Charlemagne Péralte – Wikipedia
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François Borgia Charlemagne Péralte (1885 or 1886-1919) was a Haitian nationalist revolutionary and head of the Cacos movement (in) , opposed to the occupation of Haiti by the United States, captured and executed by the American army near Grande-Rivière-du-Nord.
Charlemagne Péralte was born on In the city of Hinche within a wealthy and cultivated family.
In 1915, the United States military forces landed in Haiti and occupied the country until 1934.
American forces are deployed in the country without major incident except in Léogâne, where Charlemagne Péralte, commander of military security in the region, refuses to lay down arms and the national flag without having received the official order of the Haitian authorities . His broken military and administrative career, he resigned and returned to his hometown of Hinche to take care of family land.
The United States elected a president, the President of the Senate Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave and sign a treaty, a legal basis for the occupation, by which they take control of customs and administration. The American administrator has the power of veto on all government decisions in Haiti and the Navy officers serve in the provinces. Thus, 40% of state revenues go under the direct control of the United States. The army is dissolved in favor of a gendarmerie, intended to maintain the inner order. The officers are American. Local institutions, however, continue to be led by Haitians.
In 1917, President Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave asked for the dissolution of the Assembly who refused to approve a constitution inspired by the Secretary of the United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was done by the gendarmerie, commanded by the marine Smedley Butler.
The American occupants demonstrate racism. This constant attitude and unworthy in particular the mulatto, French -speaking and educated elite.
In 1918, roads were built under the chore system. The popular reaction is violent. At the end of the year, the country is in an insurrection. The armed peasants, nicknamed “Cacos”, are up to 40,000. The best known chiefs are Charlemagne Péralte and Benoît Batraville who attack the capital, Port-au-Prince, in October 1919. Charlemagne Péralte undertook the harassment of American forces . With an armament limited to a few old rifles and machetes, the cacos oppose such resistance that the numbers of marines are increased, and the United States come to use its aviation to control the territory and watch guerrillas.
After two years of fighting, with the support of the population, Charlemagne Péralte proclaims a provisional government in the north of Haiti, in 1919.
Charlemagne Péralte is betrayed, and killed by the Americans [ first ] . A photo of the corpse of Charlemagne Péralte, taken by the Americans, shows the body of the revolutionary hero attached to a door and accompanied by the Haitian bicolor flag. This photograph is reproduced to thousands of copies to be distributed throughout the country.
Benoît Batraville, lieutenant of Péralte, takes up the torch of the struggle. THE , a congress organized by the revolutionary rebel forces designates Benoît Batraville commander of the Cacos forces to replace Péralte. A few months later, betrayed in turn, he was arrested by American soldiers and summarily executed by them . His body is buried in the Mirebalais cemetery.
It took two years to marines Americans to watch the revolt at the price of more than two thousand Haitian dead.
The death of Charlemagne Péralte took the dimension of a martyrdom for Haitians. After the departure of the American forces in 1934, the body of Péralte was unearthed, identified by his mother and buried with the honors in the Cap-Haitian cemetery.
After the death of its guerrilla leaders, the revolutionary Cacos movement will weaken and finally will be eliminated in 1921.
- Roger Gaillard, The whites land Tome VI: 1918-1919: Charlemagne Péralte, Le Caco , Roger Gaillard editions, 1930.
- Manifesto and political program of the Front Charlemagne Péralte of National Liberation , Front Charlemagne Péralte de Liberation Nationale, Éditions des Antilles, Port-au-Prince, 1990.
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