Haiti History

Haiti - national flag

The flag was adopted in 1986, but dates from the early 1800's. It is derived from the French Trikolore with the omission of the white stripe. At times, the stripes were vertical, and the blue has been replaced with black, last time 1964-86. Blue stands for the country's black population, red for the population of mixed African and European descent. Haiti's state flag shows the country's coat of arms in a white square in the center of the flag.

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Haiti - history

When Columbus arrived in Hispaniola in 1492, the island was inhabited by Arawak Indians, who, however, were almost completely exterminated 50 years later. The Spaniards settled primarily in the eastern part of the island; from 1620 French pirates gradually took over the western part, and in 1697 it was formally handed over to France under the name Saint-Domingue.

Sugar and cotton plantations run by slaves made Saint-Domingue France's richest and most profitable colony in the Caribbean. The slaves made up in the late 1700's. over 90% of the population and the majority were born in Africa. Under the impression of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out in 1791. A number of sugar plantations were burned off and the plantation owners killed. The slaves were supported by the liberated blacks and mulattos of the colony, and the army sent out by France proved sympathetic to the rebels; at the request of the white power elite, British and Spanish troops now invaded Saint-Domingue, and to retain the colony, the French authorities allied with the slaves and in 1794 abolished slavery.

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The black army leader, FD Toussaint Louverture, succeeded in driving the British out in 1798, and in 1801 he also secured control of the Spanish part of the island, Santo Domingo. The French had appointed Toussaint Louverture governor-general, but he ruled the island as an independent state, which France's new regent, Napoleon, found unacceptable; in 1802, French forces invaded the island, and Toussaint Louverture was captured and deported to France. However, opposition continued under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and in 1803 the French withdrew from the western part of the island. On January 1, 1804, Saint-Domingue declared itself the first colony in Latin America to be independent and adopted the Arawak name Haiti, and Dessalines was crowned emperor as James 1.

The slave revolt and subsequent independence, first recognized by France in 1825, had frightened the colonial powers and gained great symbolic significance for the slave and independence movements of the New World. However, France demanded that Haiti pay compensation in return for the recognition. France demanded 125 million. franc, and in 1838 France accepted a reduction to 60 million. franc over 30 years.

After a mulatto uprising in 1806, during which Dessalines was assassinated, the country was divided into a southern part with mulatto leader Alexandre Pétion at the helm and a northern one where Henri Christophe was in power. After Christopher's death in 1820, Haiti was reunited under Pétion's successor, Jean-Pierre Boyer (1776-1850).

In 1822, Haiti occupied Santo Domingo, which had declared independence in 1821, but the year after Boyer was overthrown in 1843, Santo Domingo broke free and declared its independence as the Dominican Republic.

In Haiti, the power struggle between mulattoes and blacks continued, and the country was plagued for a long period of coups and revolutions. In 1915, Haiti was invaded by the United States in an attempt to create stability and secure American interests. The unpopular American occupation ended in 1934, but the United States maintained indirect control of the country for a long time. A consequence of the US invasion was that the mulattoes secured great political influence. The reaction proved to be a strong black "nationalism" culminating in François Duvalier, Papa Doc, who was elected president in 1957. After a failed attempt in 1958 to overthrow him, Duvalier ruled as dictator, and with the help of the terrorist corps Tontons Macoutes, who was behind thousands of murders, he suppressed any opposition in the country.

Duvalier established a dynasty with himself as president for life, and in 1971 he was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, Baby Doc. In particular, under President Jimmy Carter, the United States put pressure on Haiti to improve the human rights situation; a few moderate political parties saw the light of day, but after Ronald Reagan's election as President of the United States in 1980, repression escalated again.

However, after massive popular demonstrations across the country, Jean-Claude Duvalier was brought down, and on February 7, 1986, he fled to France. Under the leadership of General Henri Namphys (b. 1932), a National Council took power and promised to re-establish democracy, but only after a 1988 election, which was marked by gross fraud, and a few coups led popular protests in 1990 to a free democracy. choice.

The winner of the election, the pastor Jean Bertrand Aristide, was installed as president in February 1991, but just seven months later he was overthrown in a coup led by General Raoul Cédras (b. 1949). Following strong international pressure, UN-led negotiations led to Aristide being able to return from exile in October 1994 after the landing of 20,000 American soldiers and resume his mandate.

In the November 1995 presidential election, René Préval won with the support of Jean Bertrand Aristide, who according to the constitution could not be immediately re-elected. Préval, who, like Aristide, lived in exile during the 1991-94 military dictatorship, was installed in February 1996.

In 1996, Aristide formed a new party, the Fanmi Lavalas (Lavalas family), which quickly took root among the poor, but the party's young activists increasingly intimidated political opponents with violence and threats reminiscent of the ravaging gangs of the Duvalier dictatorship. Following fraud in the 2000 local elections, the United States and other donor countries stopped their aid to the country. That same year, Jean Bertrand Aristide won the presidential election and took office in 2001. As often before, criticism of the election arose. In the first year, Aristide was subjected to two coup attempts. In revenge, his youth gangs set fire to buildings belonging to leading opposition figures.

The fragile democracy of Latin America's poorest country could not prevent a recovery in drug trafficking, so 10-15% of cocaine to the United States eventually passed through Haiti. The unrest in the country grew in early 2004 to revolt and forced Aristide into exile. That same year, UN peacekeepers were deployed in the country. In the 2006 election, René Préval won his second term as president, and the same year, the transitional government was replaced by a democratically elected government since 2004.

The capital Port-au-Prince was hit in January 2010 by a powerful earthquake, measured at 7.0 on the Richter scale, costing over 250,000 lives, injuring far more and making 1.5 million. homeless people. The disaster particularly affected the country's poor. The reconstruction has been sluggish, and there have been numerous protests in connection with this. In 2011, Michel Martelly won the second round of the presidential election. The country was hit by a severe cholera epidemic that left thousands dead. The situation worsened when a hurricane in 2012 caused enormous devastation, leaving 20,000 people homeless. Again in 2016, Haiti was hit by a hurricane; about 900 perished and there was extensive destruction.