November 11, 1915: US Pressures Haiti into Signing Disadvantageous Treaty

Under pressure from the United States, Haitian President Sudre Dartiguenave signs, and the Haitian senate ratifies, a treaty legitimizing the US occupation and putting Haitian finances and government under the control of the US for the next 20 years. The act also disbands the Haitian army, creating in its place a single US-led, 3000-man police force known as the Gendarmerie d’Haiti which answers to the US Secretary of State. [Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 239; Common Dreams, 3/10/2004] The Gendarmerie oversees the implementation of a US law reviving the practice of conscripted labor, or corv�e, which requires Haitian peasants to work on roads for three days a year. However, in some cases workers are forced to work bound with ropes for weeks and even months. The practice reminds Haitians of their slavery under the French and inspires a rebellion in 1918 (see Late 1918-1920). [Heuvel, 1990; Rogozinski, 1992, pp. 240]