In April 2004, military contingents from the United States, France, Canada and Chile entered the country. On May 14, René Préval was elected president of the country. The situation in the country remains unstable.
