Parsley Massacre

Rafael Trujillo was a Dominican dictator of the Dominican Republic. he hated Haitians because he thought they were "racially & culturally inferior". On October 2nd of 1937, Rafael decided to end this once and for all. He told the Dominican Republic that he will "fix" the issue of Haitian people crossing the border. He ordered his army to kill every Haitian that lived on the Northwestern border of the DR. Historians estimate that 3,000 to 20,000 people died in these 6 days of violence.

Introduction

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Rafael Trujillo." Encyclopedia Britannica, October 20, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rafael-Trujillo.

Were the long-term consequences of the Parsley Massacre more significant for Haiti or the Dominican Republic?

Research Question

https://repeatingislands.com/2017/10/22/the-forgotten-parsley-massacre-still-plagues-dominican-haitian-relations/

Were the consequences of the Parsley Massacre more significant for Haiti or the Dominican Republic?

Haiti

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/07/555871670/80-years-on-dominicans-and-haitians-revisit-painful-memories-of-parsley-massacre

Perspective One

• Francisco Pierre was 10 years old when he experienced the Parsley Massacre. This experience has caused him so much fear that he has only gone back to the DR once for a hospital visit.
• Haitian merchants cross the river that borders the DR and Haiti to avoid officials.
• Rafael Trujillo framed Haiti immigrants that they were "attacking" Dominican farmers.
• Thanks to the massacre, people are now living in poor conditions. They have no proper drinking water and lack of medical help.
• He saw Haitians as a "danger to Dominican's economic and social development".
• The Haitians have difficulties re-settling on the land that was invaded by the DR.

"Look around, we aren't living the way a human being should live, and it's the fault of the people who committed the massacre."

Were the consequences of the Parsley Massacre more significant for Haiti or the Dominican Republic?

Dominican Republic

Perspective Two

• In 1937, the DR's sugar plantations were only making one penny a pound, so Rafael didn't have enough money to feed the Haitian refugees that were coming into the country.
• He stated that he did not have enough money to feed the Haitians coming into the country.
• He deported Haitians and increased border patrols.
• Since he saw so many Haitians crossing the border, Rafael thought that the Haitian Government were going to try and claim the DR's land.
• Trujillo paid $525,000 in 1938 ( $9 million today) to the Haitian government because Mexico, USA and Cuba was pressuring the DR. They used a portion of the money to set up tents for refugees from the massacre.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/10/01/162092252/remembering-to-never-forget-dominican-republics-parsley-massacre

Haiti had more significant consequences due to the war.

Conclusion

Haiti had more significant consequences because now the DR and Haiti have a difficult relationship. The DR has not apologized to Haiti for their actions.A lot of people fear that they will get killed by Dominicans because of how Rafael labeled them during the Parsley War; there is still tension and hostility between the two groups.

In my opinion.... the Haitians suffered far more than the Dominicans as a result of this conflict. It is largely an unrecognized massacre outside of Hispaniola (the island containing DR & Haiti). Tens of thousands of Haitians were murdered at the instruction of a dictator who wanted to cleanse the DR of Haitians in order to gain greater economic and geographic control over the island. While the Dominican Republic was lightly reprimanded by international countries, overall, they suffered very few consequences for the planned murder of Haitian civilians.