Haiti has a rich history of resistance and revolution going back to Toussaint L’ouverture and The Black Jacobins. At this point, there is very little information on the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Any time a foreign leader is assassinated, US involvement is a possible culprit. Whether they were involved in the assassination remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, the US has a long and sordid history of interfering in Haitian affairs that included rigging the election to install Moïse in 2016. It would require a book to adequately cover this history, but what follows are a few episodes of US intervention in Haiti.
1804 - Haiti becomes independent from France
1862 - The US finally recognizes Haiti’s independence. The slave states in the south of the US were the driving force behind the refusal to recognize Haiti, a slave colony that had been freed by the slaves and served as an inspiration for slaves in the US to seek their own freedom.
1868 - President Andrew Johnson suggests annexation of Haiti for a naval base in the Caribbean.
1914 - President Wilson sends Marines to take control of the Haitian National Bank. They take $500,000 to New York for “safe keeping.”
US Marine Corps Troops on Patrol in Haiti, 1915 - A. R. Harrison, United States Marine Corps
July 28, 1915 - Three hundred thirty US Marines land in Haiti, beginning a military occupation that would last until August 1, 1934. During this time, the US installed puppet rulers an ran Haiti as a military dictatorship. The invasion was in support of US interests in the Haitian American Sugar Company. As usual, the US military was operating as the armed wing of capitalist interests. Working conditions differed little from those under slavery during the US rule.
1917 - The US dissolves the Haitian legislature in order to rewrite the constitution to allow foreign ownership of land. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D Roosevelt claimed he wrote this constitution. He also claimed the US was running enough countries in Central America to have 12 votes in the League of Nations, including Haiti. Roosevelt was no hero.
December 6, 1929 - Les Cayes massacre is carried out by US Marine troops on protesting Haitians. Between 12 and 22 unarmed protesters are slaughtered when US troops open fire with machine guns. All they wanted were lower taxes and better working conditions. These were just a few of the thousands of Haitians who were killed by the US during the occupation.
August 1, 1934 - US troops withdraw from Haiti. However, due to the treaty of 1919, a US financial advisor still controls the Haitian budget through 1941.
Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier - Photo by VolontarioWiki, Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
1957-71 - Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier rules as dictator. US provides training in counterinsurgency to Haitian troops during this brutal dictatorship. This aid was channeled through Israel “sparing Washington embarrassing questions about supporting brutal governments.”
1971-1986 - Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier continues his father’s legacy. The US continues to support the brutal regime.
1987 - 88 - When Jean-Claude was deposed by a rebellion and fled to France, the US began direct interference in Haiti again. The CIA was involved in the elections until Congress finally intervened. As the LA Times reported:
“We were engaged in covert action on behalf of the National Security Council,” said one former high-level U.S. intelligence official who was directly involved in the covert-action plan and the dispute with Congress. “We were involved in a range of support for a range of candidates.”
1990 elections - After a brief military dictatorship under General Prosper Avril that ended with mass protests and an abdication, Haiti again holds elections. This time Catholic priest and liberation theologian Jean-Bertrand Aristide runs for president. Concerned that Aristide is too far left, the US backs and bankrolls Marc Bazin against him. The election went smoothly as William Blum describes:
Despite a campaign marred by terror and intimidation, nearly a thousand UN and Organization of American States (OAS) observers and an unusually scrupulous Haitian general insured that a relatively honest balloting took place, in which Aristide was victorious with 67.5 percent of the vote.
September 29, 1991 - Aristide had little time to make significant changes as he was deposed by a military coup eight months after his election. The bourgeoisie considered him enough of a threat to orchestrate this coup, after all he had enacted literacy programs and was working to increase wages. There is not enough evidence to say the US was directly involved in this coup, though as William Blum puts it:
the CIA was financing and training all the important elements of the new military regime, and a Haitian official who supported the coup has reported that US intelligence officers were present at military headquarters as the coup was taking place…
The CIA had been deeply involved in Haiti for decades and this comes as no surprise.
1991-1994 - During this period, General Raoul Cédras oversaw another brutal military dictatorship. Cédras has been trained by the US as part of the counterinsurgency force the Leopard Corps, which operated under Jean-Claude Duvalier.
September 19, 1994 - US troops arrive in Haiti. Facing a refugee crisis from Haiti, President Bill Clinton had backed himself into a corner and even though the administration was against Aristide, Clinton had little choice but to reinstate him. Operation Uphold Democracy forced Raoul Cédras to resign under the threat of US military action.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns triumphantly to the National Palace at Port au Prince, Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy. Photo by TSgt Val Gempis (USAF)
October 15, 1994 - Aristide resumes his presidency, over three years after being deposed. Under pressure from Clinton, Aristide agrees to serve out his term and not try to remain in office longer in spite of the missed time. Over 2,000 US troops remained in Haiti until Aristide’s term ends.
1996-2004 - René Préval succeeded Aristide in February 1996 and served his five year term. UN peacekeeping forces remained active in Haiti through 2000. Aristide was once again elected in 2001, which would lead to the next major US intervention in 2004. Aristide’s opposition and the US both refused to consider the election to be valid.
2004 - Aristide is deposed in a military coup. The official story is that US military police escorted him to safety as rebels approached the palace. Aristide himself told a different tale - the US military forced him to leave with threats of bloodshed. As CNN reported a conversation between US Representative Maxine Waters and Aristide:
Waters said that Aristide told her the chief of staff of the U.S. Embassy in Haiti came to his home, told him that he would be killed "and a lot of Haitians would be killed" if he did not leave and said he "has to go now."
“The way I see it is they came to his house, uninvited," Waters said. "They had not only the force of the embassy but the Marines with them. They made it clear that he had to go now or he would be killed."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has a history of lying on behalf of the Bush administration, denied this report. Aristide described the coup in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now:
AMY GOODMAN: And was that the U.S. military that took you out?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: There were U.S. military and I suspect it could be also completed with the presence of all the militaries from other countries.
The rebel forces which rose up against Aristide also received training from the United States. It is clear the US was complicit in forcing the resignation of President Aristide in 2004.
2010 - A massive earthquake devastates Haiti. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in aid efforts which were not ideal as the Guardian describes:
Over their many decades of involvement there, the Clintons became two of the leading proponents of a particular approach to improving Haiti’s fortunes, one that relies on making the country an attractive place for multinational companies to do business. They have done this by combining foreign aid with diplomacy, attracting foreign financing to build factories, roads and other infrastructure that, in many cases, Haitian taxpayers must repay. Hillary has called this “economic statecraft”; others have called it a “neoliberal” approach to aid.
Opening up Haiti to transnational capital has been a longstanding policy of the US that the Clintons were simply continuing. Aid money was funneled to private corporations rather than to the people who needed the most help.
May 2011 - Michel Joseph “Sweet Micky” Martelly is selected in a clearly corrupt election with interference from the United States. Martelly did not even qualify to run for president due to being a US permanent resident.
November 2016 - Obama interferes in the Haitian elections to ensure that Jovenel Moïse is elected. The National Human Rights Defense Network reported widespread ballot stuffing. Moise reportedly received 33% of the vote in the first round, though the Nation reports the numbers were likely less than 10%.
July 6-7, 2018 - Major uprisings begin against austerity and foreign intreference after the IMF demands Haiti raise fuel prices.
February 7, 2021 - Moïse’s five year presidential term ends, but Moïse refuses to step down. The Biden administration backs this choice, propping up his illegitimate and unconstitutional seizure of power.
In 1994, Biden had this to say about Haiti:
This statement is not that different from when Trump called Haiti a “shithole country.”
July 7, 2021 - President Jovenel Moïse is assassinated by well armed and trained men. In an interview with Democracy Now, Haitian community organizer and activist Dahoud Andre says:
But a lot of people that I’ve spoken to this morning are saying it’s probably the U.S. government, again, not just affirming their domination over Haiti right now, but maybe to mask the shame of their defeat and running away from Afghanistan in the middle of the night.
Whether or not the US is behind the assassination, it is clear that the interference with Haiti will continue. In a statement released today, Black Alliance for Peace said:
Whatever happens, the Black Alliance for Peace remains steadfast in our call against foreign intervention and occupation of Haiti. And we call on all anti-imperialist and Black internationalist forces to stand with the Haitian people and oppose U.S. and European interventions deployed under the guise of the “Responsibility to Protect."
I stand with the Black Alliance for Peace against US imperialism.
Additional Reading
The long history of troubled ties between Haiti and the US - By Vanessa Buschschluter
A PEARL CAST BEFORE SWINE: HOW US IMPERIALISM AND JOVENEL MOÏSE HAVE STRANGLED HAITI - By Jude Casimir
HAITI - A Chapter from Killing Hope - By William Blum