Another famous tale of December 31, 1803, the eve of Haitian Independence, is that when the declaration of independence was read out the people protested it wasn't what they wanted to hear. Boisrond-Tonnerrer, an underling of Dessalines, reported called out "This doesn't say what we really feel. For our declaration of independence we should have the skin of a blanc [white]
for parchment, his skull for inkwell, his blood for ink, and a bayonet for pen!"
 Dessalines first decided to get rid of the French who were in Haiti. Early in 1804, his first year of rule, he had the French killed, sparing only a few doctors, priests and essential exporters.
It is generally thought that around 20,000 French were slaughtered,
and it was a brutal and harsh extermination. 
update 11/18/98: here is a much more detailed and graphic short History of Haiti...

President Clinton sent troops to Haiti in 1994 to restore communist dictator
Aristide and halt the exodus. 

So far in the Clinton administration, only five years old,
forces have been deployed some fifty times. These are costly deployments.
Haiti alone cost $2 billion.

[Rep Conyers and Clinton fondling kid]

Haitians hail Clinton's welcome to 40,000 illegal immigrants                         Oct 22, 1998

                                 MIAMI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Haitians in the United States
                                 celebrated a new law granting residency to 40,000 of
                                 them on Thursday but asked why they had to fight harder
                                 to win fewer ``green cards'' than immigrants from Latin
                                 America. 
                            On Wednesday, President Bill Clinton signed into law the
                                 Omnibus Budget Agreement, which included a provision
                                 giving permanent residency to more than 40,000 Haitians
                                 who had faced deportation to their homeland. 
                                 ``Justice for these Haitian refugees finally has been
                                 achieved. This represents a major victory for fairness,
                                 equal treatment and the positive contributions that
                                 Haitian immigrants bring to the U.S.,'' said Jocelyn 
                                 McCalla, executive director of New York's
                                 National Coalition for Haitian Rights.

AIDS affects many Haitian children
Some have disease, others orphaned by it

Travelers Advisory on Haiti
Reports indicate that 50 percent of Haitian prostitutes carry the AIDS virus

Drink only bottled beverages (including water) or beverages made with boiled water. 
Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Rabies, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Malaria
Insect-borne illness: outbreaks of dengue fever occur, and dengue hemorrhagic fever:

Crime Information: Crime remains at a high level and may spike from time to time. Reports of
murder, carjackings, armed robbery and break-ins contribute to security concerns.

Areas of Instability: Haiti continues to experience occasional civil unrest, including unofficial
roadblocks in all regions of the country. There have been attacks on some government buildings by
unidentified perpetrators. U.S. citizens have not been targeted in any of these attacks or in any
demonstration-related incidents, but travelers are urged to use common sense in avoiding large crowds, which have been known to turn violent.

                                 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Piles of
                                 ragged shoes, second-hand clothes, old toasters and
                                 record turntables line the streets of Haiti's capital. 

                                 Every day fresh shipments of discarded American goods
                                 come in from seaports to markets around the country.
                                 The import and sale of second-hand goods, called ``Pepe''
                                 in Haiti, is one of a very few growing industries.

               A faker who pretends to be one of our supporters, just
               grab him; make sure he gets what he deserves with the
               tool you now have in your hands [referring to the tire
               "necklaces"]. The burning tire -- what a beautiful tool!
               What a beautiful instrument! It's fashionable. It smells
               good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it. 

Everybody should write a letter of appreciation to their congress persons for enriching the
cultural diversity of the united states by the recent mass amnesty for Haitians - we can look
forward to dead chickens on the courthouse steps and we won't have to mail order for those
hard-to-get Voodoo supplies if a new Haitian immigrant opens up a neighborhood shop...
until then we will have to shop on the internet... [Haitian Voodoo Links]