Haiti is one place in the Western Hemisphere where a rebellion against slavery succeeded. Toussaint L'Ouverture led the rebellion that eventually cleared the way for independence in 1804. The rebellion was powerful enough that it had popular support after Toussaint L'Ouverture ended up in French prison.
In 1915, the united $tates invaded Haiti and took over its customs administration for trade. Then the united $tates dissolved Haiti's legislature and rewrote its constitution. In other words the united $tates acted as a colonial power in Haiti. Troops did not leave until 1934 and until 1947, the united $tates continued to run Haiti's budget. The fact that the united $tates took power in Haiti in 1915 proves that the united $tates had its own motivations for colonialism and it also proves MIM's line that within 100 years of 1776, Amerikkkans had killed off the United States. While "founding father" Thomas Jefferson was backward in the sense of having slaves and living in a pickle over it, he did recognize Haiti's independence and contributed to the atmosphere that made it possible.(1) By the latter 1800s, whites were even more backward than Thomas Jefferson and took up colonialism. Adding insult to injury, now the united $tates imprisons Haitians for immigration violations and once in prison, the Constitution does not protect them from slavery--even in the year 2004. So from the Haitian point of view, Amerikans have done nothing but go backward once Washington and Lincoln were gone.
After World War II Uncle $am would justify the atrocities of its lackeys in Haiti and elsewhere as necessary to ward off Soviet influence. U.$. colonialism in Haiti before 1917 and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 proves that the Soviet Union has nothing to do with U.$. oppression of the Third World. One thing we won't see is all the Cold Warriors who justified coups against democratically elected governments come forward and admit that they were wrong about their motivations for those coups.
Today Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, wrecked by its close ties to the united $tates, which repeatedly destabilizes the country to reshuffle its lackeys there. The economic and social situation in Haiti manages to make Cuba look like paradise and state-capitalist leader Fidel Castro look like a saint by comparison. The U.S. State Department admits as of its 2004 web page that life expectancy in Haiti is 49.1 years.(2) Meanwhile, the same State Department links to the CIA which admits that neighboring Cuba has a life expectancy of 76.8 years.(3)
Haiti ends up in the u.$. news mostly for the people trying to escape Haiti to live in the united $tates. Many have noted how Cubans who arrive on U.$. soil obtain immigration permission while Haitians do not. Haitians are not so lucky as to be fleeing a so-called communist regime.
Notes:
1. http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/haiti_history.asp
2. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1982.htm
3. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cu.html
MIM analysis
Update on Uncle $am's 2004 intervention
Demonstration photo (750kb) in Washington DC immediately after Uncle $am pushed out Aristide in 2004
