Help for Haiti: A Little History

In the midst of all of the heart-breaking news and devastation in Haiti, I would like to share a wonderful article that a friend posted and sent via email. From a very young age, my parent's were sure to keep us informed of our heritage. Making sure that we knew where we came from and who we are was essential. Thiis article just brings it all back. It's a little lengthy, but definitely worth the read:

Since this disaster I'm sure you've noticed in the news that every other sentence used to describe Haiti are those such as "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere" or "80 per cent of Haitians live in poverty" or " most Haitians live on less than a dollar a day". While these statistics may be true, it seems that the media seem hellbent on emphasising the facts about Haiti's poverty without mentioning their

role in how Haiti got that way.

Haiti was forced to PAY France for its freedom and independence. Yes you read right. PAY. When they couldn't afford the ransom, France (and other countries, including the United States) helpfully offered high-interest loans. By 1900, 80% of Haiti's annual budget went to paying off its "reparation" debt. They didn't make the last payment until 1947. Just 10 years later, dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier took over the country and promptly bankrupted it, taking out more high-interest loans to finance his corrupt lifestyle. The Duvalier family, with the blind-eye financial assistance of Western countries, killed tens of thousands of Haitians, until the brave Haitian people once again rose up and overthrew them in 1986. Today, the Haitian people are paying off the debt of an oppresive dictator that no-one (including the oh, so gracious US government, who have no problem bombing the hell out of countries who have leaders whose interests don’t serve those of the US/West – remember Grenada?) would help them get rid of for 30 years. The rest of the world refuses to forgive this debt. Now these same VAMPIRES including the World Bank, France, and the US – are the first to line up saying they will offer ‘financial assistance’ to Haiti. Do you smell a rat? History tells us that everything they do has a catch, it is never done sheerly out of the kindness of their hearts. I recall last year seeing Bill Clinton in Haiti on the television talking about bringing ‘foreign investment’ into the country. The caption then showed him visiting a giant factory owned by a European, with hundreds of Haitians sitting in line sewing garments that they will never truly benefit from, financially or otherwise. This was clearly the ‘foreign investment’ Clinton was talking about. So let's look out for multinational contractors such as Halliburton and all the rest showing up in Haiti hungry for profit and cheap labour. I don’t know whether any of you heard Bill Clinton’s interview on CNN last night, but he clearly said that America would be working closely with the Haitian govt to "free the Haitian people after 200 years of misery", referring to the period since the Haitians freed themselves!!!!

Why is Haiti so Poor?

Between 1911 and 1915, seven presidents were assassinated or overthrown in Haiti, increasing U.S. policy makers fear of "foreign intervention". In 1914, the Wilson Administration sent marines into Haiti who removed $500,000 from the Haitian National Bank in December of 1914 for safe-keeping in New York, thus giving the U.S. *control of the bank* (and country!). In 1915, Haitian president Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was assassinated and the situation in Haiti quickly became "unstable". In response, President Wilson sent the U.S. Marines to Haiti, claiming the invasion was an attempt to prevent" anarchy". In reality the Wilson administration was protecting U.S. assets in the area and preventing a possible" German invasion". The U.S saw Germany as its prime "competition" in the Carribean at that time. The Marines that were dispatched to Haiti came from Camp Lejeune, N.Carolina. Pres. Woodrow Wilson's statement to the press for being so "specific" in his request for this particular group was, "Southern white men will know how to deal with those Negroes!". Some say that the money that was taken from the National Bank in

Port-au-Prince actually totaled between 20 - 60M dollars U.S.! These same Marines actually robbed the National Bank, walking in fully armed and demanding the funds! Another important fact is that this money was not paper dollars, it was gold bullion! 1914 was the same year that WWI started and many countries began to move toward a Gold Standard that became final for the U.S. in 1933,when gold coins were recalled from circulation by the U.S. government. In 1929, a series of strikes and uprisings (dubbed the Caco or Chaco Revolts) led the United States to begin withdrawal from Haiti. In 1930, U.S. officials began training Haitian officials "to take control of the government". In 1934, the United States, in concert with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy, officially withdrew from Haiti while retaining *economic connections* that are still in place today. THIS REMAINS THE LONGEST MILITARY ACTION IN U.S. HISTORY!!! The clear fact is, the imperialist West, built upon a system of white supremacy, NEVER forgave the Haitian people for having the gall to free themselves from bondage. Furthermore, the idea of a strong, economically stable, independent African republic in the Americas was more than they could stomach and they did and continue to do anything in their power to prevent that from happening, using debt, political meddling and isolation as the main weapon. The achievements of the Haitian people and the Maroon movements also inspired a number of slave rebellions across the Americas. Make no mistake about it, Africans weren’t emancipated by others, they emancipated themselves. The abolition were little more than a response to the mass rebellions that were sweeping across the ‘New World’. Haiti started all that, and the Haitian people have been made to pay for their bravery and courage ever since. Now the Proud Haitian people are more vulnerable to the Western vampires circling around the nation than they have ever been.

While all genuine assistance to Haiti should be appreciated, and as well as continuing to assist our people in Haiti, we must monitor the actions of the US government and its Trojan Horse leader very closely from now on, as well as the French and all the other Western governments, who have had a 200-year score to settle with the proud people of Haiti.

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