Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 18, 1993 TAG: 9310180101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When armed toughs prevented a U.S. warship from unloading American and Canadian soldiers last week, army commander Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras called the protesters patriots "concerned about their national sovereignty."
For Haitians, the prospect of U.S. military intervention raises bitter memories of the 1915-1934 occupation. Haiti's army clearly hopes to exploit that sentiment to justify its attempt to cling to power.
Even exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has long opposed a U.S. invasion on his behalf. Interviewed Saturday on CNN, Aristide said, "If I ask for a military intervention, I will be impeached by the constitution of the republic of Haiti."
Haitians of all classes remember the occupation with pain and indignation. Haiti, which became the hemisphere's first black republic when it defeated French colonists in 1804, had come under the rule of white Marines who didn't hide their racism and contempt.
The Marines reputedly were to protect U.S. residents and property and restore order. A mob had lynched an unpopular president, Guillaume Sam.
But within weeks, they designated a new puppet president. They later seized Haiti's main bank, turning it over to the National City Bank of New York.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, then-assistant secretary of state, wrote Haiti's new constitution, formalizing the powers of the occupiers. Thousands of peasants were routinely rounded up for forced labor; those who resisted were beaten.
The Marines disbanded Haiti's army and replaced it with a Marine-led Gendarmerie - the embryo of Haiti's current army. They treated Haiti's sophisticated, French-speaking elite with contempt.
by CNB