Communism - Haiti Observer Blog

Casal is a small Haitian city located in the North American region and has a very small population. Port-au-Prince, Carrefour and Guantanamo are the major cities that can be found close to Casal. Casal has a significant Polish influence and many people are baffled by the fact that Poland and Casal are not close to each other and yet, Casal has a huge Polish influence. This revolution can however be traced back to the era of Haitian Revolution.

It was during 1802 when Napoleon arrived with his army at Saint Domingue to take care of the slave rebellion. The army consisted of Polish legion. Napoleon dispatched 5200 Polish soldiers for Saint Domingue to suppress the revolt. Upon arrival, these Polish soldiers found that it was not the rebellion mentioned by Napoleon but was actually a slave revolt in which the slaves were fighting for their freedom.

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Rene Theodore died of lung cancer in June, 2003 because of lung cancer. He was the former head of the Haitian Communist Party. He was receiving treatment in Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. His death was confirmed by Max Bourjolly who was second in command of the Haitian Communist Party. Rene Theodore entered politics when he was in High School and then continued his political life for 47 years. His last political act was in 2002 December when he co-signed a declaration from the opposition which called for resignation of the then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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Writer, economist, and firebrand Gérard Pierre-Charles was born in Jacmel in 1935. A radical, whose political beliefs were shaped by the government of Haiti's failed attempts at democracy, he co-founded a Marxist organization. In 1959, feared dictator François Duvalier caused him to flee to Mexico.

For the next quarter-century, Pierre-Charles taught economics at Mexico City University. He achieved respect as an academician and political extremist. He co-founded Haitian Unified Communist Party (HUCP) and waited for Jean-Claude Duvalier to be deposed, which happened in 1986.

Back in Haiti, he grew disenchanted with the Communist Party, and became an ally of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had founded Lavalas Party. Aristide was riding high on a wave of popular support, assuming the presidency in 1991. But military opposition ousted him shortly into his presidency. Pierre-Charles seized control of Lavalas and shaped it into an effective political tool, Lavalas Political Organization.

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"I am this: this earth here, and I have it in my blood. Look at my color; it seems as though the earth faded onto me and onto you too."

Jacques Roumain, like many of history's other literary giants, lived a short life but managed to leave such brilliant words behind they would be spoken for centuries following his death. Through his poems he opened up a colorful, complex world that harkened to the struggles of his contemporaries and has given fodder for great new works by those he inspired and homage-paying re-enactments in the present.

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Jacques-Stephen Alexis was born in 1922 with literary blood already in his veins courtesy of his writer father, Stephen Alexis. His upbringing in Haiti and the influence of other prolific Haitian writers, like Jacques Roumain before him, molded Alexis into one of the country's most well loved writers.

Though he'd completed his schooling in medicine, writing had remained a passion and he gained early recognition on his first piece, an essay on the poet, Hamilton Garoute. This early success was soon followed by his work with La Ruche and then by a string of novels which tended towards the heavy narrative telling of the Haitian city-dwelling peasant.

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Against the wishes of many, Haiti, led by then president René Préval, began dealings with Cuba and Fidel Castro. As part of a trilateral cooperate between the two countries and Venezuela, Castro facilitated an aid package to Haiti that would include oil and energy solutions, medical and disaster support, education, etc.

During Préval's first turn as president, after the September 1998 hurricane Georges had ravaged the country and left a cholera outbreak, 500 Cuban doctors were sent to give aid. Described by Préval as second only to God in their healing abilities, the gift was looked on suspiciously by others claiming the intention was to either steal jobs or spread the 'communist influence'. Following Rene Preval's personal experience of the Cuban health system and a second visit of the doctors in the wake of 2010's cholera outbreak, Préval awarded the Cuban Medical Brigade, and by extension Castro, with the country's highest honor, the National Order of Honor and Merit in the grade of Grand Officer. Hundreds of thousands had been infected; the death toll nearly 5000, but the efforts of the Cuban doctors had saved the lives of over 73,000 Haitians.

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Franck Sylvain, Haiti's 37th president, began life in his birthplace of Grand-Goâve. He earned a law degree, practicing as an attorney after graduation. He later was appointed to the bench as a Civil-Law Court judge, rendering a decision in favor of one of President Paul Magloire's intimate friends. For that political favor he was retained by President Magloire for further government legal matters.

Sylvain began his political career when he established The Crusade, a pro-active publication that raised the consciousness of the Haitian people about Communism's imminent threat to Haiti's struggle for democracy. He also headed a political party, Rally for the Haitian People, an underground organization.

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