Les Cayes massacre
Part of United States occupation of Haiti
LocationMarchaterre, Les Cayes, Haiti
Date6 December 1929
Deaths12–22
Injured51
VictimsHaitian protesters
Perpetrators United States Marine Corps

The Les Cayes massacre, also known as the Marchaterre massacre, was a massacre on 6 December 1929 in Les Cayes perpetrated by United States Marine Corps (USMC) troops against Haitians protesting the United States occupation of Haiti. The massacre was instrumental in placing pressure on the United States to withdraw its occupying forces from Haiti.

At the time of the massacre, the United States had invaded Haiti over fourteen years earlier in 1915, with the USMC occupying the Caribbean nation through a military regime on behalf of American business interests. By October 1929, Haitians grew increasingly angered with the American occupation of their nation, and protests broke out, resulting in a general strike. Such demonstrations culminated with the Les Cayes massacre, which resulted in international condemnation and later the end of American occupation.

Background

Invasion of Haiti

In February 1915, Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, son of a former Haitian president, took power as President of Haiti. The culmination of his repressive measures infuriated the population in July 1915 when he ordered the execution of 167 political prisoners. The population rose up against Sam's government, resulting in President Sam's killing.[1] The United States regarded the revolt against Sam as a threat to American business interests in the country, especially the Haitian American Sugar Company (HASCO). When the caco rebel supported Rosalvo Bobo emerged as the next president of Haiti, the United States government decided to act quickly to preserve its economic dominance.[2]

On 28 July 1915, American President Woodrow Wilson ordered 330 United States Marines to occupy Port-au-Prince. Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy, instructed the invasion commander, rear admiral William Banks Caperton, to "protect American and foreign" interests. Wilson also wanted to rewrite the Haitian constitution, which banned foreign ownership of land, to replace it with one that guaranteed American financial control.[3] To avoid public criticism, Wilson claimed the occupation was a mission to "re-establish peace and order ... [and] has nothing to do with any diplomatic negotiations of the past or the future," as disclosed by Rear Admiral Caperton.[4]

Martial law

Black and white photo of a man standing among bodies lying on the ground
American poses with dead Haitians killed by U.S. Marine machine gun fire on October 11, 1915

In September 1915, the United States Senate ratified the Haitian-American Convention, a treaty granting the United States security and economic oversight of Haiti for ten years.[5] For the next nineteen years, U.S. State Department advisers ruled Haiti, their authority enforced by the United States Marine Corps.[6] The United States Marines ruled Haiti as a military regime using a constant state of martial law, operating the newly-created Haitian gendarmerie to suppress Haitians who opposed the occupation.[7][8] During the occupation of Haiti by the United States, human rights abuses were committed against the Haitian population.[9][10] Such actions involved the censorship, concentration camps, forced labor, racial segregation, religious persecution of Haitian Vodou practitioners and torture.[9][10][11] American troops and the Haitian gendarmerie would ultimately kill several thousands of Haitian rebels during rebellions between 1915 and 1920, though the exact death toll is unknown.[12]

National strike

President Herbert Hoover had become increasingly pressured about the effects of occupying Haiti at the time and had already begun inquiring about a withdrawal strategy by the late-1920s.[13][14] By 1929, Haitians, including those who welcomed the intervention, had grown angered with the American occupation; frustrations were especially high due to the "deep resentment against Americans for their roles in censoring the press, collecting customs duties, controlling the distribution of essentials like food and medicine, and forcing a new constitution upon the Haitians".[13][15][16]

Beginning on 31 October 1929, student protests at the American-created Service Technique de l'Agriculture et de l'Enseignement Professionne school began due to decreased scholarship awards given to Haitians.[16] These student demonstrations grew into a general strike by Haitians to protest against the American occupation.[14][16]

Massacre

On 6 December 1929, about one thousand five hundred of Haitians in Les Cayes peacefully demonstrated against economic conditions, high taxes and the arrest of three protest leaders, chanting "À bas la misère" or "Down with misery".[16][17][18][19][20] As the march approached Les Cayes, USMC troops armed with machine guns blocked their advance and some stones were thrown by protesters.[16] The Marines, acting in panic as they felt surrounded, began firing upon the thousands of protesters.[14] The massacre resulted in twelve to twenty-two Haitian peasants dead, and left twenty-one to fifty-one injured.[13][14][17][18][19][21][22]

Aftermath

International condemnation occurred after the massacre, with the event proving to be crucial in promoting the withdrawal of the United States from Haiti.[14][15][20] President Hoover called on congress to investigate conditions in Haiti the day after the massacre.[13] The Forbes Commission, ordered by President Hoover, would ultimately conclude that the occupation of Haiti was a failure and that the United States did not "understand the social problems of Haiti".[23] Less than five years later, the United States ended its occupation of Haiti in 1934.[24]

In the following decades, local events were held in memory of the massacre.[25]

References

  1. ↑ Millett, Allan Reed (1991). Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 185. ISBN 9780029215968.
  2. ↑ Weinstein, Segal 1984, p.28
  3. ↑ "Haiti's Tragic History": Review of Laurent Dubois, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History, New York Times, 1 January 2012
  4. ↑ Weston 1972, p. 217.
  5. ↑ Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy, p. 78, at Google Books
  6. ↑ "U.S. Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915-34". United States Department of State. 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  7. ↑ Alcenat, Westenly. "The Case for Haitian Reparations". Jacobin. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  8. ↑ Hudson, Peter James (2013). "The National City Bank of New York and Haiti, 1909–1922". Radical History Review. Duke University Press. Winter 2013 (115): 91–107. doi:10.1215/01636545-1724733.
  9. 1 2 Alcenat, Westenly. "The Case for Haitian Reparations". Jacobin. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  10. 1 2 "U.S. Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915-34". United States Department of State. 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  11. ↑ Belleau, Jean-Philippe (2016-01-25). "Massacres perpetrated in the 20th Century in Haiti". Sciences Po. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  12. ↑ Belleau, Jean-Philippe (2016-01-25). "Massacres perpetrated in the 20th Century in Haiti". Sciences Po. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Munro, Dana G. (1969). "The American Withdrawal from Haiti, 1929–1934". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 49 (1): 1–26. doi:10.2307/2511314. JSTOR 2511314.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 McPherson, Alan (2014). "Herbert Hoover, occupation withdrawal, and the good neighbor policy". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 44 (4): 623–639. doi:10.1111/psq.12153.
  15. 1 2 "1929: Cayes Massacre". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Fils-Aimé, Marc-Arthur (28 November 2008). "Marchaterre ou le massacre du 6 décembre 1929" (PDF). Haïti Liberté.
  17. 1 2 Belleau, Jean-Philippe (2016-01-25). "Massacres perpetrated in the 20th Century in Haiti". Sciences Po. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  18. 1 2 "Les Cayes | Haiti". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  19. 1 2 Danticat, Edwidge (28 July 2015). "The Long Legacy of Occupation in Haiti". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  20. 1 2 Fatton Jr., Robert (22 July 2015). "Killing Haitian Democracy". Jacobin. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  21. ↑ Pezzullo, Ralph (2006). Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 77–100. ISBN 9781604735345.
  22. ↑ U.S. Haiti Rebellion 1918 Archived 2013-06-01 at the Wayback Machine, On War
  23. ↑ Pezzullo, Ralph (2006). Plunging Into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 77–100. ISBN 9781604735345.
  24. ↑ p 223 - Benjamin Beede (1994). The War of 1898 and U.S. Interventions, 1898-1934: An Encyclopedia (May 1, 1994 ed.). Routledge; 1 edition. pp. 784. ISBN 0-8240-5624-8. The Haitian and U.S. governments reached a mutually satisfactory agreement in the Executive Accord of August 7, 1933, and on August 15, the last marines departed.
  25. ↑ The More Things Change: Human Rights in Haiti. Human Rights Watch. 1989. p. 55. ISBN 0929692144.
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