Similarities Between Haiti And The Dominican Republic

Haiti and the Dominican Republic were at first a single nation called “Hispaniola” (La Isla Española, The Spanish Island) by Christopher Columbus in March 1493 when he was trying to conquer the “New World”. This island was the first step of the Spanish Colonists in order to conquer the American continent. Eventually, the Spanish presence in the western side of the island disappeared, moving to the American continent, which made Haiti to fall under the French Power. In 1697 France officially wins Haiti over Spain, which never reentered the Spanish community. Today, Haiti and Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola, which is encircled by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, and the Caribbean Sea to the South, but these two nations are similar

Additionally to the Independence of both countries, the unification of Hispaniola took place. From 1822 to 1844 Haiti had the total power over the island. “Haiti was founded by a righteous revolution in 1804 and became the first black republic. It was the first country to break the chains of slavery, the first to force Emperor Napoleon to retreat, and the only to aid Simon Bolivar in his struggle to liberate the indigenous people and slaves of Latin America from their colonial oppressors” (Farmer xi). The Dominican Republic obtained its independence on November 9, 1821 from the Spanish Crown, but it would only last one year. Following this short independence, “by 1822 the newly independent Haitians were fearful that the French would use the eastern portion of the island to mount an attack on Haiti, and re-establish slavery. For which, Under the leadership of Jean Pierre Boyer, the Haitians invaded the eastern side of Hispaniola, outlawed slavery, and unified the island once again” (dr1.com). A unification of the island was the dream of Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution, who had fought for a unified free Haiti over the entire island. Dream that was conducted by Boyer, who had proclaimed the island to be “one and indivisible”. The “Haitianization” was established, leading to the development of Haiti’s own culture. “Voodoo

“Dominican dictator, Trujillo, established the “Dominicanization” program in 1937. The objective of this program was to increase the Dominican presence in the new border delimitation with Haiti” (Wise 168). The Dominican government thought of the Haitian presence in the border as a threat to their nations and the Hispanic identity of the Dominican Republic, furthermore, the Dominican government was concerned about Haiti achieving economic control and success in the border area. Therefore, this program was based on an attempt of nationalism in order to increase the national identity on the Dominican people. This program created the racial issues in Hispaniola. The Dominican government started cultural campaigns and used the Catholic Church as an attempt to fight against Haitian Voodoo, this with the purpose to enforce Dominicans cultural ideals and to remove any Haitian sentiment. In October 1937, the intensification of this racial conflict resulted in mass killings in which Dominican dictator, Trujillo, massacred more than 25,000 Haitians along the border. “Trujillo’s soldiers used their guns to intimidate but not to kill. For that, they used machetes, knives, picks, and shovels so as not to leave bullets in the corpses” (Wucker 48). If they would use machetes and knives, there would be no prove that the soldiers were who assassinated these people, instead, it would be easier to