1492 — Columbus lands and claims the whole island for Spain. In the following years the indigenous population was nearly completely wiped out by disease, enslavement and murder.
1606 — British, French and Dutch pirates establish bases to attack Spanish ships.
1664 — France takes control of the western part of the Island; began importing slaves in 1670. Slave insurrections were frequent. Some slaves escaped to the mountains and settled with the few remaining indigenous people.
1791 — A slave revolt begins the Haitian Revolution. Former slaves establish a government.
1796 — The British invade and are defeated.
1802 — Napoleon sends a massive invasion force, including 40,000 troops from other European countries. France gains control of part of Haiti and tries to reestablish slavery, but are defeated after a brutal war that killed tens of thousands of Haitians and ended with over 30,000 French and European troops dead. Poland’s military force refused to fight; about 100 joined the Haitians to fight Napoleon’s forces. Afterwards the Poles were the only whites allowed to remain in the country.
1804-1825 — France, Britain and the U.S. impose a crippling embargo, destroying Haiti’s economy and force Haiti’s government to pay 90 million gold francs to France as compensationtion for “lost property,” i.e., the slaves. The government is forced to take out high interest loans from U.S. banks, taking until 1947 to pay off the debt.
1915-1934 — U.S. Marines invade at the request of U.S. banks holding Haiti’s debt, to prevent Germany from establishing a naval base. The Marines dissolve Haiti’s government. The U.S. State Department writes a new constitution, eliminating the prohibition on foreign ownership of land. When Haiti’s parliament refuses to ratify the new constitution, the Marines, led by General Smedley Butler, dissolve the parliament and enact the State Department’s constitution through a rigged election limited to 5% of the population.
1934-1947 — The Marines leave but the U.S. retains control of Haiti’s finances.
1995-present — U.S. and UN troops invade, initially to help Jean-Bertrand Aristide return to power. In 2004 the U.S. kidnaps Aristide and removes him from office.
General Smedley Butler, ‘A Racketeer for Capitalism’
“I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
“During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”('War is a Racket,' Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler)
