Duvalier, Francois

How Much Haiti’s Freedom Cost: Takeaways From a Times Series

The U.S. Treated Haiti Like a Cash Register When the American military invaded Haiti in the summer of 1915, the official explanation was that Haiti was too poor and too unstable to be left to its own devices. Secretary of State Robert Lansing made little effort to mask his contempt for the “African race,” casting […]

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As U.S. Navigates Crisis in Haiti, a Bloody History Looms Large

In September 1994, the United States was on the verge of invading Haiti. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country’s first democratically elected president, had been deposed in a military coup three years earlier. Haiti had descended into chaos. Gangs and paramilitaries terrorized the population — taking hostages, assassinating dissidents and burning crops. International embargoes had strangled the […]

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