Jump to content

Parsley massacre: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted edits by Fi384Timbrel (talk): unexplained content removal (HG) (3.4.12)
m Looked into this article for hours. Amount of citations not related to victims of this attack that occurred in the 1930s collides with a 21st-century American made article with no connections to the original tragedy. Paragraph which repeated boards.
Line 13: Line 13:
| map_caption =
| map_caption =
| location = [[Dominican Republic]]
| location = [[Dominican Republic]]
| target = [[Haitians in the Dominican Republic]]
| target = [[Haitians livings Dominican Republic border towns, ]]
| coordinates =
| coordinates =
| date = {{start date|df=yes|1937|10|2}} –<br/>{{end date|df=yes|1937|10|8}}
| date = {{start date|df=yes|1937|10|2}} –<br/>{{end date|df=yes|1937|10|8}}
| time =
| time =
| timezone =
| timezone =
| motive = [[Racism in the Dominican Republic|Anti-black racism]], [[Antihaitianismo]]
| motive = [[land dispute between borders]], [[stealings of cattle]]
| type = [[killings]]
| type = [[Massacre]], [[genocide]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Turtis |first1=Richard Lee |title=A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |date=August 2002 |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=589–635 |doi=10.1215/00182168-82-3-589 |s2cid=143872486 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/12744 |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=13 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213083211/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/12744 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paulino |first1=Edward |title=Bearing Witness to Genocide: The 1937 Haitian Massacre and Border of Lights |journal=Afro-Hispanic Review |date=Fall 2013 |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=111–118 |jstor=24585148 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Garcia |first1=Juan Manuel |title=La matanza de los haitianos: genocidio de Trujillo, 1937 |date=1983 |publisher=Editorial Alfa & Omega |pages=59, 69–71}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roorda |first1=Eric Paul |title=Genocide Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy, the Trujillo Regime, and the Haitian Massacre of 1937 |journal=Diplomatic History |date=July 1996 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=301–319 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1996.tb00269.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Karczewska |first1=Anna Maria |title=Reconstructing and (De)constructing Borderlands: The Parsley Massacre: Genocide on the Borderlands of Hispaniola in the Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat |pages=149–165}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pena |first1=Julissa |title="Yo soy negro, pero negro blanco:" Hispanicity, Antihaitianism and Genocide in the Dominican Republic |url=https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1888&context=etd_hon_theses |publisher=Wesleyan University |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=7 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907025211/http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1888&context=etd_hon_theses |url-status=live }}</ref>
| fatalities = 17,000–35,000<ref name=Wucker>{{cite book|title= Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tFToAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|isbn= 9781466867888|last1= Wucker|first1= Michele|date= 2014-04-08|access-date= 13 October 2017|archive-date= 3 October 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201003021409/https://books.google.com/books?id=tFToAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|url-status= live|page=51}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Crime and Punishment around the World [4 volumes]: [Four Volumes]|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2uK6bR9byVIC&pg=RA1-PA133|isbn= 9780313351341|last1= Newman|first1= Graeme R|date= 2010-10-19|access-date= 13 October 2017|archive-date= 19 April 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190419011656/https://books.google.com/books?id=2uK6bR9byVIC&pg=RA1-PA133|url-status= live|page=133}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CMya7T_-dRYC&pg=PA1933|isbn= 9781471114779|last1= Tunzelmann|first1= Alex von|date= 2012-09-13|access-date= 13 October 2017|archive-date= 19 April 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190419011713/https://books.google.com/books?id=CMya7T_-dRYC&pg=PA1933|url-status= live|page=1933}}</ref>
| injuries = 2,419
| injuries = 2,419
| victims =
| victims = -1,000
| perps = [[Dominican Army]]
| perps = [[Dominican Army]]
| weapons = [[Krag rifle]]s, [[machete]]s and [[bayonet]]s
| weapons = [[Krag rifle]]s, [[machete]]s and [[bayonet]]s
Line 30: Line 29:
}}
}}


The '''Parsley massacre''' killing of [[Haitians in the Dominican Republic|Haitians]] living in the [[Dominican Republic]] border towns around October 1937. [[Dominican Army]] troops from different areas of the country<ref name=Turits>
The '''Parsley massacre''' (Spanish: '''''el corte''''' "the cutting";<ref name="windows">{{cite web | last= Wucker | first= Michele | title= The River Massacre: The Real and Imagined Borders of Hispaniola | work= Windows on Haiti | url= http://www.windowsonhaiti.com/wucker1.shtml | access-date= 2007-12-16 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928160208/http://www.windowsonhaiti.com/wucker1.shtml <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> | archive-date= 28 September 2007}}</ref> Creole: '''''kout kouto-a''''' "the stabbing"<ref>Lauro Capdevila, ''La dictature de Trujillo : République dominicaine, 1930–1961'', Paris, L'Harmattan, 1998</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2020}}) ({{lang-fr|Massacre du Persil}}; {{lang-es|Masacre del Perejil}}; {{lang-ht|Masak nan Pèsil}}) was a mass killing of [[Haitians in the Dominican Republic|Haitians]] living in the [[Dominican Republic]]'s northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous [[Cibao]] region in October 1937.
[[Dominican Army]] troops from different areas of the country<ref name=Turits>
{{cite book
{{cite book
|last1= Turits|first1= Richard Lee
|last1= Turits|first1= Richard Lee
Line 37: Line 35:
|date= 2004|publisher= Stanford University Press
|date= 2004|publisher= Stanford University Press
}}
}}
</ref>carried out the massacre on the orders of Dominican dictator [[Rafael Trujillo]].<ref>{{Cite book |title= |doi= |s2cid=}}</ref> As a result of the massacre, virtually the entire Haitian population in the Dominican frontier was either killed or forced to flee across the border.<ref>Turtis, 630.</ref> Dominican troops interrogated civilians demanding that each victim say the word "parsley" (''perejil''). If the accused could not pronounce the word to the interrogators' satisfaction, they were deemed to be Haitians and killed.<ref>[[List of genocides by death toll]]</ref>
</ref>{{rp|page=161}}
carried out the massacre on the orders of Dominican dictator [[Rafael Trujillo]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cadeau |first=Sabine F. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108942508 |title=More than a Massacre: Racial Violence and Citizenship in the Haitian–Dominican Borderlands |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108942508 |isbn=978-1-108-94250-8|s2cid=249325622 }}</ref> As a result of the massacre, virtually the entire Haitian population in the Dominican frontier was either killed or forced to flee across the border.<ref>Turtis, 630.</ref> Many died while trying to flee to [[Haiti]] across the [[Dajabón River]] that divides the two countries on the island;<ref name="Turtis, 590">Turtis, 590.</ref> the troops followed them into the river to cut them down, causing the river to run with blood and corpses for several days. The massacre claimed the lives of an estimated 14,000 to 40,000 Haitian men, women, and children.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maria Cristina Fumagalli |title=On the Edge: Writing the Border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic |date=2015 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHRvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20}}</ref> Dominican troops interrogated thousands of civilians demanding that each victim say the word "parsley" (''perejil''). If the accused could not pronounce the word to the interrogators' satisfaction, they were deemed to be Haitians and killed.<ref>[[List of genocides by death toll]]</ref>


== Massacre ==
== Massacre ==
Line 44: Line 41:
[[People of the Dominican Republic|Dominican]] dictator Rafael Trujillo, a strong proponent of [[antihaitianismo|anti-Haitianism]], made his intentions towards the Haitian community clear in a short speech he gave on 2 October 1937 during a celebration in his honor in the province of [[Dajabón Province|Dajabón]]. {{cquote|For some months, I have traveled and traversed the border in every sense of the word. I have seen, investigated, and inquired about the needs of the population. To the Dominicans who were complaining of the depredations by Haitians living among them, thefts of cattle, provisions, fruits, etc., and were thus prevented from enjoying in peace the products of their labor, I have responded, 'I will fix this.' And we have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians are now dead in [[San Francisco de Bánica|Bánica]]. This remedy will continue.<ref>{{cite journal |first= Richard Lee |last= Turtis |title= A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic |journal= Hispanic American Historical Review |volume= 82 |issue= 3 |year= 2002 |pages= 589–635 [p. 613] | doi= 10.1215/00182168-82-3-589|s2cid= 143872486 }}</ref>}}
[[People of the Dominican Republic|Dominican]] dictator Rafael Trujillo, a strong proponent of [[antihaitianismo|anti-Haitianism]], made his intentions towards the Haitian community clear in a short speech he gave on 2 October 1937 during a celebration in his honor in the province of [[Dajabón Province|Dajabón]]. {{cquote|For some months, I have traveled and traversed the border in every sense of the word. I have seen, investigated, and inquired about the needs of the population. To the Dominicans who were complaining of the depredations by Haitians living among them, thefts of cattle, provisions, fruits, etc., and were thus prevented from enjoying in peace the products of their labor, I have responded, 'I will fix this.' And we have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians are now dead in [[San Francisco de Bánica|Bánica]]. This remedy will continue.<ref>{{cite journal |first= Richard Lee |last= Turtis |title= A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic |journal= Hispanic American Historical Review |volume= 82 |issue= 3 |year= 2002 |pages= 589–635 [p. 613] | doi= 10.1215/00182168-82-3-589|s2cid= 143872486 }}</ref>}}


Trujillo reportedly acted in response to reports of Haitians stealing cattle and crops from Dominican borderland residents. Trujillo commanded his army to kill all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic's northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Between October 2 and October 8, hundreds of Dominican troops, who came mostly from other areas of the country, poured into the region.<ref name="Turits" />{{rp|page=161}} These armed forces killed Haitians with rifles, machetes, shovels, knives, and bayonets. Haitian babies were reportedly thrown in the air and caught by soldiers' bayonets, then thrown on their mothers' corpses.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dividing Hispaniola: The Dominican Republic's Border Campaign against Haiti, 1930–1961|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PI2oCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT218|isbn=9780822981039|last1=Paulino|first1=Edward|date=2016-02-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Slaughter of Haitians Described |url=https://cowlatinamerica.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/263/2021/02/source1_pdf.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106010953/https://cowlatinamerica.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/263/2021/02/source1_pdf.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-06 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=1937 |quote=Haitian men were hacked to death, women killed with three-pointed daggers, and babies tossed on bayonets in the hands of drunken Dominican rural police}}</ref>
Trujillo reportedly acted in response to reports of Haitians stealing cattle and crops from Dominican borderland residents. Trujillo commanded his army to kill all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic's northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Between October 2 and October 8, hundreds of Dominican troops, who came mostly from other areas of the country, poured into the region.<ref name="Turits" />


Dominican troops beheaded thousands of Haitians; they also took people to the port of [[Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic|Montecristi]], where thousands of Haitians were thrown into the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to drown with their hands and feet bound.<ref name=Galvan/> The soldiers inflicted wounds on their bodies before throwing them overboard in order to attract sharks.<ref name=Galvan/> Survivors who managed to cross the border and return to Haiti told stories of family members being hacked with machetes and strangled by the soldiers, and children bashed against rocks and tree trunks.<ref name=Galvan>{{cite book|last1=Galván|first1=Javier A.|title=Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century: The Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|page=53}}</ref>
Dominican troops beheaded thousands of Haitians; they also took people to the port of [[Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic|Montecristi]], where thousands of Haitians were thrown into the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to drown with their hands and feet bound.<ref name=Galvan/> The soldiers inflicted wounds on their bodies before throwing them overboard in order to attract sharks.<ref name=Galvan/> Survivors who managed to cross the border and return to Haiti told stories of family members being hacked with machetes and strangled by the soldiers, and children bashed against rocks and tree trunks.<ref name=Galvan>{{cite book|last1=Galván|first1=Javier A.|title=Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century: The Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|page=53}}</ref>


The use of military units from outside the region was not always enough to expedite soldiers' killings of Haitians. U.S. legation informants reported that many soldiers "confessed that in order to perform such ghastly slaughter they had to get 'blind' drunk."<ref name="Turits" />{{rp|page=167}} Several months later, a barrage of killings and repatriations of Haitians occurred in the southern frontier.
The use of military units from outside the region was not always enough to expedite soldiers' killings of Haitians. U.S. legation informants reported that many soldiers "confessed that in order to perform such ghastly slaughter they had to get 'blind' drunk."<ref name="Turits" />{{rp|page=167}} Several months later, a barrage of killings and repatriations of Haitians occurred in the southern frontier.

Lauren Derby claims that a majority of those who died were born in the [[Dominican Republic]] and belonged to well-established Haitian communities in the borderlands.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Lauren |last=Derby |title=Haitians, Magic, and Money: Raza and Society in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands, 1900 to 1937 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=36 |issue=3 |year=1994 |page=508 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500019216 |s2cid=59016244 }}[http://hhidr.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/derby_article.pdf on line copy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505181102/http://hhidr.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/derby_article.pdf |date=5 May 2014 }}

Derby explains: "This point is important because, by the Dominican constitution, all those born on Dominican soil are Dominican. If this population was primarily migrants, then they were Haitians, thus making it easier to justify their slaughter. However, our findings indicate that they were legally Dominicans, even if culturally defined as Haitians since they were of Haitian origin." (Derby, p.508)</ref>


==Contributing factors==
==Contributing factors==
Line 67: Line 60:
In the end, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] U.S. president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Haitian president [[Sténio Vincent]] sought reparations of United States dollar $750,000, of which the Dominican government paid $525,000 (US ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|525000|1937|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars), or around $30 per victim. Due to the corruption deeply embedded within the Haitian bureaucracy however, survivors on average received only 2&nbsp;cents each.<ref name="Madison_Smartt_Bell">p.41 – {{cite journal | first = Madison Smartt | last = Bell|title= A Hidden Haitian World | volume= 55 | issue = 12 | date = 17 July 2008 |journal= New York Review of Books }}</ref> In the agreement signed in Washington, D.C., on 31 January 1938, the Dominican government defended the massacre as a response to illegal immigration by "undesirable" Haitians, and recognized "no responsibility whatsoever" for the killings with Trujillo stating how the agreement established new laws prohibiting migration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Trujillo's regime thus used a moment of international inquiry to legitimize his anti-Haitian policies.<ref name="auto"/>
In the end, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] U.S. president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Haitian president [[Sténio Vincent]] sought reparations of United States dollar $750,000, of which the Dominican government paid $525,000 (US ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|525000|1937|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars), or around $30 per victim. Due to the corruption deeply embedded within the Haitian bureaucracy however, survivors on average received only 2&nbsp;cents each.<ref name="Madison_Smartt_Bell">p.41 – {{cite journal | first = Madison Smartt | last = Bell|title= A Hidden Haitian World | volume= 55 | issue = 12 | date = 17 July 2008 |journal= New York Review of Books }}</ref> In the agreement signed in Washington, D.C., on 31 January 1938, the Dominican government defended the massacre as a response to illegal immigration by "undesirable" Haitians, and recognized "no responsibility whatsoever" for the killings with Trujillo stating how the agreement established new laws prohibiting migration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Trujillo's regime thus used a moment of international inquiry to legitimize his anti-Haitian policies.<ref name="auto"/>


⚫
Additionally, after 1937, quotas restricted the number of Haitians permitted to enter the [[Dominican Republic]], and a strict and often discriminatory border policy was enacted. Despite attempts to blame Dominican civilians, it has been confirmed by U.S. sources that "bullets from [[Krag]] rifles were found in Haitian bodies, and only Dominican soldiers had access to this type of rifle."<ref>{{cite book |first=Valentina |last=Peguero |title=The Militarization of Culture in the Dominican Republic: From the Captains General to General Trujillo |url=https://archive.org/details/militarizationcu00pegu |url-access=limited |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/militarizationcu00pegu/page/n132 114] |isbn=0803204345 }}</ref> Therefore, the Haitian Massacre, which is still referred to as "''el corte''" (the cutting) by Dominicans and as "''kouto-a''" (the knife) by Haitians, was, "...a calculated action on the part of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo to homogenize the furthest stretches of the country in order to bring the region into the social, political and economic fold,"<ref name="Turtis, 590">Turtis, 590.</ref> and rid his republic of Haitians.
Thereafter, Trujillo began to develop the borderlands to link them more closely with the [[List of cities in the Dominican Republic|main cities and urban areas]] of Dominican Republic.<ref>Turtis, 623.</ref> These areas were modernized, with the addition of modern hospitals, schools, political headquarters, military barracks, and housing projects—as well as a highway to connect the borderlands to major cities. Additionally, after 1937, quotas restricted the number of Haitians permitted to enter the [[Dominican Republic]], and a strict and often discriminatory border policy was enacted. Dominicans continued to deport and kill Haitians in southern frontier regions—as refugees died of exposure, malaria and influenza.<ref>{{cite book |first=Eric Paul |last=Roorda |title=The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945 |location=Durham |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1998 |page=132 |isbn=082232234X }}</ref>

⚫
Despite attempts to blame Dominican civilians, it has been confirmed by U.S. sources that "bullets from [[Krag]] rifles were found in Haitian bodies, and only Dominican soldiers had access to this type of rifle."<ref>{{cite book |first=Valentina |last=Peguero |title=The Militarization of Culture in the Dominican Republic: From the Captains General to General Trujillo |url=https://archive.org/details/militarizationcu00pegu |url-access=limited |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/militarizationcu00pegu/page/n132 114] |isbn=0803204345 }}</ref> Therefore, the Haitian Massacre, which is still referred to as "''el corte''" (the cutting) by Dominicans and as "''kouto-a''" (the knife) by Haitians, was, "...a calculated action on the part of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo to homogenize the furthest stretches of the country in order to bring the region into the social, political and economic fold,"<ref name="Turtis, 590"/> and rid his republic of Haitians.


Condemnation of the massacres was not limited to international sources, as a number of Trujillo's exiled political opponents also publicly spoke out against the events. In November 1937, four anti-Trujillistas were declared "unworthy Dominicans" and "traitors to the Homeland" for their comments—[[Rafael Brache]], José Manuel Jimenes, [[Juan Isidro Jimenes Grullón]], and Buenaventura Sánchez.<ref name="caribe">Naya Despradel (August 13, 2016), [http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/08/13/fello-brache-tom-perez "De Fello Brache a Tom Pérez"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227160136/http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/08/13/fello-brache-tom-perez |date=27 February 2017 }} {{in lang|es}}, ''El Caribe''. Retrieved March 4, 2017.</ref>
Condemnation of the massacres was not limited to international sources, as a number of Trujillo's exiled political opponents also publicly spoke out against the events. In November 1937, four anti-Trujillistas were declared "unworthy Dominicans" and "traitors to the Homeland" for their comments—[[Rafael Brache]], José Manuel Jimenes, [[Juan Isidro Jimenes Grullón]], and Buenaventura Sánchez.<ref name="caribe">Naya Despradel (August 13, 2016), [http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/08/13/fello-brache-tom-perez "De Fello Brache a Tom Pérez"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227160136/http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/08/13/fello-brache-tom-perez |date=27 February 2017 }} {{in lang|es}}, ''El Caribe''. Retrieved March 4, 2017.</ref>
Line 79: Line 70:
The term ''parsley massacre'' was used frequently in the English-speaking media 75 years after the event, but most scholars recognize that it is a misconception, as research by Lauren Derby shows that the explanation is based more on myth than on personal accounts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hispaniola: Trujillo's Voudou Legacy|url=http://therevealer.org/archives/16375|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125140004/http://therevealer.org/archives/16375|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-25}}</ref>
The term ''parsley massacre'' was used frequently in the English-speaking media 75 years after the event, but most scholars recognize that it is a misconception, as research by Lauren Derby shows that the explanation is based more on myth than on personal accounts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hispaniola: Trujillo's Voudou Legacy|url=http://therevealer.org/archives/16375|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125140004/http://therevealer.org/archives/16375|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-25}}</ref>


==Number of victims==
==See also==
According to some sources, the massacre killed an estimated 20,000 Haitians<ref name="Introspections">pg 78 – {{cite book|last=Robert Pack (editor), Jay Parini (Editor)|title=Introspections|publisher=PUB|page=2222}}<br />''On 2 October 1937, Trujillo had ordered 10,000 Haitian cane workers executed because they could not roll the "R" in perejil the Spanish word for parsley.''</ref><ref name="Alan_Cambeira">{{cite book|last=Cambeira|first=Alan|title=Quisqueya la bella|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|year=1997|isbn=1-56324-936-7|edition=1996|page=182}}<br />''anyone of African descent found incapable of pronouncing correctly, that is, to the complete satisfaction of the sadistic examiners, became a condemned individual. This holocaust is recorded as having a death toll reaching thirty thousand innocent souls, Haitians as well as Dominicans.''</ref> living in the northern frontier—clearly at Trujillo's direct order. However, the exact number of victims is impossible to calculate due to several reasons. The Dominican Army carried out most of the killings in isolated areas, often leaving no witnesses or few survivors. Furthermore, many bodies were either disposed of in the sea, where they were consumed by sharks, or buried in mass graves, where acidic soil degraded them, leaving nothing for forensic investigators to exhume.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roorda|first1=Eric Paul|title=Historical Dictionary of the Dominican Republic|date=2016-04-28|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=139}}</ref>

Haitian President [[Élie Lescot]] put the death toll at 12,168; Haitian historian Jean Price-Mars cited 12,136 deaths and 2,419 injuries. The Dominican Republic's interim Foreign Minister put the number of dead at 17,000. Dominican historian [[Bernardo Vega]] estimated as many as 35,000.<ref name=Wucker/>

== See also ==
{{portal|Dominican Republic}}
{{portal|Dominican Republic}}
*[[1804 Haiti massacre]]
*[[1804 Haiti massacre]]

Revision as of 03:26, 2 September 2023

Parsley massacre
LocationDominican Republic
Date2 October 1937 (1937-10-02) –
8 October 1937 (1937-10-08)
TargetHaitians livings Dominican Republic border towns,
Attack type
killings
WeaponsKrag rifles, machetes and bayonets
Injured2,419
Victims-1,000
PerpetratorsDominican Army
Motiveland dispute between borders, stealings of cattle

The Parsley massacre killing of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic border towns around October 1937. Dominican Army troops from different areas of the country[1]carried out the massacre on the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.[2] As a result of the massacre, virtually the entire Haitian population in the Dominican frontier was either killed or forced to flee across the border.[3] Dominican troops interrogated civilians demanding that each victim say the word "parsley" (perejil). If the accused could not pronounce the word to the interrogators' satisfaction, they were deemed to be Haitians and killed.[4]

Massacre

Depiction of Rafael Trujillo on a 1930s stamp

Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, a strong proponent of anti-Haitianism, made his intentions towards the Haitian community clear in a short speech he gave on 2 October 1937 during a celebration in his honor in the province of Dajabón.

For some months, I have traveled and traversed the border in every sense of the word. I have seen, investigated, and inquired about the needs of the population. To the Dominicans who were complaining of the depredations by Haitians living among them, thefts of cattle, provisions, fruits, etc., and were thus prevented from enjoying in peace the products of their labor, I have responded, 'I will fix this.' And we have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians are now dead in Bánica. This remedy will continue.[5]

Trujillo reportedly acted in response to reports of Haitians stealing cattle and crops from Dominican borderland residents. Trujillo commanded his army to kill all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic's northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Between October 2 and October 8, hundreds of Dominican troops, who came mostly from other areas of the country, poured into the region.[1]

Dominican troops beheaded thousands of Haitians; they also took people to the port of Montecristi, where thousands of Haitians were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean to drown with their hands and feet bound.[6] The soldiers inflicted wounds on their bodies before throwing them overboard in order to attract sharks.[6] Survivors who managed to cross the border and return to Haiti told stories of family members being hacked with machetes and strangled by the soldiers, and children bashed against rocks and tree trunks.[6]

The use of military units from outside the region was not always enough to expedite soldiers' killings of Haitians. U.S. legation informants reported that many soldiers "confessed that in order to perform such ghastly slaughter they had to get 'blind' drunk."[1]: 167  Several months later, a barrage of killings and repatriations of Haitians occurred in the southern frontier.

Contributing factors

The French colony of Saint-Domingue in the Western coast, and the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo in the rest of Hispaniola island. The border has moved a number of times in history.

Haitian-Dominican relations have long been strained by territorial disputes and competition for the resources of Hispaniola. Between the years of 1910–1930, there was an extensive migration of Haitians to their neighboring countries of the Dominican Republic and Cuba in search of work. The exact number of Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic is not readily available but it is more than the estimated 200,000 that emigrated to Cuba. Among several authors, the Haiti-Dominican Republic migration corridor is considered far more important than the Haiti-Cuba migration due to geographic proximity. On the other hand, the large influx of Haitians to the Dominican Republic further divided the complicated relationship between the two states.[7][page needed] The Dominican Republic, formerly the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, is the eastern portion of the island of Hispaniola and occupies five-eighths of the land while having ten million inhabitants.[8] In contrast, Haiti, the former French colony of Saint-Domingue, is on the western three-eighths of the island[9][10] and has almost exactly the same population, with an estimated 200 people per square kilometre.[11]

Due to inadequate roadways connecting the borderlands to major cities, "Communication with Dominican markets was so limited that the small commercial surplus of the frontier slowly moved toward Haiti."[12]

Furthermore, the Dominican government saw the loose borderlands as a liability in terms of possible formation of revolutionary groups that could flee across the border with ease, while at the same time amassing weapons and followers.[13]

Aftermath

At first the Haitian president Sténio Vincent prohibited any discussion of the massacre and issued a statement on 15 October: "...it is declared that the good relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic have not suffered any damage." Vincent's failure to initially press for justice for the slain workers prompted protests in Port-au-Prince after two years of relative silence. It was known that Vincent had a cooperative relationship and financial support from the Trujillo government. After a failed coup effort in December the Haitian president was eventually forced to seek an international investigation and mediation. Unwilling to submit to an inquiry, Trujillo offered instead an indemnity to Haiti.[14]

In the end, the Democrat U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Haitian president Sténio Vincent sought reparations of United States dollar $750,000, of which the Dominican government paid $525,000 (US $11,127,083.33 in 2023 dollars), or around $30 per victim. Due to the corruption deeply embedded within the Haitian bureaucracy however, survivors on average received only 2 cents each.[15] In the agreement signed in Washington, D.C., on 31 January 1938, the Dominican government defended the massacre as a response to illegal immigration by "undesirable" Haitians, and recognized "no responsibility whatsoever" for the killings with Trujillo stating how the agreement established new laws prohibiting migration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Trujillo's regime thus used a moment of international inquiry to legitimize his anti-Haitian policies.[14]

Additionally, after 1937, quotas restricted the number of Haitians permitted to enter the Dominican Republic, and a strict and often discriminatory border policy was enacted. Despite attempts to blame Dominican civilians, it has been confirmed by U.S. sources that "bullets from Krag rifles were found in Haitian bodies, and only Dominican soldiers had access to this type of rifle."[16] Therefore, the Haitian Massacre, which is still referred to as "el corte" (the cutting) by Dominicans and as "kouto-a" (the knife) by Haitians, was, "...a calculated action on the part of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo to homogenize the furthest stretches of the country in order to bring the region into the social, political and economic fold,"[17] and rid his republic of Haitians.

Condemnation of the massacres was not limited to international sources, as a number of Trujillo's exiled political opponents also publicly spoke out against the events. In November 1937, four anti-Trujillistas were declared "unworthy Dominicans" and "traitors to the Homeland" for their comments—Rafael Brache, José Manuel Jimenes, Juan Isidro Jimenes Grullón, and Buenaventura Sánchez.[18]

Etymology

The popular name[19] for the massacre came from the shibboleth that the dictatorial Trujillo had his soldiers apply to determine whether or not those living on the border were native Afro-Dominicans or immigrant Afro-Haitians. Dominican soldiers would hold up a sprig of parsley to someone and ask what it was. How the person pronounced the Spanish word for parsley (perejil) determined their fate. The Haitian languages, French and Haitian Creole, pronounce the r as a uvular approximant or a voiced velar fricative, respectively so their speakers can have difficulty pronouncing the alveolar tap or the alveolar trill of Spanish, the language of the Dominican Republic. Also, only Spanish but not French or Haitian Creole pronounces the j as the voiceless velar fricative. If they could pronounce it the Spanish way the soldiers considered them Dominican and let them live, but if they pronounced it the French or Creole way they considered them Haitian and executed them.

The term parsley massacre was used frequently in the English-speaking media 75 years after the event, but most scholars recognize that it is a misconception, as research by Lauren Derby shows that the explanation is based more on myth than on personal accounts.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Turits, Richard Lee (2004). Foundations of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and Modernity in Dominican History. Stanford University Press.
  2. ^ {{cite book}}: Empty citation (help)
  3. ^ Turtis, 630.
  4. ^ List of genocides by death toll
  5. ^ Turtis, Richard Lee (2002). "A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic". Hispanic American Historical Review. 82 (3): 589–635 [p. 613]. doi:10.1215/00182168-82-3-589. S2CID 143872486.
  6. ^ a b c Galván, Javier A. (2012). Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century: The Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers. McFarland. p. 53.
  7. ^ Jadotte, Evans (May 2009). "International Migration, Remittances and Labour Supply. The Case of the Republic of Haiti" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2019.
  8. ^ Augelli, John P. (1980). "Nationalization of Dominican Borderlands". Geographical Review. 70 (1): 21. doi:10.2307/214365. JSTOR 214365.
  9. ^ Dardik, Alan, ed. (2016). Vascular Surgery: A Global Perspective. Springer. p. 341. ISBN 9783319337456. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  10. ^ Josh, Jagran, ed. (2016). "Current Affairs November 2016 eBook". p. 93. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  11. ^ Augelli, 21.
  12. ^ Augelli, 24.
  13. ^ Turtis, 600.
  14. ^ a b ""Dominican Responses in the Aftermath of the 1937 Haitian Massacre" by Richard Lee Turits, Ph.D." islandluminous.fiu.edu.
  15. ^ p.41 – Bell, Madison Smartt (17 July 2008). "A Hidden Haitian World". New York Review of Books. 55 (12).
  16. ^ Peguero, Valentina (2004). The Militarization of Culture in the Dominican Republic: From the Captains General to General Trujillo. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 114. ISBN 0803204345.
  17. ^ Turtis, 590.
  18. ^ Naya Despradel (August 13, 2016), "De Fello Brache a Tom Pérez" Archived 27 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish), El Caribe. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  19. ^ The name used by historians and scholars is Haitian massacre of 1937. The expression "parsley massacre" appears nowhere in works published by Trujillo Era scholars such as Jésus de Galindez (1956), Robert D. Crassweller (1966), Eric Paul Roorda (1996), Lauro Capdevila (1998) and Lauren Derby (2009).
  20. ^ "Hispaniola: Trujillo's Voudou Legacy". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parsley_massacre&oldid=1173389720"