The Parsley Massacre

The Parsley Massacre

Hannah West and Arianna Kinard

Introduction

• The Parsley Massacre occurred 76 years ago, in the year of 1937, in the Dominican Republic.
• It occurred under the control of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina.
• At least 20,000 Haitians were killed in the massacre.
• Haitians were killed by Dominican soldiers and civilians.
• Weapons used in the massacre were machetes, bayonets, kinves, picks, and shovels.
• This massacre only lasted for about 5 days. (Ghosh)
• Direct Quote: "The killings left an indelible stain on the island." (Ghosh)

The Relationship Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic

The Cause of the Parsley Massacre

• Haiti and the Dominican Republic actually had a good relationship before the massacre.
• When the power centers of Santa Domingo and Port-au-Prince were removed, the border became very peaceful between the two countries.
• After the massacre, Trujillo issued papers to try and justify the killings that he ordered.
• The papers stated that Trujillo was trying to prevent the Dominican Republic from being overrun by Haitians, event though that issue had already been resolved.
• The historical tension between the two countries is still apparent today.

• The dictator of the Dominican Republic declared that all ethnic Haitians found in the Dominican Republic must be killed.
• Dominicans didn't want Haitians to cross the border.
• The Dominicans wanted to create a clear border behind Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
• The Dominican Republic wanted to prevent the migration of Haitian laborers who wanted to work on sugar plantations.
• Trujillo thought that the Haitian workers were a liability to the Dominican economy.
• "The intention behind the massacre was to rid Dominican land of Haitians..."

Works Cited

• 1961: Four for the Assassination of Rafael Trujillo." Editorial. Executed Today.com. WordPress, 18 Nov. 2011. Web. 4 Sept. 2013.
• Fieser, Era"z. "Haiti and the Dominican Republic: A Brief History of a Long-strained Relationship." Www.alaskadispatch. The Christian Science, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 8 Sept. 2013.
• Fieser, Ezra. "DAJABÓN, Dominican Republic: Haitians and Dominicans Remember Parsley Massacre, 75 Years Later - Haitian Link - MiamiHerald.com." The Miami Herald. N.p., 10 Nov. 2012. Web. 09 Sept. 2013.
• Ghosh, Palash. "Parsley Massacre: The Genocide That Still Haunts Haiti-Dominican Relations." International Business Times. Ibtimes.com, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
• Http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2012/1009/Haitians-Dominicans-try-to-move-beyond-Parsley-Massacre-s-long-shadow, Ezra. "Haitians, Dominicans Try to Move beyond Parsley Massacre's Long Shadow." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 09 Oct. 2012. Web. 09 Sept. 2013.
• "'I Shot the Cruellest Dictator in the Americas'" Interview by BBC News. BBC News. BBC News, 27 May 2011. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
• "Rafael Trujillo Biography." Www.biography.com. Bio.com, n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.
• Wucker, Michelle. "The Parsley Massacre." Weblog post. English 12 ~ Werner. N.p., 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.

How The Massacre Happened and Why it Ended

Haitians and Dominicans Still Remember the Parsley Massacre

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina

• "Standing on the banks of the Massacre River, looking across its shallow waters to Haiti on Thursday night, hundreds of Dominicans, led by activists and scholars, sought to reclaim the forgotten tragedy" (Ezra Fieser).
• Today, people still remember the events that happened by lighting candles for a vigil.
• A group of Dominican diaspora that lived within the United States organized the event to remember the horrors of the Parsley Massacre.
• The ceremony of remembrance began with a Catholic mass and a candlelight vigil where the participants walked to the edge of the river.
• The organizers cleaned up a park in Haiti and planted trees.
• Many Dominicans know very little about the massacre.
• It remains unclear as to why Trujillo ordered the killings, but some believe that it was an effort to "whiten" the Dominican race (Ezra Fieser).

• The Parsley Massacre started on October 3, 1937 and ended five days later on October 8, 1937.
• People in the Dominican republic were not aware that a massacre was occurring, although there were rumors.
• People of the Dominican republic were told that the deaths were "accidents", where groups of Haitians were killed by angry Dominican "farmers".
• Despite what is told about the killings in the massacre guns were not used as weapons,they were used to intimidate people, the weapons soldiers used were knives, machetes, shovels, ect.
• Guns were not used as weapons so that people could not blame the government on the killings.
• The massacre only ended when reports of the massacre were being leaked into different countries and Trujillo did not want to be bothered by others criticism.
• When Trujillo was asked about the massacre he told people that the "incidents" were gross exaggerations
• "It was a truly lamentable incident, and nobody feels worse about it than I do" -Rafael Trujillo

• Although it is uncertain, it's said that at the age of 16 Trujillo joined a gang and committed a string of crimes and was finally arrested when he forged a check.
• Trujillos background is unsure because he had someone rewrite his family history when he came into power.
• In 1919, when the U.S. Marines were occupying the Dominican Republic, Trujillo was able to train with the marines and became commander in chief in only 6 years.
• When Trujillo was campaigning for president he put together a secret police force to torture and murder supporters of the opposing candidates.
•  After a hurricane ravaged the Dominican capitol, Santo Domingo, Trujillo used it as an excuse to impose unfair taxes and spent that money by building several monument to himself and then renaming the capitol Ciudad Trujillo.
• Trujillo was assassinated on May 30, 1961 when he was gunned down by 7 men.
• "He who does not know how to deceive does not know how to rule." -Rafael Trujillo