From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samaná - A United Hispaniola Timeline

[Sceonn]

It will be somewhere between South Korea's view of Japan, or Nazi Germany's occupation. Especially with how much many of the "Whitening" movements borrowed from German quack scientists, many of whom later joined the Nazi Party, or Proto-Fascism, and Mysticism.

That's going to significantly hurt US reputation in the Third World come the Cold War, if that happens. Cuba had a lot of influence in Africa post colonialism and there's no reason Haiti wouldn't have even more due to language, so the continent will be inundated with the Island's literary works.

 

[Eigengrau17]

That's going to significantly hurt US reputation in the Third World come the Cold War, if that happens. Cuba had a lot of influence in Africa post colonialism and there's no reason Haiti wouldn't have even more due to language, so the continent will be inundated with the Island's literacy works.

Indeed even Irl, Haiti had a pretty decent influence, with it's writers helping develop the ideas of Pan-Africanism, and all the effect that ideology has had on the African Continent, and Caribbean.

 

[Eigengrau17]

From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samaná - A United Hispaniola Timeline​

13. 20 Years Humiliation 2: Juan Isidoro Jimenes (1896 - 1907)

“Everyone has the potential to unearth their powers and trap a lover, create a child, heal the sick, end their enemies, and even transform their life. Not everyone taps into that knowing, but it is always there at their disposal. People understand that while some are sprinkled with a little magic, others are born with the don, with the gift, with the full force. It is what it is. My people believe deeply, even if they wear their Catholic cloaks daily for safety. But when shit hits the fan — and shit always hits the fan — they turn to the soil, to the skies, and the leaders of the other side. But this isn’t the island. This is not a place with an open vein of magic. This is a place where an entire race has oppressed and sat above the rest. On this land, the blood- spills always bubble back up to the surface, and instead of cleaning it, the oppressors constantly cover it up with cement. Entonces dime, who here would believe my vision?”
― Lorraine Avila, The Making of Yolanda la Bruja

As Caudillo Florvil Hyppolite lay dead, his body lost to history, and his name crushed under the boot of false progress, a successor took the throne. Juan Jimenes Pereya, the quiet, and dutiful second in command, the proper servant, a man who raised no fuss, and made no enemies. So, it seemed almost a perfect choice that the quiet Jimenes be selected by the U.S. Marines, and military administration to be the second Caudillo of Haiti. Not only would Haiti continue to strangle under the iron grip of their American oppressors, but under Caudillo Jimenes, the terror would expand into previously unimaginable depths of despair.


Beware the Quiet Ones

Most Haitians even at the time of his ascension did not know who Juan Jimenes was. The elites who pried into his past found themselves stonewalled by the quiet, and cold demeanor of the man himself. Even modern-day historians struggle to piece together the most basic facts of a man who shaped so much of modern-day Haiti.

What is known is that Juan Jimenes was born in Santo Domingo in 1847. His father Manuel Jimenes was recently widowed, choosing to marry again to Altagracia Pereyra Pérez, of whom Juan Jimenes would be born.

Neither extremely rich nor extremely poor, Jimenes had a relatively comfortable middle-class life. Joining the Haitian Army, Jimenes would settle into the role of an officer, where he was described as cold, distant, and apolitical. Perhaps, this is why when Ulises Heureaux was overthrown in 1891 Jimenes was promoted to a General. As the new Haitian Caudillo purged the army, and society of Afro-Haitian influences, Jimenes once again found a way to advance his station. Proving himself during the First Cacos War, it was under the General’s command at Fort Rivière that he would lead an army into the gaps in the Fort, and flank the Cacos, bringing the siege to a quicker conclusion.

Brutal, and efficient, General Jimenes would lead the brutal swift retaliation campaigns, being largely unafraid to get his hands dirty and command Haitian soldiers to commit brutal state-sanctioned terrorism and massacres.

When the Second Cacos War erupted due to the brutal treatment of the Haitian government, and as a byproduct of Jimenes, and the U.S. Marines's campaign of terror, it is said General Jimenes himself downplayed the strength and numbers of the rebels and led to Florvil Hyppolites doomed campaign in the east, and eventual death.

Once again being in the right place, and being neither liked, nor disliked by his peers, Juan Jimenes was elevated to the role of the Second Caudillo of the Haitian State, by the U.S. occupation force, and the puppet legislature.


Bringing the Parliament into Line
Caudillo Jimenes is remembered for his extreme permissiveness, especially towards the American occupation force. When they delivered him a set of laws to implement he approved without hesitation, when the Americans pointed to a village on the map, he destroyed it, and when the Americans asked for labor, he would enslaved as many Afro-Haitians as needed.

His attitude of permissiveness did not seem to extend; however, to the Haitian Parliament. The Haitian legislative branch had for the past 6 years been largely window-dressing to the regime. Sidestepped by the President, and entirely ignored by the U.S. Marines, the legislature at the best of times was treated as a rubber stamp, and at worst actively kept disbanded.

Parliamentary meetings were in general a mess. Hyppolite had filled Parliament with yesmen, sycophants, aryanists, scientific racists, and all manner of disgusting cretins. Parliamentary decorum had long since broken down, with meetings regularly ending in brawls in the streets.

Caudillo Jimenes did not approve of this state of affairs. While the Haitian Parliament may be a figurehead, it still represented the nation. Setting on a path of ambitious reform, Jimenes would perhaps make his only meaningful decision of his entire time in office, placing Henry Nord Alexis in the office of Prime Minister. Henry Nord Alexis was the son of Pierre Nord Alexis who himself was an illegitimate child of Henri Christophe.

Henry Nord Alexis’ job was simple. Reign Parliament, and reform the Haitian legislative branch into something resembling a government. Alexis would embark on his new campaign with vigor, and zeal. The Haitian Senate, which for decades had been little more than a place for rich Haitians to meet, and discuss their social standings, was entirely dissolved. In its place, the Haitian Parliament was merged and encompassed the jobs of both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Decorum was restored, with a new code of conduct strictly enforced.

Unable to entirely clear the Haitian Parliament of racialists, and aryanists, it does seem Henry Alexis tried to curb their power. Expelling their rabid, and insane proponents, Alexis moderated much of Parliament, while being unable to break Haitian's Racial Hygiene laws, which would ensure they were at least more systemized, and known. While paltry to the Afro-Haitians who suffered under them, it should be noted Alexis’ seeming disdain for the laws, as a mixed-race descendant of the once famous Afro-Haitian Christophe family.

Ironically, this ancestry would be among the reasons Alexis was held up as a proper model of racial whitening. This is despite the man himself despising the ideology, and seemingly attempting to undermine it from within. By the end of his time as Prime Minister in 1907, Henry Nord Alexis had turned the system into a well-oiled machine, in stark contrast to how it had been in 1896.


The Second Cacos War of 1896 - 1898

Juan Jimenes may have been expected to ignore and downplay the Second Cacos War like he had encouraged his predecessor to do, but Jimenes immediately struck out against the Cacos, mobilizing a large force, backed by the American marines. This willingness to immediately treat the Cacos as a destabilizing threat further gave credence to rumors he had set up Florvil Hyppolite to be killed.

The new U.S. President William McKinley, a staunch imperialist, and protectionist would encourage a quick and decisive victory in the Second Cacos War and send a large number of U.S. soldiers to the island to augment the American army in the area.

The Cacos under the command of a 19-year-old named Benoît Batraville launched perhaps their most daring raid to date, the uprising of Santo Domingo. Using stolen Haitian uniforms, the Cacos were able to slip past the local garrison (ironically many of the Cacos rebels were Afro-Haitian) and take positions in the city. When given the command in January 1897, 500 Cacos soldiers rose, setting fire to several buildings, and seizing the Santo Domingo armory. A failed assassination attempt on Juan Jimenes who had been visiting the eastern side of the island would lead to the rebellion within the city slowly falling apart as their plan began to unravel. American soldiers and Haitian loyalists would clear out the city block by block, and interrogate each soldier. Despite this, Benoît Batraville and several other soldiers were able to slip out of the city unscathed bringing with them American rifles, and equipment.

The combined allied forces even in their military victory had been humiliated by the Cacos who had killed numerous Haitian MPs, and officers in the chaos of the battle. Marine reinforcements and Haitian loyalists would fortify Port-au-Prince as it was likely the final battle would take place in the city. Knowing the exhaustion of the Haitian people, and the likely reprisals the American and Loyalist forces would exact upon them, the Cacos mobilized their largest force, 50,000 Cacos rebels, under the command of Benoît Batraville, and Rosalvo Bobo, the Cacos would breach the city, and overwhelm the local garrison. A young Smedley Butler would earn his first commendations for holding the city's port, while he and his Haitian comrade in arms were under intense fire from the Cacos one field gun.

After a full day of holding out alone, the American reinforcements would arrive under the command of Admiral William Caperton, the Americans would link up with Butler, and Caudillo Jimenes, and drive the Cacos back. By the end of the day, the combined arms of the loyalists and American reinforcements annihilated the Cacos siege. While exact numbers are unknown it is said that perhaps as many as 10,000 Cacos were killed; however, most modern historians place the estimate far lower. Either way, the Cacos would not recover after their defeat, being scattered and pursued by the brutal vengeance of the Haitian loyalists.

The Second Cacos campaign would end much as the first. Afro-Haitian villages depopulated, and thousands put to the sword. Yet, despite their second defeat, resistance continued to exist. Some raids continued on convoys, conscripted workers ran from their posts, and workers sabotaged factories.


United Fruit, Slave Labor, and the Dismantling of Haitian Education
The U.S. occupation reached new levels of humiliation for the Haitian government. In 1900 as a part of a revised treaty in the aftermath of the Second Cacos War, American advisors would collect 5% of all Haitian revenue to be paid back to the American government. As a result, the government was forced to tighten expenditure and cut the amount of native Haitians hired in government employment.

The arrival of United Fruit in 1901, signaled the beginning of the Banana Wars in Haiti. Against the backdrop of native Haitian resistance, thousands of acres of land were seized the turned over to the United Fruit Company who began planting bananas, sisal, and even cotton. This shift in production on prime Haitian agricultural land triggered a new rush by local elites, many of whom forced the peasants they rented land to into growing cash crops. Staple crops crashed, and many Haitians who had previously been subsistence farmers, starved even as crop yields increased. One U.S. agency investigating the effects of the occupation reported that by the end of the U.S. occupation, the Haitian peasants who made up 90% of the population were at starvation levels. Thousands would perish in this great hunger, and critical food insecurity in Haiti would last well into the 70’s.

Slave labor cut down trees across Haiti, on both sides of the island. This land was turned into new plantations for United Fruit, and rich elites who greedily snapped up the open land. Unfortunately, this would begin a process of agricultural decline, as soil eroded from overfarming and weather erosion. Even as farmland increased, yields per capita began a decline that would also last in the 70’s.

Perhaps the only positive of the U.S. occupation would be its various infrastructure projects. 2,200 miles of roads, 378 bridges, 138 modern farms, and numerous hospitals, schools, public buildings, and even drinking water were brought into Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. Irrigation projects also were massively expanded. Perhaps most impressively the first telephones in the Caribbean arose in Port-au-Prince. Even this would be a poison pill, as most of the infrastructure projects were pilfered to fill American officers' salaries, as such much of the infrastructure was shoddily built and subpar.

The Haitian education system would be entirely overhauled in a way despised even by the Haitian Parliament, and elites. Liberal arts and racial sciences would be toned down, and in some cases entirely removed. The new education system would be crafted around technical skills, in an attempt to craft a pliable nation of middle managers, and technicians who could be used by the American corporations. Elites were even enraged by this system, believing weakening racial education would see people eventually realize the artificiality of their system, and revolt against it. Haitian intellectuals would reject the undoing of all liberal arts as harmful to intellectual development, in the pursuit of profit.


Rising Discontent, and the Fall of Juan Jimenes

Discontent would continue to grow as the years dragged on. Much of this discontent centered around one of the major figures leading the U.S. occupation, Colonel Littleton Walker. Even though the mixed-race Haitians were supposed to be those being uplifted to a more “white” culture, Littleton still called them “black below the surface.” [1] His thinly veiled racism, the U.S. pilfering of the Haitian treasury, and growing strikes, and uprisings prompted Juan Jimenes to surprisingly announce his retirement.

Recognizing the situation he was in, Jimenes gave the following speech:

“Through my near decade of rule over the Haitian state, I believe I have brought peace, development, and stability to the nation. The traitorous strikers in Santo Domingo and the poets in Port-au-Prince may try to tell you differently, but Haiti has never been so prosperous as it is now after my rule. Nonetheless, I have accomplished everything I intended to do, and will now proudly retire to my home in the east, among the new civilization we have built, from the mixed, and backward nation that existed before.”

In his place, the American officials would choose the efficient Henry Nord Alexis to be the third, and final Caudillo of the Haitian State. Retiring to the countryside Juan Jimenes would remain a controversial figure even during the pro-American regimes of the Second Republic. In 1919, Juan Jimenes would die at the age of 72.

In modern-day parlance, Jimenese is widely hated even more than the United States is among common Haitians. Called a traitor, during the Third Republic, much of his statues, and works would be torn down, and cast aside.

For now, the third Caudillo, former Prime Minister Henry Nord Alexis, the Mixed-Haitian heir to the Christophe lineage, would attempt to unite Haiti and end the U.S. occupation.


Notes

[1] I am NOT writing out the disgusting things this dude said. Read his Wikipedia if you want to get a taste of some of the things in this horrific piece of work.

 

[Dragonboy]

Wow. Things indeed got worse. At least the next claudillo Will be the Last.

 

[notpletamia]

Perhaps the only positive of the U.S. occupation would be its various infrastructure projects.

Even this isn't a full positive, since I'm assuming its like central america where these projects are all owned by United Fruit.

 

[Eigengrau17]

Even this isn't a full positive, since I'm assuming its like central america where these projects are all owned by United Fruit.

Most of the infrastructure was purely built to better facilitate control for US soldiers and their puppet government.

In fact most of the irrigation projects were of very poor quality, and embezzled by the US marines.

 

[Dragonboy]

In fact most of the irrigation projects were of very poor quality, and embezzled by the US marines.

classic US imperialism

 

[Eigengrau17]

classic US imperialism

This preempts US imperialism, Haiti was one of the first victims

 

[Dragonboy]

This preempts US imperialism, Haiti was one of the first victims

Yep

 

[Eigengrau17]

From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samaná - A United Hispaniola Timeline​

14. 20 Years Humiliation 3: In Another Lifetime, Henry Nord Alexis (1907 - 1909)


“In another lifetime, I may have been made a King. In another lifetime, I would have ruled over a fair and equal Haiti. In another lifetime, I’d never kowtow to American corporations. In another lifetime, I’d be beloved by all Haitians. But, in this lifetime, I am no king. In this lifetime, I rule over a society in which half rest under the boot of the other half. In this lifetime, I kiss the hand of every American man, even as their daggers sink into the Earth. In this lifetime, no one will love me.

-Henry Nord Alexis, In Another Lifetime, 1908

Henry Nord Alexis’ life was often a cruel mockery. Heir to an Afro-Haitian dynasty that once enriched and promised a future to Haiti, Alexis, or Henry III as he was frequently mockingly called now found himself at the head of a nation actively silencing and oppressing its Afro-Haitian population. Even Alexis himself was held up as some evidence of Mixed-Race whitening even though he despised the system. Torn between the identity of African, and White, this would represent the struggle Haiti itself would find itself in for decades afterward.


The Man Who Would Be King

Henry Nord Alexis, was the son of Pierre Nord Alexis who had fought on the side of the monarchists during the Haitian Civil War, helping Thomas de Belliard. That was until de Belliard, and Alexis split over policy, and Pierre Nord Alexis switched sides to help the Republicans crush the upstart Second Kingdom of Haiti.

Defeating the monarchists, and killing Thomas de Belliard, Pierre Nord Alexis would struggle within the Haitian Republic. Failing to secure any popular support, and being widely viewed as a traitorous opportunist, Pierre Alexis would fail to make any real social standing in Haiti. Marrying a white heiress to a local landowner, Alexis would scrape together somewhat of a social position among local elites in Hinche. Nonetheless, when their son, the mixed-race Henry Nord Alexis was born, Pierre expected big things from his son.

Educated in the best American, and French schools, by 1873 Henry Alexis would find himself among the ascendant National Party. By 1880, Henry was an MP in the Haitian Chamber of Deputies during the disastrous rule of Paul Simon Sam and expertly pushed through articles of impeachment past the lower house after the 1881 German Affair. President Simon Sam would resign before being removed, but Henry would be seen as one of the main architects of his downfall in the Haitian Parliament. Nonetheless, he soon butted heads with the new President, the corrupt Lysius Salomon, being largely sidelined, and harassed. So, in 1888, Henry supported the coup by Ulises Heureaux against Salomon after the latter launched a self-coup. Quickly following the coup, Heureaux and Henry would suffer a falling out due to Henry being vocally critical of Heureaux’s corruption, and ruinous continuation of economic policies that pushed the nation ever closer to bankruptcy.

Being expelled from Parliament, Henry Nord Alexis would generally lurk in the background of the political scene, being in an underground anti-Heureaux movement. This undercurrent of unrest would be utilized by Florvil Hyppolite and the American invasion. Co-opted into the new State of Haiti, Alexis would struggle to wrangle the Haitian Parliament into a functioning institution. Empowered under the rule of Caudillo Juan Jimenes, Alexis would be named Prime Minister of the rubber-stamp Haitian Parliament.

Instituting several reforms such as merging the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, cracking down on bribery, and corruption, and enforcing a code of conduct, Prime Minister Henry had done far more than anyone expected him to do in his relatively easy position. This brought him into the view of the Americans, who struggled to hold Haiti together, and growing tired of the lax hand of Juan Jimenes opted to instead force the old general to resign in what most labeled a palace coup.

Named the Third Caudillo of Haiti, Henry Nord Alexis took up the poisoned chalice of leading the Haitian State, and much like his father became a new traitor to the Republic.


Ending the Terror

The first thing the so-called third traitorous caudillo did was end the horrific terror carried out by Haitian forces, and American marines. The great campaigns of swift retribution were ended, and instead, forces were redirected towards stamping out the last embers of the Cacos insurgencies in the mountains in the east.
The worst Haitian offenders were punished, stripped of their titles, and thrown out of the military. While the Americans were beyond the reproach of the Haitian government, they would beg the U.S. government to reassign many of these perpetrators of systemic abuses.

Next, forced labor to build infrastructure and new American corporate plantations were also ended. Instead, a more normalized wage system was implemented. While paltry at best, most agreed it was somewhat of a step up from slavery. Of course, these reforms were largely virtue signaling. The villages had already been destroyed, land taken and given to U.S. corporations, and the plantations already constructed. Many who may have been content to celebrate the end of the terror, merely needed to talk to the workers outside, suffering under the industrialized terror of Victorian-era business practices, and choked under the growing smog of Port-au-Prince, and Santo Domingo.


The Great Strike of 1908

Reforms are often a double-edged sword. When a regime, especially one as brutal as the State of Haiti, and the U.S. occupation administration, releases its grip, oftentimes the populace rises against the continued existence of the regime itself, threatening to bring down the whole state.

The collapse of the Haitian state would come off of the 1908 Great Strike. Industrial conditions within the nation had always been particularly atrocious. Under the American occupation, Port-au-Prince, and Santo Domingo experienced a particularly rapid form of industrialization. Within this mass industrialization, trade unions would naturally begin to form to better advocate for, and fight for worker’s rights. The Haitian State would of course brutally crack down on the trade unions.

For every protest against the state, the Haitian police would descend on the protestors arresting, beating, and occasionally killing members of the unions. When the unions began to strike, the American corporations would merely replace strikers with new workers from the mass influx of Afro-Haitians from the lands appropriated, and stolen by United Fruit, and Haitian elites. These Afro-Haitians would clash with Mixed Race Haitian union workers who saw themselves being replaced by lessers. This led to the union strikes taking often a violent racial tone, with Afro-Haitian slums of Santo Domingo, and Port-au-Prince being set ablaze by angry union workers. Afro-Haitians were being disbarred often physically from entering into factories by union workers.

Strikes, while initially limited to only a few American factories soon began to spread. Across Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, Gonaïves, and Punta Cana experienced mass unrest, and strikes. Factories shut down the entire Haitian economy, the pivotal moment of the strike would come when the Port-au-Prince Port would completely shut down any transport in and out of the country. Haitian produce began to rot in the fields of the corporate plantations, even so-called corporate towns would begin to descend into violence between strikers, and corporate security forces.

During this time men like Dantes Bellegarde would rise from the ranks of Haitian society, binding together the often combative intellectuals, and working-class unionists. Even more racialist intellectuals within Haiti were tired of the instability. In coffee houses, libraries, and high society gatherings, Haitian elites, and intellectuals argued about how to end the leaching of Haiti’s land, and people by the Americans. Siding with the protestors, Dantes Bellegarde and many other Haitians would send a letter to the American President Theodore Roosevelt Jr. They would argue that continued American occupation had only led to escalating violence, threatening not only to hurt American profits, but potentially put a radically anti-American into power, and destabilize the whole region. Within Washington D.C. the debate raged within the halls of Congress, and the White House. Many had desired to at some point annex Haiti, and use it as almost a racial reservation of African Americans. While this dream had largely failed to materialize, and been abandoned after President Ulysses S. Grant, the desire to annex, and control Haiti had remained. As conflict within Haiti continued; however, the United States grew increasingly dissuaded from attempting to annex the nation. Even within Congress, a bill pushing for the formal annexation of Haiti was shot down by Congress. Theodore Roosevelt, despite his imperialist fame, would finally give up on the project, instead opting for a similar idea as had been done with Cuba in 1905.

As days turned into weeks violence continued to escalate. The American government would make a fateful decision. They would announce the beginning of a process of disengagement, and return to self-rule for Haiti. Henry Nord Alexis would be given to go-ahead to prepare new elections. In the streets of cities around Haiti, there would be a great outpour of celebration and jubilation as people looked forward to freedom from occupation.


The American Departure: Haitian Election of 1909

The American departure would come with strings attached. Most importantly the United States would retain the right to intervene in Haiti to “preserve stability.” More insidiously, American fruit companies and other businesses would retain their right to be free of Haitian taxation, and be granted a market monopoly, entirely unassailable by Haitian lawmakers, or anti-trust laws, which was a great irony coming from the great trust buster Theodore Roosevelt.

The Haitian people would be granted their freedom no matter how bittersweet it was. The Haitian Racial Hygiene Laws would be maintained, including the voting laws which targeted “illiterates, and social degenerates.” Caudillo Henry would privately denounce the continuation of these laws, but publicly could not stand against the elites or American occupiers.

The chained, and weak Haitian democracy emboldened like the New National Party, this right-wing conservative party would uphold the status quo, but unlike the more radical racists, and pseudo-scientific racialists, the New National Party was largely ambivalent towards the so-called racial whitening of other groups. Instead, they enjoyed the pliable, and disenfranchised Afro-Haitians and saw no desire to “uplift them racially or culturally”, like the more radical right-wing parties. Those parties still existed; however, the Party of the Regeneration which had never truly fallen away during the American occupation, came back with a vengeance becoming the second-largest political party in Haiti. Esoteric, racist, and nationalist the Party of the Regeneration advocated for racial whitening, suppression of African elements of Haitian culture, and importation of white populations from abroad. Despite never (legitimately) winning an election, their influence over policymaking would remain massive.

The New Liberal Party would represent the withering Haitian left. Largely crushed and suppressed from the era of the First and Second Cacos War, was now made up of a collection of virtue-signaling elites and feckless intellectuals trying to sell books, and their beliefs, rather than promote change. This would be the third largest party, and divorce Haitian workers from the moderate left, pushing them towards more radical extremes.

The first election of the so-called Second Republic of Haiti somehow was even worse than the elections before the collapse of the First Republic. State-controlled candidates, state-controlled ballots, restrictions to literate mainly Afro-Haitian, and White Haitian males, and the systematic suppression of union or populist protests for expanded suffrage.

Caudillo Henry Nord Alexis would not run in these elections, largely being dejected from politics. Publicly he would present this as a supposed legitimization of the new republic, by getting rid of the dictators of the old. The main candidates allowed in these elections were Tancrède Auguste of the New Nationalist Party, and the 20-year-old, nationalist Juan Rafael Estrella Ureña. Both would put up a brilliant campaign, with Ureña presenting a sane, rational, and romanticist face to the Party of the Regeneration, and Tancrède Auguste who ran on a campaign of binding the old Granville Republican traditions to the new post-American order. After a close campaign, Auguste would nudge out Ureña with around 54% of the ballots. The new old order had won and was re-entrenched.


Resignation of Henry Nord Alexis: End of the American Occupation

On May 1, 1909, the flags of the United States would be lowered from Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, and Môle-Saint-Nicolas. Slowly over the coming years, U.S. occupation forces would trickle out of the forts they had been tasked with occupying, and maintaining. In their place, Haitian soldiers would once again guard their nation entirely.

Even as America left Haiti, things had largely remained the same. American corporations would still rule Haiti with impunity, unassailable, untaxed, and holding a free hand over their security and control. Haitian lumber was still cut down at devastating speeds driving many animal species into extinction, especially numerous species endemic to the Haitian islands.

For Henry in his lifetime, he would receive no praise and no awards. He was not seen as a restorer of the Republic, but rather the last in a long line of dictators. The last caudillo of Haiti, died in a state of self-imposed exile, living in New York, attempting to write and salvage his shattered reputation.

When the Second Republic finally fell, and Haiti moved into its Third, Henry was rehabilitated. Seen by many as a tragic figure, torn between doing what was best for the people, and not being overthrown by the Americans for being too radical. In more modern times; however, contemporary scientists have begun to reassess Henry's rehabilitation. While privately he claimed to abhor the system of segregation and racial hygiene laws, he never made any attempts to weaken, or even publicly denounce the system.

It seems Henry was an opportunist, overly ambitious, and was instead caught within the whirlpool of his ambition. In his boundless quest to restore his family's name, which had been tarnished by his father, the pressure of this self-imposed expectation, pushed Henry to collaboration, and meek subservience to a brutal system of exploitation.

Either way, the last Caudillo fell, and the State of Haiti became a brutal memory. Its scars can be felt throughout the nation today. The ecology was lost forever, the population failed to mass killings, and generations were thrown from building wealth into cyclical poverty. Perhaps most cruelly the Haitian people were permanently divided by their races. Today, the occupation is considered a sore spot in Haitian history, with much of the racial animus felt today stemming from it. Even the racial questions it created remain eternally taboo, kept from political and public discourse, expelled to the internet, and intellectual debate.

 

[Dragonboy]

Amazing work! At least the occupation is over.

And finding myself waiting For Rafael Trujillo to make his debut as leader.

 

[Eigengrau17]

Amazing work! At least the occupation is over.

And finding myself waiting For Rafael Trujillo to make his debut as leader.

Appreciate it, Trujillo is still a bit too young, but he'll be around

 

[Dragonboy]

Appreciate it, Trujillo is still a bit too young, but he'll be around

Np.

And can't wait to see his entry when he does take power.

 

[Eigengrau17]

From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samaná - A United Hispaniola Timeline​

15. The Flawed Second Republic Begins: Tancrède Auguste (1909-1914)

“What are we? Since that's your question, I'm going to answer you. We're this country, and it wouldn't be a thing without us, nothing at all. Who does the planting? Who does the watering? Who does the harvesting? Coffee, cotton, rice, sugar cane, cacao, corn, bananas, vegetables, and all the fruits, who's going to grow them if we don't? Yet with all that, we're poor, that's true. We're out of luck, that's true. We're miserable, that's true. But do you know why, brother? Because of our ignorance. We don't know yet what a force we are, what a single force - all the peasants, all the Negroes of the plain and hill, all united. Someday, when we get wise to that, we'll rise from one end of the country to the other. Then we'll call a General Assembly of the Masters of the Dew, a great big coumbite of farmers and we'll clear out poverty and plant a new life.

Jacques Roumain ''Masters of the Dew"

The end of the American occupation was bittersweet for the populace as a whole. While the American boot was off the Haitian throat directly, for most Haitians life as brutal and short as it had been under the Americans, scarcely improved for them. Now even elites in Haitian society, who had grown increasingly richer from the American occupation, found themselves terrified of being alone, no longer under the backing of America’s umbrella, and military. Tancrède Auguste inspired no hope, no confidence, and no likely escape for anyone. Instead, he represented the continuation, the machine’s gears continuing to tear through the flesh of the nation, without any guise of stopping, or changing even as it rusted and sputtered.


A Mediocre Rise

As is often the case with many of Haiti’s self-made leaders of this period of Haitian history, Joseph Antoine Tancrède Auguste came from a well-to-do, middle-class family. His early life is mostly considered standard, and he was educated in Cap-Henry and went on to own a successful trading house in the city.

During the American occupation, Auguste and his trading house greatly expanded output to cover gaps in the economy, as the Caudillos clamped down upon businesses that aided rebels. This made Auguste and his family among the wealthiest members of Haitian society, even outpacing many White Haitians, much to their chagrin.

A close ally of Henry Nord Alexis, Auguste would fund Alexis’ campaigns to reform and bring the Haitian Parliament back into line. He would also bankroll lobbying efforts back in Washington D.C. to convince the American government to agree to the ending of the American Occupation of Haiti.

When the American government agreed it would be leaving Haiti, Auguste jumped to the task of forming a new political party. Using his immense wealth, and connections within American occupation forces, and the business world, Tancrède Auguste would take the reins of the largely defunct National Party, forming the New National Party of Haiti.

Distinguished, wealthy, and allegedly apolitical, especially when compared to the rabid racists of Juan Rafael Estrella Ureña, and the Party of the Regeneration. Even the liberal opposition under the New Liberal Party did little to effectively oppose Auguste and the New National Party. As a sign of goodwill, and perhaps to keep the liberals out of his way, the leader of the New Liberal Party Oreste Zamor was invited to be the Vice President of Haiti, much to the anger of liberal supporters, Zamor openly accepted the invitation. The defeated liberal opposition found itself neatly swept up and put into the orbit of the New National Party, even as their supporters defected to more radical left-wing movements. Seymour Pradel, a rival within the New National Party was selected as Prime Minister, in itself an insult due to how weakened the office of the Prime Minister had become even since before the American occupation.


The Banality of Evil

The first, and only term of President Auguste was largely considered uneventful, and for this reason, he is often optimized as the banality of evil. Under his reign, no major attempts were made to pass any legislation to enshrine, enhance, or at all establish worker’s rights in Haiti. Despite numerous high-profile books published not only in Haiti, but even in the United States, any attempt to pass workers legislation was eviscerated on the Haitian Parliament floor, or even killed before it even reached a vote. Even an attempt to enshrine better conditions for white workers by the Party of the Regeneration was defeated after an aggressive vote-whipping campaign by Prime Minister Pradel.

Unsurprisingly, both laborers and intellectuals especially Afro-Haitians despised this so-called Second Republic. Influential writers like Jean Price-Mars advocated for the rights of his fellow Afro-Haitians and helped foster the re-embracement of Vodou, and other traditional African culture amongst Afro-Haitians. While his words would be later twisted by the likes of Francios Duvalier, Price-Mar's work would remain instrumental in the struggle for Haitian equality. Another prominent antagonist to this new Republic was a dead man. This man Oswald Durand, was a poet and playwright whose works that deal with race, equality, and aristocracy earned him the nickname the Haitian Shakespeare. Even from the dead, his works grew in popularity, and after decades of being ignored grew in popularity among the burgeoning consciousness of Afro-Haitians. Etzer Vilaire, another Haitian poet, and also a lawyer challenged the continuing legality of the Racial Hygiene Laws and advocated for the rights of trade unions, and workers.

As to be expected, the government met any criticism of the new regime with swift brutality. When labor organizers attempted to repeat the 1908 protests which had brought about the end of the American Occupation, and the State of Haiti, the new Haitian police quickly responded. Jean Price-Mars was sentenced to a short prison term, Oswald Durand’s works were banned, and any public showing was suppressed. Even Etzer Vilaire was disbarred from practicing law.

To dissuade middle-class support, Haitian lawmakers routinely pointed out how these protesters would merely spark a return of the American marines, and lead to a new occupation or even outright annexation. Protesting was shown as a traitorous action, that only those who were treasonous or an American agent would dare carry out.

This is often why President Auguste is called banal. His system continued the exploitation of Haiti’s people. It didn’t commit mass slaughter of the populace, or actively execute dissent. Instead, a quiet blacklisting of major intellectuals, arrests for labor organizers, and a continued gripping of the middle class by a combination of fear of European invasion, and propaganda kept the system grinding along.


The Ticking Time Bomb: Afro-Haitian Racial Consciousness

Despite how well known the Racial Hygiene Laws are in Haiti, and even as the legacy of the racial apartheid remains, oftentimes it is difficult for those to imagine outside of the nation. As Haiti today is known for its relatively heavy restrictions on racial discussion, bans of racial political organizations, or even censorship of media that discusses racial subjects, the idea of racial consciousness, and racially based politics are embedded in Haitian history, especially in the Second Republic.

While the idea of racial consciousness among both Mixed-Race, and White Haitian's upper classes had begun to be developed from the works of Boisrond-Canal, and other writers, it truly had existed in a vacuum. Unchallenged, and unfettered, the ideas had no bearing on the day-to-day lives of most Haitians, especially the lower class.

This would begin to change, as “whitening” was challenged by the works of Afro-Haitian writer Jean Price-Mars, and the idea of Noirisme, or Blackness promoted the dismantlement of the racial apartheid, and empowerment of African culture, and even religious practices like vodou. Noirisme would initially emerge during the 1909-1910 protests in which Afro-Haitian workers strike against often White Haitian, and Mixed-Race Haitians owners and upper management. Decrying not only the workplace itself but the inherent privileges granted to the other races themselves.

This idea of racial consciousness, and the privileges that one's group often gave, prompted many Mixed-Race Haitians, and White Haitians to respond in the opposite way protestors had hoped. Instead of empathy, when confronted about their privilege, many of these groups became angry. They had strived and achieved their positions in society and felt insulted that any Afro-Haitian would allege that their achievements came from the mere status of their birth.

Many of these offended parties would turn to the so-called “whitening” groups, and other radical racial ideologies, of their deflection. Instead of arguing that there were any inherent biases within the Haitian system, or that some (but not all) of their achievements were made even a modicum easier by their race, they took a hardline in the opposite position. Afro-Haitians who rioted, protested, or even formed rebel groups against the government had fallen from civilization. Destroying their homes, and their jobs, Afro-Haitians were solely to blame for their own lower status in society. More esoteric among these groups argued the reasoning was biological, but most would simply argue a degree of cultural degeneration, especially as Vodou returned to prominence.

So as often is sadly the case in racially divided societies like the Second Republic, the response to moderate calls for equal opportunity, and to be treated as first-class citizens, of the privileged classes, many of whom struggled themselves, or were poor, responded with anger. This anger was preyed upon easily by the Party of the Regeneration, and racial nationalists, who spun into their narrative that Afro-Haitians needed to rise from their barbarity and become Haitian (white, or mixed race) again.

Of course, this loud rejection of equality, and the demeaning of their entire race and culture by the upper castes of the Haitian racial pyramid, would only cause Afro-Haitians who had initially been extremely moderate in their demands (asking only to end the Racial Hygiene Laws) to turn towards increasingly radical ideas. Jean Price-Mars would later write:

“The loss, and bastardization of my movement, into the radical racial ultranationalism, and tyranny of François Duvalier, and his terrorists, is perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall Haiti. What began afterward was a massive race to the bottom between white, and black supremacists, both expanding in their cruelty and intensifying in their hate. In the middle, the people of Haiti are caught between bombings, state-sanctioned terrorism, and brutal repressions.”

For now, both sides would continue to gnaw away at the moderates of the New National Party, and New Liberal Party, pulling them towards the extremes of the black, and white nationalists.


The 1914 Haitian Election

The 1914 elections would be bittersweet for Joseph Auguste. Running for a second term, the opposition against the President was immense. Afro-Haitian protests against his Presidency grew more extreme during the election cycle, as the New National Party ran virtually unchallenged by the New Liberal Party who continued their active collaboration with the ruling NNP.

Armed gangs of National Party members regularly beat up, and even occasionally killed protesting Afro-Haitians. The violence came to a head on Black Wednesday, when in February 1914, Haitian police opened fire on a group of mostly peaceful protesters. This caused a protracted riot that the Haitian military would be forced to quash. The bloodiness of the crackdown turned even some Haitian soldiers away from the regime and radicalized even more on all sides. Whitening supporters believed the race war was coming, Noirisme supporters believed peace was increasingly impossible, and the military grew more demoralized.

Unsurprisingly, President Tancrède Auguste won the 1914 election. His celebration of this victory would be extremely short-lived.


Assassination of President Tancrède Auguste

The second inauguration of President Tancrède Auguste would also be the end of his career. March 1, was an unseasonably cold and rainy day, and the crowds felt it. Protests screeched, and howled, demanding Auguste’s resignation before having even been re-inaugurated. These protestors could scarcely imagine what was about to happen. While being sworn in for a second term, the National Palace of Haiti exploded.

In an instant, Tancrède Auguste was said to have disintegrated while still holding his hand up and facing the crowd off of the steps of the National Palace. Also killed were the First Lady of Haiti, and several staff, including a Chief Justice of Haiti, and parliament members. In total, it’s said 200 people died, and 500 more were wounded including numerous protestors.

An AP report from the time said:

“So great was the force of the explosion, that several small cannons, fragments of iron, and shells were thrown long distances in all directions, and many of the palace attendants were killed. Every house in the city was shaken violently and the entire population, greatly alarmed, rushed into the street”[1]

Notably, the Prime Minister of Haiti, Seymour Pradel, Vice President of Haiti, Oreste Zamour, and Minister of Defense, General Cincinnatus Leconte were all suspiciously absent at the time of the explosion. This fueled the probably true rumor that the three had conspired to murder the President. While official police reports stated the cause was accidental immolation of gunpowder stored near an open flame near the National Palace, no one was ever charged or investigated for the supposed accident.

Despite his unpopularity, Auguste was still buried with full state honors. His death shocked the entire nation, as such a brazen, and open act of political assassination, scared even his most ardent critics. This so-called Second Republic seemed as doomed as the first.

Modern views towards Tancrède Auguste are even less charitable than at the time. Viewed as an enabler of the continuation of the worst parts of the American occupation, Auguste is seen as having squandered Haiti’s second chance at a truly free democratic republic.

Now, a triumvirate of the Prime Minister, Vice President, and Minister of Defense would jockey, and pull at each other in a quest to secure the Presidency for themselves.


Notes:

[1] This is the AP report from the explosion that killed President Cincinnatus Leconte in 1912.

 

[Dragonboy]

Wow. That was a blundered second chance if ever saw one!

Great work as always! Can't wait to see those 3 destroying each other!

 

[Eigengrau17]

From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samaná - A United Hispaniola Timeline​

16. The Triumvirate: José Bordas Valdez (1914-1915), Seymour Pradel (1915-1916), and Oreste Zamour (1916-1919)

“It is the destiny, of the people of Haiti to suffer”
-Jean Claude Duvalier

(Slaying the Hydra - Louis Cheron)

The sudden and violent death of President Tancrède Auguste threw Haiti into a state of disarray. He may have been a deeply unpopular President, but the assassination of Auguste threw the entire national consciousness into panic. From Cap Henry to Santo Domingo, whispers of a return to the Caudillos, or worse another American occupation whipped through every facet of Haitian society, from the lowliest peasant to the opulent landowning aristocrat sipping tea on the balcony of his estate. In this chaos, and uncertainty the Haitian Triumvirate, or perhaps more accurately the Haitian Hydra stepped up to cease the limelight for themselves. The next 5 years would see a cavalcade of palace coups, intrigue, and political sabotage, in a tale as old as the Romans of antiquity.


First Triumvir: José Bordas Valdez (1914 - 1915)

If you remember back to the previous assassination, it had been Cincinnatus Leconte, a general in the Haitian Army, and a Minister of Defense who had been principal in the plot to kill President Augsute. After all, the leader of the Haitian military could easily gain access to the necessary number of barrels of gunpowder, to turn the National Palace into rubble scattered across Port-au-Prince. So, it may be somewhat eyebrow-raising that Leconte, at the apex of his power, with Haiti merely waiting to be seized, instead chose not to become the President of the Republic. A further reading into Leconte’s background; however, reveals why he did not abscond from his guilt in the assassination, and procure the Presidency for himself.

Cincinnatus Leconte was perhaps surprising to the period, Afro-Haitian. While being a wealthy Afro-Haitian could afford you the status of “Mulatto” within Haitian society, it would be wholly ineffective in making Leconte the President. Another principal factor in why Cincinnatus turned down his chance at presidency would be tragic, and personal. His favored nephew, Joseph Laroche had died on the Titanic in 1912, having been one of the only black passengers on the voyage. The loss of his nephew, who had been like a son to Cincinnatus deeply affected him, leaving him in periods of melancholy, and self-seclusion. Of least importance, but still notable nonetheless, would be the optics involved with seizing the presidency after such a mass tragedy as the assassination of Tancrède Auguste would merely confirm the widely held suspicion that the Minister of Defense; who had neglected to attend such an important ceremony as the inauguration of the President, had actively set up his assassination. Distancing himself from the Presidency, and the events of the death of Tancrède Auguste, Leconte would choose a subordinate, José Bordas Valdez, an affable, and loyal puppet, this would allow Leconte the distance he needed, while ensuring he could continue to guide the state, like a marionette on string.

President Valdez with the agreement of the other triumvirate members was sworn in on May 2, 1914, the day after the death of the President had been officially confirmed. Valdez’s term, which would only last for a year, and 134 days, would dedicate himself to finding the cause of President Auguste’s death. To appease the masses, as well as the American embassy, Valdez would task the Haitian Army to find the culprits behind the alleged assassination attempt. Of course, in reality, it was Leconte who maintained his role as Ministry of Defense, would chase empty leads, make massive productions of dragging common criminals for questioning, and leave them bloodied in the streets.

Had it not been for the fact we are almost guaranteed that Leconte committed the assassination with the rest of the Triumvirate, his show trials, and investigations would almost seem to be genuine.

Valdez, and Leconte; however, very quickly ran afoul of their fellow triumvir politicians. Perhaps it was due to the amount of time Leconte and his puppet actor dedicated to putting on a show. Arguably, just pure avarice by Vice President Seymour Pradel, and Prime Minister Oreste Zamour compelled them to push for the downfall of their erstwhile ally. Maybe their syllogism for taking down Valdez was paltry personal grievances. It is said during this time Pradel made advances upon Leconte’s younger sister in an attempt to merge their two families and consolidate his hold on power, and their alliance only to be spurned by Leconte and his sister.

In any case, the fall of José Valdez and, to an extent, his puppeteer Cincinnatus Leconte came with relative swiftness. Succeeding the announcement from the Ministry of Defense that cleared itself of any wrongdoing in the death of former President Auguste, President Valdez pronounced that the death had been an accident.

Seizing the opportunity by the throat, Vice President Pradel and Prime Minister Zamour would denounce President Valdez as being controlled by “Afro-Haitian interests”, a thinly veiled jab at Leconte, and that he was unwilling or more accurately unable to bring those who carried out the assassination of Auguste to justice. In an extraordinary session of the Haitian Parliament, Zamour would impeach President José Valdez. The Parliament, itself under the thumb of Zamour voted overwhelmingly in favor of the impeachment, crossing the 2/3rd’s majority required.

Valdez was declared removed from office, as well as, anyone in the cabinet, most importantly this stripped Cincinnatus Leconte of his direct influence. Seymour Pradel quickly adopted the position of the presidency, quietly naming Oreste Zamour as the new Vice President, vacating the office of Prime Minister to a malleable underling.


A Failed Philosopher King: Seymour Pradel (1915-1916)

Holding the dubious honor of the second shortest term in office, Seymour Pradel was never meant for an office as powerful as the Haitian Presidency. Soft-spoken, shy, a poet, and scholar, Pradel had attempted to stylize himself under the Aurelian ideals of the philosopher king. In reality for the short 7 months he was in office, Pradel folded under pressure, backed off of any strong ideological beliefs, and was overruled by Oreste Zamour, who was standing behind the curtain whispering in his ear.

Almost immediately upon stepping into office, Pradel and Zamour would order the arrest, and indefinite detention of José Valdez, and Cincinnatus Leconte. Whereas Valdez was captured without a fight, Leconte proved extremely slippery. Escaping to Cap Henry under the cover of darkness, the Leconte family secured passage upon a British vessel that had been docked. With his siblings and nephews, Cincinnatus would move to Jamaica, which had developed a reputation as a refuge, and haven for persecuted Afro-Haitian intellectuals, dispossessed by the Haitian state. A sad state of affairs when a European colony in 1900 proved more amenable to Afro-Haitian intellectuals than Haiti itself a supposedly free republic.

With Cincinnatus in exile, the government found little reason to imprison Valdez. Even the most bloodthirsty Haitian politician would find little recourse to kill, hurt, or otherwise detain the friendly, and cooperative Valdez. In return for his safety, and clearance of guilt, José Valdez signed a document confirming Leconte’s guilt in the murder of Tancrède Auguste, while clearing himself by saying that the now exiled Leconte had threatened him.

Concomitant to the final destruction of Leconte’s reputation, and legacy the two friends of circumstance Oreste, and Seymour faced off against each other. The Vice President needed a reason to have President Pradel removed, he had with little difficulty removed Valdez, the soft-spoken Pradel was a far harder target. The President had founded and operated several literary, and political magazines including, Jeune Haïti, and La Ronde. This allowed him a large platform by which to speak to Haitian elites who in reality controlled the Haitian government. If Pradel began a protracted campaign of denunciation against Zamour it would be unlikely the uneducated former General and uncharismatic Zamour would survive the court of public opinion.

Instead of connections, Oreste Zamour merely bided his time. Thankfully for Zamour, there would not be long to wait. While President Pradel invited intellectuals, poets, and artists into the executive residency, and devoted mass sums of public expenditure to the construction of a massively opulent palace, the Haitian economy which had barely recovered from the pre-American occupation collapse, would be hit by a new crippling blow. The introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare and the British blockade of Germany cut off Haiti from one of its largest sources of trade revenue, Germany, and Central Europe had been vital to the Haitian economy even under the American occupation.

Haiti’s economy screeched to a halt, and that was when Zamour made his move. In fiery speeches before Parliament, the usually reserved Vice President launched into incendiary tirades against Pradel. Pointing to the burning of money used on constructing a new national palace, during a time of international crisis, as well as, his wasteful patronage of artists, and poets. Average Haitians suffering under the increased economic strain, rallied behind Zamour, who in their view, promised a return to smart fiscal policy, and guidance during the First World War. Much to everyone’s surprise, and Zamour’s delight, President Pradel froze in the face of the increasing economic crisis. Even as Haiti burned around him, Pradel fell into melancholy and despondency. In the end, he was not Marcus Aurelias or Alexander the Great, he was just a simulacrum.

President Seymour Pradel would be asked for his resignation by Oreste Zamour on May 1, 1916. Pradel would meekly, and without a word spoken between the two, sign his article of resignation.


Bittersweet Victory: Oreste Zamour 1916-1919

Oreste Zamour had secured his place as the President of the Republic of Haiti. Like Caesar, he had forced out Crassus, and Pompey and could now rule his fractured state. Victory would not be as sweet as Zamour had hoped it would taste. Instead, he would watch as the fruits of his harvest rotted in his mouth, and Haiti continued to suffer under the malaise that plagued the Second Republic.

The deck was stacked immediately against Zamour when he made the fateful decision to cross the Rubicon and silence his opposition. Zamour was Mixed-Haitian and from a relatively poor, underprivileged background. Even though he had been a White-Haitian or wealthy Mixed-Haitian he still suffered from another Achilles heel, he was the leader of the New Liberal Party. While the New Liberal Party and New National Party were largely indistinguishable by this point in the Second Republic, he was still the leader of the smaller political party. To ameliorate the situation before it created tension, Zamour would form the National Reconstruction Government a coalition between the New National Party, and the New Liberal Party which would secure both a comfortable supermajority in parliament, and grant him full control over the levers of the state. In a show of token gratitude, and an olive branch to the New National Party, party boss Horacio Vásquez would be made Vice President of the new National Reconstruction Government.

With the National Party in tow, Zamour now faced the monumental task of steering the Haitian economy towards recovery. He would open Haiti to new markets, and make a surprising new friend. The Japanese Empire was on the rise in Asia and had recently proved itself as a global power not only by defeating the Russian Empire but also by seizing German colonies once the First World War finally began.

Japan had also been keen to expand its interests in the non-colonized world, this was done through the paramilitary group the Black Dragon Society. Japan’s goal to become at least front-facing, a global leader of colonized people and lead a supposed Pan-Asianist crusade, resonated with the Haitians who maintained their pride in defeating the global European Empires to gain their independence. Both became kindred spirits, and Haiti opened its market to the industrializing Japanese Empire, and Japan opened itself to Haitian sugar, cotton, and indigo.

This relationship established by Zamour would have far-reaching impacts, as during the Second World War numerous Japanese refugees, and eventually Chinese refugees would build their homes in Eastern Haiti.

Even if opening its market to Asia did not stave off the continued economic downturn, Zamour would swallow a bitter pill, turning to the United States, Zamour would offer even more lucrative concessions in return for American investment, and trade.


Back Where We Started? Death of Oreste Zamour (1919)

As expected the Haitian people responded with rage when they learned the American would be tightening its leash around Haiti’s throat. Riots broke out in Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince, and police would respond as they had previously in Haitian history, with brutal crackdowns.

In return for American aid and investment, Zamour would join the First World War on the side of the Entente. Haitian soldiers would never see any active duty, but the fact President Zamour had so openly jumped to serve America, and follow their lead further rubbed in the face of the Haitians how enslaved to the American machine their nation was.

The defeat of the German Empire did little to help the situation. Europe was ravaged, while the economies of everyone besides the United States had suffered immensely. All of the previously established business ties in Central Europe vanished as Austria-Hungary vanished overnight, and the new Weimar Republic of Germany was saddled with massive debts.

As 1919 approached, the opposition demanded President Oreste Zamour call for immediate elections. Within the National Reconstruction Government, Zamour was immensely unpopular. Unwilling to declare their support for a doomed candidate Vice President Horacio Vásquez resigned, calling for new elections. Traditional allies of Zamour, even the American diplomats, and businessmen began to desert him en masse. The Haitian government had effectively collapsed overnight with the President only able to pass legislation by executive privilege.

Still, Zamour resisted for nearly an entire year, unwilling to see all of his work go to waste, and his goal of the presidency be robbed from him by an uncontrollable economic crisis that he to his credit, had no perfect solution to alleviate.

Entering into negotiations with whoever he could, Zamour would spend 1919 making humiliating concessions to the Party of the Regeneration, and New National Party to even manage to pass a yearly budget. Falling back on bribery, many Haitians feared the nation was returning to the days of the end of the First Republic, with Ulises Heureaux. Taking action that had so long been denied to them, an unknown assailant would make their move. While speaking to angry opponents at a protest outside of a restaurant Zamour habitually frequented, a man stepped forward from the crowd, drew his revolver, and fired 3 shots, hitting Zamour in the chest, and sending the crowd scattering, as the President’s guard began wildly firing.

Oreste Zamour would be transported to the Executive Residency where doctors would attempt to save his life. Unfortunately, medical practices in the best of times were still relatively crude, especially in Haiti, and Zamour would die of his wounds, not even surviving the night.

Modern historians and doctors have examined the wounds as described by his attending physician, and the established consensus is that Zamour could have easily survived his wounds. The revelation has provoked conspiracy theories about the doctors on the pay of the New National Party arranged the President’s death. More sane, and rational commentators have pointed out that the rushed nature in which a doctor was secured made the likelihood of a mistake relatively high.

No matter who was responsible for Zamour’s death, and if his assassin was killed in the crowd when the Presidential Guard opened fire, what can be ascertained is that Haiti now found itself back where it started. Indebted to the American government, with a dead president, and a radicalized society, the Triumvirate had led Haiti back to where it had been before 1914.

 

[Dragonboy]

Amazing work! Can't wait For more!

And hope things get better For haiti

 

[Eigengrau17]

Epilogue: For Now?


When I first started writing this story, it was more of an exercise to see if I could. I wanted to attempt to push the boundaries of my own creativity, and see to what extent I could save a nation that was seemingly doomed by history to be a failed state.

I would not say the Haiti I have created is without problems, in fact it has many of the same problems as before, an iron fisted racial caste system, disenfranchisement for most likely 80% of the population, a horrendous track record for worker’s rights, and civil rights, perhaps it’s only saving grace is a free press.

But, at least for now I have managed to prove that yes by better leadership, and a more rational, and intelligent policy towards Spanish Haitians (Dominicans irl), then Haiti should have been easily able to not only hold onto the eastern half of Hispaniola, but the island thrive at least for a short time.

The shift towards White Haitian dominance is something we see in other South, and Latin American countries. Brazil most notably had their whitening policies, but even Haiti itself had a disproportionate level of wealth, and power concentrated in the hands of the old Mixed-Race elite class, even when they had often been enemies of the slave rebellion.

Should I ever return to this story, and desire to reach the modern day, you’d see the whitening reach its fever pitch under the rule of the insanely racist, and most likely insecure Rafael Trujillo. He is among the most interesting figures I would have covered. Not only was he anti-Haitian but his own family lineage traced back, allegedly, to the Haitian revolutionary leaders. Whether his hard-line anti-Haitianism was due to his own lineage, or if he was aware of such a connection, who can say.

For now, while this story was not insanely popular, or captured much attention on the site, I hope for you few (usually 7-8 of you) who stuck around and read every chapter, I thank you.

Thank you for reading, and stay curious of the weirder alt history scenarios,
Eigengrau

 

[Dragonboy]

For now, while this story was not insanely popular, or captured much attention on the site, I hope for you few (usually 7-8 of you) who stuck around and read every chapter, I thank you.

Thank you for reading, and stay curious of the weirder alt history scenarios,
Eigengrau

Np, really loved your story!

 

[Eigengrau17]

Np, really loved your story!

I am glad you enjoyed it.