by Lynne Conte

Created on: September 08, 2008

Columbus discovered Haiti in the fifteenth century, 1492. During the years 1940 through 1950, Haiti was the most popular travel destinations in the Caribbean. John F. Kennedy suspended funding to Haiti in 1962 acknowledging that Francois Duvalier regime neglected aid for the Haitian people and its country.

Haiti is the first black republic in modern history and the poorest in the nation, however, has one of the richest ecosystems in the Caribbean. According to Alejandro Guevara Onofre, April 11, 2007 (http://www.articleset.com), Haiti is an island known for its traditional culture, hospitality, superstitions, and home to national park history and known as one of the ancient wonders of the world.

Francois Duvalier, once a famous doctor became President of the Republic of Haiti in 1957. He changed the national flag to black, which is the traditional color of the Haitian people, and red to symbolize independence in 1964. The removal of the original flag, red and blue since 1803 was an order of the new government. Duvalier believed that his "government will guarantee the exercise of liberty to all Haitians" (Onofre).

It was in 1964 when Duvalier consolidated his government filling positions with trusty associates and rewriting the constitution. He became distrustful of the military and began several personal militia groups to maintain his power. Like previous dictators before Duvalier, he formed his own rural militia named Volunteers for National Security, later called Ton Ton Macoutes to intimidate and murder his political opponents. He also established his own personal power with a military known as the Palace Guard authorizing public terrorism killing approximately 30,000 Haitians for political reasons. During Duvalier's power, there was not only corruption, but also financial embezzlement furnishing money to his personal armies to pay Haitian elites to gain political support.

Before Francois Duvalier death in 1971, he appointed his son Jean-Claude Duvalier as Haiti's new leader, known throughout the world as Baby Doc. Foreign governments aided Haiti after Francois took over leader because of his less despotic leadership.

Jean-Claude Duvalier was a dictator between 1980 through 1986. His wife Michelle Bennett, also of great power promoted her mulatto fellow citizens to leadership in the dictatorship of the African-Haitians. A creation of new constitution began in 1983.

Jean-Claude refused to consider constitutional reform in 1986 rooting the civil disobedience against

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>