Over a dozen US Marines on the way to Haiti for reinforcement

Following the recent protest in Haiti, The US embassy in Haiti has contacted the State Department and requested additional security personnel.

ADVERTISEMENT


We were informed that the request has been granted and as a result, approximately 13 Marines, as well as other security personnel are already heading to Haiti to reinforce the current staff of the US Marines Corps and State Department security personnel already in place there.

The United States Marines are one of the four branches of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting amphibious operations with the U.S Navy. On July 28, 1915, when Woodrow Wilson was the U.S President, the United States occupation of Haiti began with the landing of 330 Marines. This July intervention took place following the murder of Haitian dictator President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume. He was killed by some insurgents angered by his political executions of elite opposition. Historically, the first batch of the USS Montana disembarked on the Haitian soil more than one year earlier, on January 27, 1914. The U.S occupation in Haiti ended on August 1, 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement.

President Wilson's most known reason for sending troops to Haiti was to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean. However, there were many other reasons, some of which were more important for American self interest. By 1915, the Americans were also afraid that if Haiti was forced to pay its ongoing debt claimed by France, its former colonizer, the country would be forced to be tied too closely to its former colonizer France. Secondly, Germany's growing commercial interests in Haiti were another major concern. So one of the first actions carried out by the U.S. at the start of the occupation was to move Haiti's financial reserves to the United States and then rewrite its Constitution to give foreigners' landowning rights. Thus, the United States gained complete control over Haitian finances, and the right to intervene in Haiti whenever the U.S. Government deemed necessary. During the nineteen years of the U.S. occupation, fifteen thousand Haitians were killed. Any resistance to the centralized, U.S.-installed puppet governments was crushed, and a gendarmerie.

As per recent CNN reports dated July 10, 2018, the Marines presence had been requested by the diplomats stationed at the Port-au-Prince U.S Embassy. They requested additional US Marines and State Department security personnel to bolster security amid the riots that took place following the announcement of price hike on fuel. A squad-sized Marine security detachment has arrived in Haiti to bolster security at the U.S. embassy. Thirteen members of the Marine Security Augmentation Unit are in place at the embassy. An undisclosed number of non-uniformed security personnel were also dispatched to the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince. Members of Marine Security Augmentation Units can respond directly to calls from an ambassador, chief of mission or regional security officer at an embassy in trouble.

Reply to this article

Read more: United States, United States Ambassador, US Marines, Newsletter Articles, Military

« A Matter of Gratitude and Respect - Open letter to President Donald Trump | Main | Haitians would like a Thank You Note from U.S. on 4th of July Independence Day »

Return to Articles List

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

E-mail (required, will not be published)

Subject: Over a dozen US Marines on the way to Haiti for reinforcement edit

» »

Our objective is to share with you news and information about Haiti and the people of Haiti. Traditions, habits and the way we were  or  grew are alive in this site. We highly recommend that you Subscribe to our Newsletter and also share with us some of the things that are memorable and made us unique people.