Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged.The U.S. Obliged. [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

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By Selam Gebrekidan, Matt Apuzzo, Catherine Porter and Constant Méheut
May 20, 2022, 4:22 p.m. ET

In the drowsy hours of a December afternoon, eight American Marines strolled into the headquarters of Haiti’s national bank and walked out with $500,000 in gold, packed in wooden boxes.

They drove the loot by wagon to the shore, past American soldiers in civilian clothes who kept watch along the route. Once at the water, they loaded the boxes and sped to an awaiting gunboat. The gold was in the vault of a Wall Street bank within days.

The operation took place in 1914 — a precursor to the full-scale invasion of Haiti. American forces took over the country the following summer and ruled it with brute force for 19 years, one of the longest military occupations in American history. Even after the soldiers left in 1934, Haiti remained under the control of American financial officers who pulled the country’s purse strings for another 13 years.

Invading Haiti was necessary, the United States said. The country was so poor and unstable, the explanation went, that if the United States didn’t take over, some other power would — in America’s backyard, no less. Secretary of State Robert Lansing also portrayed the occupation as a civilizing mission to end the “anarchy, savagery and oppression” in Haiti, convinced that, as he once wrote, “the African race are devoid of any capacity for political organization.”



The American military in Haiti in 1915.Credit...Getty Images

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/haiti-wall-street-us-banks.html

(This is a long feature article.)