Puerto Ricans in Haiti: 1870-1934

Betances, friend of Firmin, fierce defender of Haiti, and almost certainly the source of the 1870s movement of Puerto Ricans to Haiti. Residing in Jacmel between 1870 and 1872, Betances saw Haiti and Caribbean unity as central for the liberation of Cuba and Puerto Rico. His brother and nephew, Adolfo and Felipe Betances, also settled in Jacmel. Basora, a fellow revolutionary in the Comite Revolutionacio de Puerto Rico, also lived in Haiti during this time.

Although a significantly smaller presence in Haiti than Cubans, the Puerto Rican residents of Haiti during the 19th and early 20th centuries provide another dimension of intra-Caribbean migration. The Dominican Republic was, as one would suspect, a more popular destination for Puerto Rican emigrants, with over 3000 residing there by the 1930s. Geography, language, and opportunity made the eastern neighbor the recipient of larger streams of Puerto Rican migrants. References to their colonia in various towns connected to the burgeoning Dominican sugar industry allude to their organizations, dances, and friendly relations with Dominican residents. For Haiti, however, the significantly smaller Puerto Rican presence was connected to the Cuban Wars of Independence. Later, small numbers of Puerto Ricans remained or settled in Haiti to launch businesses or work for American companies during the US Occupation. According to Renda's Taking Haiti, one Puerto Rican, Pedro del Valle, even served in the Marines during that period.

Ramón Frade, illustrious Puerto Rican painter, lived in Port-au-Prince for some years.

The story begins with Ramon Emeterio Betances, renowned father of Puerto Rican independence and supporter of various campaigns to liberate Cuba and Puerto Rico. He was central in the early Puerto Rican presence in Haiti. Living in Jacmel from 1870 to 1872, Betances, his brother, Adolfo, and Dr. Francisco Basora, were part of this early wave. Betances and Basora were tied to the attempts to support struggles in Cuba and Puerto Rico with aid from Santo Domingo and Haiti. Masonic connections appear to have opened doors for Betances, who lectured at least once in a Port-au-Prince lodge. While in Haiti, Betances came to a greater appreciation for the Haitian Revolution, particularly Toussaint Louverture and Alexandre Petion. Unlike Hostos, who settled in Santo Domingo and usually excluded Haiti from his vision of a Caribbean Federation, Betances saw in the example of Haiti, especially Petion, republican and abolitionist virtue. Addressing Cuban and Puerto Rican nationalists in Haiti, New York, and elsewhere, Betances unequivocally embraced Haiti's revolutionary legacy as a model for republican statecraft, even praising Petion's land reforms. 

Marriage notice from Le Matin mentioning 2 families of Puerto Rican origin. Blas Vieras and Guillermo Gonzalez were associated with Club Betances in Port-au-Prince during the 1890s.

Besides Betances, his family, and Basora in Jacmel, there almost certainly were small numbers of Puerto Ricans among the Spanish-speaking artisans in Haiti. Some of the shoemakers arriving in Port-au-Prince during and after the Ten Years War appear to be of Puerto Rican origin. Unfortunately, most sources comment on the predominantly Cuban character of this migration, making it difficult to say with precision what proportion of this migration consisted of Puerto Ricans. Geography, or perhaps, familial origins in Saint Domingue, might have made Haiti more attractive for Cuban refugees and exiles than for Puerto Ricans. Of course, the failure of armed uprisings in Puerto Rico also made the numbers of refugees or exiles from that island far smaller than their Cuban counterparts. Nonetheless, there was a small contingent of Puerto Ricans in Haiti during this time, with some perhaps passing through Port-au-Prince or Jacmel. 

1908 Le Matin notice of the arrival in Port-au-Prince of Fernando Fuertes. This name was also listed in the membership of Club Betances. Surprisingly, some of members of the club were still in Haiti after 1898.

Moreover, Betance's temporary home, Jacmel, was one of Haiti's busiest ports in the later decades of the 19th century, receiving international visitors, merchants, and shipping line service. Under Petion, Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar also found refuge there. After Betances left Haiti in 1872, his brother and Basora remained, with the former reportedly running a hotel in Jacmel, according to a Caribbean commercial directory. Indeed, Felipe Betances, his nephew, who studied medicine, also appeared in Benito Sylvain's Haitian/Pan-African journal as part of the Haitian community in Paris.  Philippe would return to Haiti and establish a family, suggesting strong attachments to Haiti that persisted after 1898. Betances himself contributed a short story to La Fraternite, which, like his other writings pertinent to Haiti, reveal continued links to Haitian intellectuals in France. This included refutations of racist publications about Haiti as well as mingling with Haitians such as Firmin and Latin Americans in the French capital. 

Chapellerie La Borinquen, appearing in Le Nouvelliste in 1908. Emile Cuebas, or Emilio Cuevas, may be the father of Lolita Cuevas, a singer who performed Haitian folkloric songs and other material. She also presented Haiti in a positive light in Puerto Rico. 

By 1895, Puerto Ricans residing in Haiti become easier to track. The final thrust of the Cuban Independence War appears to have fueled efforts among the Puerto Rican section of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano to aid the war efforts. Although dispersed, the Puerto Rican section raised funds from members and, in at least Port-au-Prince, formed Club Betances. Antonio Mattei Lluberas, who reported on his efforts in Haiti during the 1890s, attested to the small size of the Puerto Rican community. Indeed, for Port-au-Prince, he puts their number at under 30. Such a small number, many of them lacking capital, must have included the larger Cuban colonie and sympathetic Haitians to raise funds and participate in club activities. Intriguingly, many of the names associated with Club Betances appear in Haitian newspapers well into the 20th century. These include the following:  Guillermo Gonzalez, Fernando Fuertes, Blas Vieras, and  Francisco Desuse. If most of these men were Puerto Rican, their presence in Port-au-Prince after 1898 indicates a small but settled community of artisans, distillateurs, and businessmen. Perhaps they married into local families or with other elements of the capital's foreign population, such as Blas Viera's daughter's union with a Vital.

Antonio Mattei Lluberas, an active member of the Puerto Rican Section of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano, was in Haiti during the late 1890s to raise funds for the Cuban cause. His brief reports indicated a tiny Puerto Rican colony in the Haitian capital, about 30 people, and some of the activities of the Club Betances. According to Mattei Lluberas, the Puerto Rican residents in Port-au-Prince lacked capital, and were much smaller than the Cuban colony.

From 1900 to 1934, allusions to Puerto Ricans living or working in Haiti continue. During the US Occupation, some came to work for US companies. HASCO, for instance, employed at least one Puerto Rican in the 1920s. Haitian sources, quoted by Michel Hector, refer to Puerto Rican and West Indian migrants taking the best positions in new industries established during this era, particularly automobiles. US plantations and the railroad companies also employed some foreign workers, which may have included Puerto Ricans in middle-status positions or in some mechanical capacity. At least three Puerto Ricans chose Port-au-Prince for founding chapelleries, an effort connecting Jose Blanch (consul for Haiti in Mayaguez), Emile Cuebas (Emilio Cuevas), and Jose San Millan. Cuebas even called his business La Borinquen, making clear the ties to his homeland. These small-scale shops and establishments, like that of Jose Blanch, probably employed young women and may have introduced ideas or practices from Puerto Rico. Unquestionably, Puerto Rican workers in new industries during the 20th century likely interacted with Haitian workers, perhaps transferring some skills in mechanics or automobile garages. Some of partial Puerto Rican heritage also enter the historical record, such as Jean Wagoner.

Albizu Campos visited Haiti in  September 1927, meeting with Joseph Jolibois fils and other anti-occupation activists.

Needless to say, these entrepreneurs and skilled workers were a tiny community, but left a legacy of cultural contact and exchange between the two Antillean peoples. Emile Cuebas was probably the father of Lolita Cuevas, a singer raised in Haiti who promoted Haitian folkloric music. According to press coverage of her in Port-au-Prince newspapers, she also represented Haiti favorably in Puerto Rico. Such a connection may have been a cultural component of Puerto Rican-Haitian relations during the 1920s and 1930s. The political connection, best expressed through solidarity beween Haitian and Puerto Rican nationalists opposed to US imperialism, is another. For instance, Haitian media allusions to visits of Albizu Campos make clear a certain interest in the fate of Puerto Rico. Albizu Campos also sympathized with forces opposed to the US Occupation, including Haiti in his political vision of Latin America. Perhaps Albizu Campos's inheritance of expansive notions of "Latin" civilization and meeting with Joseph Jolibois fils, who also undertook a journey across Latin America, shaped the connection between labor and cultural autonomy for both leaders. Even though anti-black prejudice continued in Puerto Rico, often quite explicit in cases such as Pedreira, a certain degree of overlapping interests, a past in Betances and Firmin, Jolibois and Albizu Campos, suggests Haiti's centrality for Caribbean consciousness.