He did me too much good to say bad about it. He hurt me too much to say good about it.
Pierre Corneille.
The benefits of the American occupation
From 1915 to 1934, the sovereignty of the Republic of Haiti was outrageously swept away by the United States of America. A real slap in the face of the pride of the Haitian people. And yet, this occupation, however cruel and brutal it may be, must not prevent us from considering some of its positive aspects objectively. The free and impartial mind, guided by the ideal of historical truth, calmly examines facts without blinders, allowing a global and luminous vision of events. This approach paves the way for the necessary balance against the tenacious ideological current that claims, out of ignorance or bad faith, that our country has benefited absolutely nothing from our relations with the United States.
HERE ARE THE FACTS THAT ARE VERIFIABLE AND VERIFIED.
- 1) End of civil wars: (Piquets, Cacos)
- 2) Territorial gain by Emperor Faustin Soulouque at the expense of the Dominicans, formalized by the Treaty of January 21, 1929 between President Horacio Vasquez and President Louis Borno.
- 3) Installation of the General Customs Administration.
- 4) Creation of the General Administration of Contributions. (Today DGI) Directorate General of Taxes.
- 5) Reorganization of the National Bank of Haiti.
- 6) Peaceful change of government.
- 7) Organization of the Hygiene Service. (Public health).
- 8) Creation of 11 Hospitals, 133 dispensaries and 7 customs.
- 9) Redevelopment of the Justinian Hospital in Cape Town.
69 Farms-Schools were built to prepare a new generation of farmers, and a School of Agronomy to supervise them.
- 10) Creation of the Gendarmerie of Haiti.
- 11) Improvement of national infrastructure. 1,700 kilometers of roads, 189 bridges, renovation of several irrigation canals dating from the time of the colony.
- 12) Creation of 11 Religious Schools and two National Schools.
- 13) Creation of 10 Industrial Schools, and 147 Rural Clinics Positions.
- 14) Construction of the School of Nurses.
- 15) Construction of public buildings (National Palace, Palace of Ministries, City Hall etc.
- 16) Redevelopment of the General Hospital of Port-au-Prince
- 17) Connection of the main cities to drinking water. Municipalities that could not benefit from a modern supply system received water through wells equipped with pumps.
- 18) Creation of the School of Medicine of Port-au-Prince.
- 19) Sanitation of the country's major cities. (Cleaning streets, collecting garbage, garbage cans installed in street corners.
- 20) In the field of navigation. At the time of the intervention, there were only 4 lighthouses in Haiti: 3 in Port-au-Prince and 1 in Cape Town. In 1929, there were 15 in service in the country.
- 21) To facilitate import and export activities, the Port-au-Prince wharf had been reinforced by a reinforced concrete structure. Repairs had been carried out in Port-de-Paix, Gonaïves, Saint-Marc, Petit-Goâve, Cap-Haitien and Les Cayes.
- 22) By 1925, a program to build new wharfs had begun. The cities of Saint-Marc, Jacmel, Jérémie and Gonaïves had benefited from these new constructions.
- 23) In 1922, a modern telegraphy and telephony network was inaugurated in Port-au-Prince, the first city in Central and Latin America to have one, according to Prof. Savior P. Stephen. The service had been extended to the cities of Cap-Haitien, Gonaïves, Saint-Marc, Petit-Goâve, Jacmel and Les Cayes.
- 24) In 1915, only three cars were circulating in Port-au-Prince, including that of the American ambassador. Before the end of the occupation, there were 2,000 in the country.
- 25) The use of transport trucks carrying out commercial activities between the main cities of the country and the use of buses for intercity passenger transport were inaugurated and intensified under occupation.
- 26) Emphasis was placed on technical training, through 68 technical schools.
- 27) The State had launched programs to combat certain endemic diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, syphilis, intestinal parasitosis and pian eradication.
- 28) The promotion of a black middle class that now had the ability to counterbalance the power of the traditional elites.
- 29) The American occupation has made it possible to institute the principles of good governance in the management of public affairs in Haiti.
- 30) The Ministry of Economy and Finance began to regularize the financial life of the country. All these administrative, monetary and fiscal reforms had the effect of rationalizing the methods of managing state services, increasing public revenues, consolidating external debt and, above all, eliminating corruption.
- 31) By 1922, the country had become a real construction site. Never in Haiti's history did the state carry out so much infrastructure work in such a short time.
- 32) Fiscal year 1929-1930, construction of 16 barracks, and 61 outposts for the Guard of Haiti.
- 33) Reform of classical training by focusing on teacher training and the creation of new schools.
- 34) University education had been improved by the reforms of the Schools of Medicine, Law, Agronomy and the Normal School.
- 35) The occupant had therefore favored a real national reconstruction enterprise at all levels. According to Prof. Savior P. Stephen, the Americans really laid the foundations for Haiti's political, economic and social modernization from 1915 to 1934. It should be noted that all this work, again according to Prof. Savior P. Étienne, had been carried out with the resources of the Treasury without the provision of foreign assistance.
Thus, if for decades Haiti has occupied the headlines of the media around the world for its countless setbacks, two questions are necessary: 1) Who are the real culprits? 2) How to punish them? I leave it to you to find the answers. But one fact remains. It is not too late for a radical change. The period of the American Occupation should serve as a source of inspiration for any president, for the optimal development of the country. The time of bandits and kidnappers is more intolerable than that of the Piquets and Cacos.
Prof. Gérard Gene
Ref. Castor Suzy: The American Occupation of Haiti
Dr. Bordes Ary: Haiti Medicine and Public Health
Étienne Sauveur Pierre: Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.