The earthquake may be the worst disaster…. But Haiti’s history has had others… Some caused by US intervention

Americans are sending donations to the people of Haiti. Many Americans are generous when it comes to helping out in a crisis. However, many people may not be aware of US government’s past treatment of Haiti and its people, before the earthquake.
Although this latest disaster is natural, past disasters have not been. It was a military coup, in February 2004 that cost some Haitians their lives and destroyed democracy on that Island.

Brief history of US intervention in Haiti:

The US intervened in Haiti by a takeover of the government and occupatopn from 1915 to 1934. This occupation was initially resisted by a peasant revolt termed the "cacos" insurrection, was led by Charlemagne Péralte. There were claims that US marines took part in. "indiscriminate" killings. The US tried nation building with a Haitian administration. They dismantled the constitutional system, built roads, and established the National Guards that ran the country after the Marines left.

There had been a revolt in Haiti to oust a long serving Dictatorship headed by Jean-Claude Duvalier, also known as "Baby Doc", His family ruled the Island as a dynasty from 1957 to 1986. The dynasty came to an end in a bloody revolt. In December 1990, the former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President in the Haitian general election, winning by more than two thirds of the vote.

As with Hugo Chávez, Venezuela, the CIA helped and encouraged unrest against Aristide and the US government was calling him corrupt. The result was that In February 2004, a well organized military revolt quickly took over the Island and Aristide was ousted.

This is very similar to what the CIA, under President George W. Bush, had tried in Venezuela. Aristide was a nationalist who wanted more control over his own country's resources. He was not popular with Bush and his Republican stooges, so they went after him in a bloody coup, which worked.

The CIA went as far as kidnapping him, putting him on a plane and sending him into exile in South Africa. This disaster was man made.

Ousting Aristide - Haiti: The UNtold Story



Exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, DN 1/15/2010