Is Haiti Independent? Is Rene Preval just a Puppet?

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I was reading through a website on the internet and I bumped into this phrase:

"Haiti has been an independent country for the whole of the 20th century, in theory.

In actuality, it was under the control of U.S. marines from 1915 to 1934." (statoids.com/uht.html)

That means everytime some foreign force lands on Haitian soil we are no longer an independent (FREE) country and our leader is just a figurehead.

My question is:

1) Are we independent in 2007
2) Are we under the control of the MINUSTAH?

3) is Rene Preval just a puppet president, a figurehead, just like Haitian President Sudre Dartigenave in 1917?




IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF IN HAITI?

READ THIS AND WEAP!!!!!


November 11, 1915


Under pressure from the United States, Haitian President Sudre Dartiguenave signs, and the Haitian senate ratifies, a treaty legitimizing the US occupation and putting Haitian finances and government under the control of the US for the next 20 years.

The act also disbands the Haitian army, creating in its place a single US-led, 3000-man police force known as the Gendarmerie d'Haiti which answers to the US Secretary of State.

[Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 239; Common Dreams, 3/10/2004] The Gendarmerie oversees the implementation of a US law reviving the practice of conscripted labor, or corv&#65533;e, which requires Haitian peasants to work on roads for three days a year. However, in some cases workers are forced to work bound with ropes for weeks and even months.

The practice reminds Haitians of their slavery under the French and inspires a rebellion in 1918 [Heuvel, 1990; Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 240].

Early 1917


The US drafts a constitution for Haiti, which notably excludes a provision from the country's previous constitution which had prohibited foreign ownership of land. Under the US-drafted constitution, foreign investors would be able to purchase fertile areas and establish sugar cane, cacao, banana, cotton, tobacco, and sisal plantations.

But the Haitian legislature finds the US-proposed constitution unacceptable and continues working on a new document which would reverse the terms of the 1915 treaty, giving control of Haiti back to its own government, and which would leave the previous constitution's land restrictions intact.

When a copy of the document is sent to Washington, it is quickly rejected by the US State Department which complains that it is "unfriendly" and instructs that its passage be prevented.

But the Haitian lawmakers continue their work with plans to quickly ratify the new constitution and then impeach Haitian President Dartiguenave on the basis of the new document's provisions.

To prevent its passage, Dartiguenave orders US Marine Smedley Butler to dissolve the Haitian legislature, which he does as they are preparing to vote on the new constitution.

Smedley claims that the measure is necessary in order "to end the spirit of anarchy which animates it [the Hatian legislature]" [Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 240; Common Dreams, 3/10/2004].

June 12, 1918


The US authorities in Haiti submit the US-drafted constitution to a popular referendum, which approves it in a landslide.

Less than 5 percent of Haiti's population participate in the vote [Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 240; Common Dreams, 3/10/2004].

June 19, 1918


Haiti's new constitution goes into effect.

Sudre Dartiguenave remains president, though his position is nothing more than that of a figurehead.

Real power remains with the US occupiers.

[Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 240; Common Dreams, 3/10/2004; Encyclopedia of World History, 6th ed., 1/2/2006].

SOURCE: cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=haiti_540

Grenadiers, January 7 2007, 11:10 AM

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For the first of your question, I will answer: No. When a so called souvereing country is control by multi-national... read more >
Robert P. Toussaint, 7-Jan-07 12:17 pm

 

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