Haitians placed American flags on a mock coffin of the Haitian prime minister and waved Russian flags in front of the American embassy during recent protests.
Protests have increased since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. The US government has admitted that several of the Columbians charged with the assassination were trained by the US military.
Now the US is pushing for a multinational occupation force.
The US occupied Haiti from 1919 to 1934. In 1994 the US invaded Haiti to install a new government in Operation Uphold Democracy. US forces left in 1996 but left a UN force.
The UN left Haiti in 2000 only to return in 2004. The UN left again in 2017 after charges that UN forces brought cholera to the country and sexually assaulted Haitians.
Is it time for yet another US-backed occupation of Haiti?
Are protests okay only when they support US interests?
Yes, it is as if Democrats have benefited from the misery of Haitians. Consider this description of what happened after the 2010 earthquake:
When the earthquake struck, the global response was to send in donations to Haiti. But of course, that needed a commission that would be designed to have an oversight role as regards the disbursement of the various relief packages pouring through. The Clintons stepped up to lead the global response. The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) was brought into life and Bill Clinton was selected to be its co-chair. At that time, Hillary Clinton was still the Secretary of State and thus responsible for channeling USAID relief spending to Haiti . . .
The IHRC was comprised of two parts: one that had the foreigners and one led by the Haitian Prime Minister. Bill Clinton chaired the foreign part and it had all the donors; they had to the IHRC $0.10 billion over two years or forgive $0.20 billion of Haitian debt. Each and every decision made by the Haiti section of the commission had to be endorsed by the foreign section. And Clinton was at the helm of the foreign part of that commission . . .
It is estimated that the IHRC collected over $5.3 billion over two years and $9.9 billion in three years but Haitians still find themselves mired in abject poverty. A US Government Accountability Office report circumvented the issue by deciding not to find any iota of wrongdoing, but the gravity of the failure made them mention that the plans by the IHRC, co-chaired by Bill Clinton, “did not align with the Haitian priorities.” How the Clintons robbed and destroyed Haiti | The Canada-Haiti Information Project
There is plenty of evidence that the US does not have clean hands in Haiti. Most of the problems in Haiti may have come directly or indirectly from the US government and go back decades.
Haiti was a French colony until a successful slave revolt resulted in independence in 1804. The Federalist government under John Adams supported the Haitian rebels during the revolt.
Jefferson reversed that policy when he took office in 1801. The US was concerned that a successful slave revolt in Haiti would encourage similar revolts in the US. After Haitian independence, the US imposed an embargo on Haiti that lasted 20 years. The US did not formally recognize Haiti as an independent country until 1862.
In more recent history, the US and its NATO allies have instigated coups, rigged elections and imposed military occupations, usually in the name of restoring democracy while protecting business interests.
France imposed severe financial restrictions for over a century and a half, with the support of the US and US banks, on Haiti to pay reparations to France for freeing themseleves. France and the US hollowed out Haiti’s economy during the 1800’s and into the middle of the 20th century.
This certainly had a huge effect on making the country the basket case that it is.
