Brief History of Haiti

The recorded history of Haiti begins with the arrival of Christopher Colombus in 1492. The land he arrived at was inhabited by the Taino, an Arawaka people, who called their island Ayiti. Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, and renamed it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), or Hispaniola. The Spaniards used the island as a launching point to explore the rest of the Western Hemisphere. In 1697, Spain ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France. Some of the French adventurers then became planters, making the area one of the richest colonies of the 18^th century French empire.

During this period, African slaves were brought to work the sugarcane and coffee plantations. In 1791, the slave population, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture (depicted in the image above), Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe, revolted and gained control of the northern part of Saint-Domingue.

Independence In 1804, local forces defeated the French, and renamed the area Haiti. With it's independence, Haiti became the first black republic in the world, and the second-oldest republic after the United States in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, there exists, outside Haiti, no other case of an enslaved people breaking its own chains and using military might to defeat a powerful colonial power.

Two separate regimes (north and south) emerged after independence, but were then unified in 1820. After facing 22 changes of government from 1843 until 1915, Haiti was then occupied by the United States military from 1915 until 1934.

The Two Duvaliers After a period of disorder, elections were held in September 1957, which saw Dr. Francois Duvalier elected President. Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc", soon established yet another Haitian dictatorship. To this day, his regime is regarded as one of the most repressive and corrupt of modern times, combining violence against political opponents with exploitation of Vodou to instill fear in the majority of the population. Duvalier's paramilitary police, commonly known as the Tonton Macoutes, carried out political murders, beatings, and intimidation. An estimated 30,000 Haitians were killed by his government. In 1964, Duvalier proclaimed himself "President for Life."

On Duvalier's death in April 1971, power passed to his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc." Under Jean-Claude Duvalier Haiti's economic and political condition continued to decline, although some of the more fearsome elements of his father's regime were abolished. Baby Doc's kleptocracy left the regime vulnerable to unanticipated crises, exacerbated by endemic poverty. In January 1986, the Reagan administration began to pressure Duvalier to renounce his rule and to leave Haiti.

An Interrupted Transition to Democracy From 1986 to 1990, Haiti was ruled by a series of provisional governments. In December 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a charismatic Roman Catholic priest, won 67% of the vote in a presidential election that international observers deemed largely free and fair. Aristide took office in February 1991, but was overthrown by dissatisfied elements of the army and forced to leave the country in September of the same year. It is estimated that between 300 and 500 Haitians were killed in the days following the September coup, and 3,000 in the following three years.

In mid-September of 1993, with U.S. troops prepared to enter Haiti by force, President Bill Clinton dispatched a negotiating team led by former President Jimmy Carter to persuade the authorities to step aside and allow for the return of constitutional rule. With intervening troops already airborne, the top military leaders agreed to step down. In OctoberAristide was able to return. Elections were held in June 1995 and Aristide's coalition had a sweeping victory. When Aristide's term, or what was actually the end of his previously interrupted term, ended in February 1996, Rene Preval, a prominent Aristide political ally, was elected President with 88% of the vote. It was Haiti's first ever transition between two democratically elected presidents.

In November 2000, Aristide was again elected president, with more than 90% of the vote, but this time with a very low turnout. This time there was strong political deadlock between Aristide and the opposition, eventually resulting in Aristide ruling by decree until stability could be ensured and a next set of elections organized.

Anti-Aristide protests in January 2004 led to violent clashes in Port-au-Prince, causing several deaths. The rebellion then began to spread, and a mediation team of diplomats presented a plan to reduce Aristide's power while allowing him to remain in office until the end of his constitutional term. Although Aristide accepted the plan, it was rejected by the opposition. On February 29, 2004, on an American airplane, escorted by American diplomats and military personnel,Aristide and his wife departed from Haiti. There is controversy over whether or not he was forced to leave the country by the United States. Aristide insists that he was kidnapped by the U.S., while the U.S. State Department maintains that he resigned from office.

The government was then taken over by the country's supreme court chief. Many political organizations, as well as Aristide himself, have suggested that the rebellion was in fact a foreign controlled coup d'état. The United States, France, and the international community have been accused of failing in Haiti because of their compliance to allow a democratically elected leader to be violently forced out of office. The U.S. claimed that the crisis was of Aristide's making and that he was not acting in the best interests of his country. They have argued that his removal was necessary for future stability in the island nation.

After Aristide's overthrow, despite the presence of peacekeepers, the violence in Haiti has continued and in many cases worsened.Many protests were organized to demand the return of Aristide. Several of the protests resulted in violence and deaths. Despite the ongoing controversy and violence, the interim government planned legislative and executive elections. After being postponed several times, they were finally held in February 2006. A decade after his first term, Rene Preval was reelected and currently serves as Haiti's president.

Information obtained from the websites of the U.S. State Department, and Wikipedia, as well as from "The Uses of Haiti," by Paul Farmer