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| Hillary Clinton & right-wing Pres. Michel Martelly in 2011 |
Tomes provides us with a book review of a recently published book by this title authored by Jeb Sprague. It is a very disconcerting story of transnational capitalists and their ongoing rape of a country founded by African slaves who successfully fought for independence from France. It is a neo-colonial story of managed elections, corruption, paramilitaries, exploitation, etc.
Sprague’s book is very detailed, very analytical and incredibly eye-opening. As a newcomer to the modern history of Haiti, the reader feels enmeshed in the story from below, in the story of Fanmi Lavalas. The reader leaves feeling both angry and enlightened, but the wider story is the tale of how transnational elites support democracy only where it fits their interpretation of it, and that the use of paramilitarism has been an effective method of control used to disenfranchise the popular classes. The observations here can cast light on struggles elsewhere, such as those in Venezuela, Bolivia and Honduras.See also this, this, this, and this for more information.