Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
against syphilis, yaws, malaria, and hookworm. They tried to
modernize agriculture by creating an agricultural-technical system,
the Service Technique, with the help of United States agricultural
experts. They sought to professionalize the security
forces by replacing the constabulary, or gendarmerie, with a
National Guard. They attempted to stabilize the Haitian currency,
the gourde, by linking it to the dollar.
Whatever initial Haitian enthusiasm existed for the United
States invasion dimmed quickly. Haitians increasingly disliked
the marine presence and governance. They resented the legalization
of land ownership by foreigners and the forced drafts of
peasants for road building, known as corvee.
A particular problem was the racial prejudice of the United
States Marines. The marines favored the predominantly lightskinned
mulatto elite and installed a series of mulatto presidents
that lasted through Stenio Vincent (1930-41).
The marines were charged with promoting stability. As part
of this mission, they created and trained a gendarmerie, which
came to be called the Garde d'Haiti, and was a precursor to the
Haitian army. The Garde was increasingly employed to hunt
down and kill Haitians who opposed the occupation and may
ultimately have killed as many as 6,000 and put another 5,500
into labor camps. The intolerance of North American whites of
the occupying force caused indignation, resentment, and eventually
a racial pride that was reflected in the work of a new generation
of Haitian historians, ethnologists, writers, artists, and
others, many of whom later became active in politics and government.
In 1918 Charlemagne Peralte, a former military officer from
a rural, middle-class family, proclaimed himself leader of the
cacos (mercenary bands) and announced that he was determined
"to drive the invaders into the sea and free Haiti."
Peralte attacked outlying military establishments and then, on
October 7, 1919, Port-au-Prince itself. Peralte became a
national hero, but, shortly afterward, he was betrayed,
ambushed at gunpoint, killed, and then publicly displayed as a
warning to other rebels. Benoit Batraville took his place, but
after his murder in 1920, armed resistance to the occupation
ended.
The marine occupation continued after World War I,
although it was an embarrassment to President Woodrow Wilson
at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, where national
self-determination was a major topic. It was not until 1929,
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