US Occupation

In November 11, 1915, the Haitian President Sudre Dartiguenave was forced to sign a treaty with ratification by the Haitian Senate The document legitimized the US occupation and put Haitian finances and government under the control of the US for the next 20 years. The controversial amendment also aimed to disbanding the Haitian army and permit foreign land ownership that had been outlawed since the Haitian Revolution. However, the reluctant lawmakers rejected that notion and rather began drafting a new anti-American constitution, but under U.S pressure, that bill was kept undecided by President Dartiguenave till 1929. In 1929, a series of strikes and uprisings against the U.S initiated the withdrawal of U.S Marines from Haiti. In 1934, in concert with "Good Neighbor Policy" introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S Marine was officially withdrawn from Haiti except retaining fews for maintaining economic connections.

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In the 1930s, US invaded Haiti and introduced a racist policies carried out by U.S. Marines. An overall preferential but still racist treatment of Haiti's Mulato elite. During and after the American occupation in Haiti, a movement started that turning the intellectual class toward a greater appreciation of blackness, African culture. Francois Duvalier campaigned on this political ideology Noirism or Negritude Movement

"Noirisme Ideology" was defined by Matthew J. Smith (2004) as an ideology "which advocated total control of the state apparatus by black representatives of the popular classes." It is a form of political and cultural ideology that grew out of indigenism (ideologies associated with indigenous peoples), which in turn was a reaction to the American occupation of 1915 to 1934, and until the 1940's when Haiti gained back the control of its national bank. Although "color politics" were an integral part of Haiti's political scenery long before the arrival of the Marines, their presence served to strengthen the problem. During this period of U.S occupation, Haiti put an end to the Franco-German control of the Haitian economy and permanently shifted towards the U.S. However, Smith himself considered this as incomplete definition unless Occupation and post-Occupation scenarios in Haiti are considered and factors like radical, psychological, cultural, ethnological and political ideologies are taken into account.

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Here is a picture of The body of the leader of the Haitian revolution, Charlemagne Péralte. His death at the age of 33, made Charlemagne Péralte a martyr for the Haitian nation.
His death was caused by a betrayal from one of his officers.
Jean-Baptiste Conzé became an informant to US Marines Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken

Charlemagne Péralte was assassinated with a shot in the heart at close range

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You are looking at a Caco or a Haitian nationalist fighting against the 1915 US Occupation of Haiti.

Great Depression Ends U.S. Occupation in Haiti

When American forces began occupying Haiti in 1915, the island was in political and economic distress. America feared a German takeover of susceptible Haiti, and took control of the country's infrastructure, even writing its Constitution.

Haitians soon grew to hate the Occupation. They felt used, betrayed, and deprived of their autonomy.

Lonely when America's Great Depression occurred did they pull out in 1934 under pressure from American citizens, who disapproved of the U.S. spending too much money in Haiti.

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Here is a picture Haitian Police Force, also known as Garde D'Haiti which later became FAD'H being trained during US Occupation of Haiti

In spite of the resentment with their occupation, the Americans during their 19 years of occupation built many new roads, schools, irrigation, agricultural projects, piers and many lighthouses. They also trained an important political force, the Haitian National Police force (Garde D'Haiti). However, the great depression of the 1930s forced the U.S to justify its huge spending to occupy an unpromising land like Haiti. In 1930, the U.S President Hoover, sent a delegation to the Haitian President Louis Borno for considering to hold elections and began the process of withdrawing American administrators and forces. The last Marine left Haiti on August 15, 1934 after a formal transfer of authority to the Haitian military Garde d'Haiti. However, a small American delegation remained there till 1941 to defend American economic interests.

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Here is a picture of the rebel leader Charlemagne Peralte. This Statue was erected in the city of Hinche

He was born in 1886 in Hinche but with his origin to a family who had migrated from theDominican Republic

A former Haitian officer who was the military chief in the city of Léogane when the US Marines invaded Haiti in July 1915, Charlemagne Péralte refused to surrender to the US Marines.

As a consequence, he resigned from the Haitian military position and returned to his birth city, Hinche

In 1917, Charlemagne Péralte was arrested by the occupying force and sentenced to five years of forced labor. Following his release, Charlemagne started his guerrilla warfare against the US troops until his assassination

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After the lynching of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam for the massacre of 167 political prisoners, US feared that anti-US Caco leader Rosalvo Bobo might take over. President Wilson as a consequence ordered the invasion of Haiti

The US marines headed by Admiral William B. Caperton stormed the shores of Haiti. During the invasion of the American military forces in Haiti, Rosalvo Bobo was very popular. He was known as the rebel leader who managed to remove Vilbrun Guillaume Sam from power. However, Admiral William B. Caperton considered him as an enemy of the US and instead selected Sudre Dartiguenave to become president.

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Here is a picture of American Marines defending the entrance gate in Cap-Haitian in 1915

As a result, in 1915, the pro-US Haitian President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam seized power and ordered a massacre of 167 political prisoners, but he was lynched by an angry mob into the French Embassy. In July 28, 1915, the U.S President Wilson ordered an invasion. The 330 marines stormed the shores of Port-au-Prince and soon set up an interim government. Although with the U.S occupation, peace and order was restored in Haiti, the Haitians were never happy with the Americans. The poor were unhappy with their assigned road building works, patriotic middle class resented the foreigners and the elite upper class was denied of the access to the government spending that had previously made them rich.

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Here is a picture of US Marines boarding the U.S.C Connecticut july 1915 as they are heading to Haiti

In the beginning, following the assassination of Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, a Pro-U.S Haitian President, the U.S President Woodrow Wilson sent a first team of U.S Marines into Haiti on July 28, 1915. They were sent to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the country. However, in the wake of the First World War, the President Wilson at the same time also wanted to establish U.S dominance in the region by keeping the German settlers away from Haiti. Because, the peasant guerrillas (cocos) from the northern Haiti were heavily burdened with German loans and they wanted the Germans to invade and restore order in the country.

Thus the 19- year U.S. occupation in Haiti began with the landing of 3,000 Marines at Port-au-Prince under the leadership of Admiral William B. Caperton and that continued until 1935. However, prior to that in December 1914, in the fear of foreign intervention, Wilson administration sent U.S. Marines to Haiti who removed $500,000 from the Haitian National Bank for safe keeping in New York.

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Presidential palace of President Villbrum Guilluiame Sam who was assassinated

At the beginning of the 20th century, United States became increasingly concerned with the level of German activity and influence in Haiti. German businesses in Haiti dominated commerce in the entire area.

German nationals controlled over 80 percent of Haiti international commerce. They owned utilities in Cap Haitien and Port-au-Prince, wharf, railroad serving the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac. To get around Haitian law that forbid foreigners from owning land in Haiti, German men were increasingly marrying Haitian women and open businesses.

Although the sphere of U.S influence in the Caribbean started in 1898, in 1915, during the First World War, the U.S President Woodrow Wilson feared that Germany could invade Haiti and establish a military base near the Panama Canal that was built with huge U.S investment. The U.S President had right reasons to worry because then there were many Germans settlers living in Haiti who had financed the rampaging cacos with loans which were almost impossible to be repaid and they were at the mercy of the Germans to invade and restore order.

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