Haiti could be called the country that history cursed. It shares
with the Dominican Republic the island of Hispaniola, which Columbus
reached in December 1492 on his first voyage. It may have been
an ill omen that his flagship, the Santa Maria, struck
a reef there on Christmas Eve and sank. Columbus used the wreckage
to build a fort on shore and left 40 men there when he returned
to Spain.
Two-hundred years later Spain ceded the western third of the
island to France, retaining the eastern two-thirds for itself.
During much of the 18th century the smaller section -- now called
Haiti -- was the richest colony in the Caribbean, its capital
celebrated as the "Paris of the New World." But a cruel and oppressive
French colonial regime led to a slave rebellion in 1792, and more
than a decade of struggle finally disgorged the independent Republic
of Haiti in 1804.
Between 1843 and 1915 Haiti went through 22 heads of state,
most of whom were violently expelled from office. In 1915 U.S.
troops invaded the country to begin an occupation that lasted
until 1934, by which time Haiti was prospering again. But turmoil
resumed soon after 1957 when François Duvalier, a doctor
and union leader, was elected president. Known as "Papa Doc,"
Duvalier subjected Haiti to a 14-year reign of terror with the
help of his personal militia, the tontons macoutes (in
Creole, "uncle boogeymen"). A practitioner of voodoo, a belief
system imported from West Africa that centers on family spirits,
Duvalier was succeeded at his death in 1971 by his 19-year-old
son, Jean Claude, who became known as "Baby Doc." He continued
the avaricious dictatorship until 1986, when he was ousted by
a military coup and fled to France. He left an impoverished country
with no functioning political institutions, no tradition of self-rule
and no idea how to respond to a popular yearning for democracy.
Four years later Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former priest, became
the country's first freely elected president. Within months he
was ousted in a bloody coup. He was granted asylum in the United
States and was restored to the presidency in 1994 with the help
of U.S. troops. Forbidden by the constitution to succeed himself
when his term ended in 1995, he ran afresh in 2000 and won despite
opposition boycotts at the polls.
Anti-government protests continued after he took office and
grew increasingly violent in 2003. At the end of February 2004,
Aristide again left office and fled on a U.S.-chartered jet. He
later charged that he was abducted by the United States "in the
commission of a coup."
Both the chartered jet and the coup charge are symbolic of Aristide's
on-and-off relationship with the United States, which initially
hoped an elected president would bring governmental stability
to the island nation. Instead he became a focal point for increased
turmoil and heightened violence -- fueled, critics charge, by
arms he funneled to his partisans in Port au Prince, the dangerous
chimeres. Many observers in and outside of Haiti feel
the United States is still too close to Aristide, whom they view
as one more in a long line of disastrous leaders.
The ousted president is now living in South Africa, where he's
vowed to remain until he can return to Haiti.
(October 2005)
