Dominicans in Haiti: A Brief Overview

The coat of arms for Baron de Thabares, or Jose Campos Tavares, who served in the court of Henri Christophe. A formerly enslaved person from Spanish Santo Domingo, Tavares initially fought against Haiti before pledging loyalty to Dessalines and Henri Christophe. Examples such as Tavares illustrate how Haiti could appeal to people of African descent in the eastern part of the island. The royal almanacs of Christophe's kingdom also mention additional members of the military and court with the Thabares surname, suggesting relatives of Jose Campos Tavares were additional persons with roots in Spanish Santo Domingo.

Certainly one of the most important elements in the history of the foreign presence in Haiti, Dominicans can be somewhat difficult to track. Sharing an island and lacking an effective border until the 1930s, contact between the peoples of both sides of the island can be traced to the colonial period. Trade, particularly of cattle from eastern Hispaniola, was an important export to Haiti since the colonial period. Many on the frontier also depended on access to markets in Port-au-Prince or Haiti for imported goods. Of course, runaway slaves from Saint Domingue fled across the border. Last, but certainly not least, over 20 years of political unification also led to contacts, families, and economic ties across the frontier. Of course, quantifying the number of Dominicans in Haiti during the 19th century is difficult (although some estimate about 15,000 Dominicans currently reside in Haiti, perhaps higher), but the higher population of Haiti and demographic pressure on the land favored greater Haitian migration into the DR than the other way around. Nonetheless, the bicultural frontier included many 'Dominicans' who lived in Haitian territory, married Haitians, and, in some cases, served in the Haitian military. Thorald Burnham also found Dominicans to be the most common foreign-born spouses in the Port-au-Prince marriage records for 1850-1871, which is suggestive of the larger than expected presence of them in Haitian society. One can easily imagine perhaps a few thousand Dominicans living and working in Haiti during the 19th century, with many more making occasional visits or business trips to either the border or markets in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien. 

Xavier Amiama, pintor de la noche en Haiti. Amiama was a  Dominican painter who moved to Port-au-Prince in 1935. A friend of Petion Savain and other Haitian painters, Amiama participated with the Centre d'Art. His paintings capture much of popular culture in Port-au-Prince.

Since Haiti abolished slavery and caste restrictions in Santo Domingo during the periods of unification, Haiti likely appealed to many Dominicans of African descent in ways white elites did not appreciate. Thus, a 'Dominican', Jose Campos Tavarez, enlisted in the Haitian army and served Dessalines and Christophe. Indeed, Campos Thabares became a baron in the court of Henri Christophe. His relatives also served Christophe as additional men who in Christophe's military share the Thabares name. Decades later, other Dominicans remained loyal to Haiti after initially fightinf for separation in the 1840s. At least some Afro-Dominicans may have seen Haitian unification as a period of social advancement through military service and their own personal autonomy. Some of them also came from Saint Domingue or had origins there through colonial maroon settlements or battalions aligned with Spain during the Haitian Revolution. Pablo Ali, for instance, was from Saint Domingue (Haiti), but later sided with Dominican separatists in 1844. In short, Haiti signified many things to residents of eastern Hispaniola, and could have attracted more than a few to remain loyal as the commitment of Dominican elites to independence and racial equality were uncertain.

Dominican president Juan Isidro Jimenes spent much of his formative years in Haiti. His father, who also served as president of the Dominican Republic, was a political exile who died in Port-au-Prince. After returning to the Dominican Republic, Juan Isidro launched Casa Jimenes, a transnational firm exporting timber and other products from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. His life serves as an example of the close commercial links between the northern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Cap-Haitien, Montecristi and Puerto Plata were closely linked through active coastal trade. 

Besides Haiti's appeal to Afro-Dominicans and the economic interests of some residents of the Cibao region, the movement of Haitians into l'Est led to the establishment of local families with ties to both sides of Hispaniola. Some of these families later relocated or returned to Haiti after the 1844 separation, but connections led to occasional visiting, travels, and trade long after. Many of the political officials and generals of Christophe were sent to administer the East after Boyer succeeded in reunifying the entire island, and some married locals or left behind descendants. Unsurprisingly, many families in the North of Haiti retained ties to branches in Puerto Plata or Santiago. These include Ricourt, Beliard, Heureaux, Charrier, and other families. Many Europeans and Caribbean foreign merchants in Hispaniola during the period of unification (1822-1844) and after also established a presence in both countries. The Deetjen of Holland, for instance, were present in Cap-Haitien and Puerto Plata, with members who served in various capacities Haiti or the Dominican Republic. Descendants of African American immigrants in Samana were also connected to other African American communities or Protestant sects in Haiti. According to Aubin, Corsicans in the Dominican Republic were also active in Cap-Haitien, presumably building upon their economic and social bonds with their compatriots to establish businesses or engage in commerce. Last, but certainly not least, Caribbean-born merchants in Santo Domingo left after the 1844 separation, moving to Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, but retained ties to their relatives who decided to remain (an example of Jacmel-Santo Domingo connections can be traced in this genealogical essay).  

Ricardo Limardo Ricourt, a prominent resident of Puerto Plata in the 19th century, was born in Cap-Haitien. His parents were of Haitian and Venezuelan origins. His Haitian mother was likely related to the Ricourt family of Cap-Haitien, which may explain his birth in the historic city. Examples of Dominicans with familial ties to Haiti and travels back and forth across the border abound.

During the Dominican War of Restoration in the 1860s, several Dominicans used Haiti as a base of operations and site of refuge. Hundreds, if not more, found refuge in the neighboring republic, where Geffrard offered clandestine support. Dominicans in Cap-Haitien contributed to an increase in exports from Cap-Haitien, possibly through the use of Haitian ports for Dominican goods carried across the border. Close economic ties linking Cap-Haitien to Montecristi and Puerto Plata predated this era, but likely grew in the future decades as business ties of Haitian and Dominicans in Haiti's north were strengthened. Dominican political exiles had already found refuge in Haiti in the 1850s (former president Manuel Jimenes died in Port-au-Prince), but the War of Restoration, as a more established war of national liberation, brought a new dimension to Haitian-Dominican relations. Familial ties, as well as shared interest in preserving the independence of the island, redefined Haitian-Dominican relations based on solidarity (at least for some), and may have shaped subsequent antillanismo politics through Betances, Gregorio Luperon, Firmin, and other Caribbean intellectuals. They saw the future of the Greater Antilles best secured through a federation. And, like the Dominicans before them, Cubans and Puerto Ricans in Haiti after 1868 found support against Spain.  In fact, Dominicans in Haiti may have been a bridge of sorts between Haitians and Spanish-speakers from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Some of the Dominicans on the frontier who lived in Port-au-Prince, such as the wife of Gregorio de Noba, who was raised in the Haitian capital, would have been part of the small Spanish-speaking population in Haitian cities who could have acted as intermediaries between other Latin Americans and Haitians. 

Dr. Francisco Henriquez y Carvajal lived in Cap-Haitien for five years during the 1890s, eventually returning to the Dominican Republic after the assassination of Lilis. While in Haiti, he practiced medicine and maintained ties with Dominicans. 

Moving into the 20th century, the Dominican presence in Haiti continued but gradually shifted with the onset of US imperialism. The US, for instance, gradually transformed the bicultural borderlands, which was later finalized by the 1937 massacres of Haitians under Trujillo. Given the rising economic centralization of the Dominican Republic, fewer residents on the frontier would have needed to rely on access to Haitian markets for foreign imports. Moreover, the nature of Haitian immigration in the DR transformed as Haitian canecutters were needed in the east and south rather than the frontier. The rise of the Trujillo regime similarly transformed the regional power networks of caudillos who, in the past, had easy access to Haiti as a site of operations to launch revolts against national governments in Santo Domingo. Dominican political exiles continued to come to Haiti during the Trujillo regime, including leftists escaping political repression. Two of them, in fact, were involved with an attempt to organize HASCO workers, Benjamin Peguero La Paix (a Dominican "Negro") and Morales, a printer. Prior to the presence of Dominican communists, labor organizations from the east were also active in Port-au-Prince during the 1920s, perhaps suggesting some degree of transnational labor solidarity during the US Occupation. Peguero La Paix had been active among labor organizing in Santo Domingo before ending up in Haiti, and his surname itself may suggest Haitian origins (some Haitian artisans were active in Dominican towns since the 19th century).

Haitian novelist Jacques-Stephen Alexis was the son of a prominent Haitian writer and a mother of Dominican origin, Lydia Nuñez. According to Eric Sarner, Alexis's mother's landowning family came to Haiti in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps due to his Dominican background, Alexis was sympathetic to the plight of Dominican and Cuban prostitutes in Port-au-Prince (as well as the prospects for solidarity between the oppressed in Haiti and the DR). Indeed, it may have shaped the pan-Caribbean ethos of novel, L'espace d'un cillement, in which many characters have blended Caribbean backgrounds.

Furthermore, if the testimony of older Dominicans is worth anything, some Dominicans saw Haiti as more cosmopolitan and economically vibrant (until the 1930s, perhaps). Dominican prostitutes working in Port-au-Prince, a presence developed in the early decades of the 20th century, seems to have expand during the US Occupation. These women may have influenced popular music by introducing their American and Haitian clients to Dominican-style merengue. Haitians returning from the Dominican Republic also imbibed these musical influences, but Dominican sex workers, musicians, artists, and others participated. Dominican painter Xavier Amiama, who arrived in Port-au-Prince in the 1930s, also demonstrates the cultural interest some Dominicans held in Haiti's culture. Amiama, who collaborated with Haitian indigenist painters of the Centre d'Art, often depicted the nightlife of the Haitian capital and Vodou scenes, perhaps suggesting the need for a more nuanced perspective on Dominican conceptions of their western neighbor. A number of political, aesthetic, and familial links may explain the continued presence of Dominicans in Haiti from this era onward. In short, things are more complicated than just a cockfight.

Bibliography

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Averill, Gage. "Haitian Dance Bands, 1915-1970: Class, Race, and Authenticity." Latin American Music Review / Revista De Música Latinoamericana 10, no. 2 (1989): 203-35. 

Burnham, Thorald. Immigration and Marriage in the Making of Post-Independence Haiti, York University, 2006.

Camarena, Germán. Historia de la ciudad de Puerto Plata. Santo Domingo: Corripio, 2003.

Cheesman, Clive. The armorial of Haiti: symbols of nobility in the reign of Henry Chistophe. London: College of Arms, 2007.

Eller, Anne. We Dream Together: Dominican Independence, Haiti, and the Fight for Caribbean Freedom. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016.

Fumagalli, Maria Cristina. On the Edge: Writing the Border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2015.

Herrera R., Rafael Darío. Montecristi entre campeches y bananos. Santo Domingo: Academia Dominicana de la Historia, 2006.

Johnson, Sara E. The Fear of French Negroes: Transcolonial Collaboration in the Revolutionary Americas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

Lundius, Jan, and Mats Lundahl. Peasants and Religion: A Socioeconomic Study of Dios Olivorio and the Palma Sola Movement in the Dominican Republic. London ; New York: Routledge, 2000.

Matibag, Eugenio. Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State, and Race On Hispaniola. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Péan, Marc. L'illusion héroïque: 25 ans de vie capoise, 1890-1915. Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, 1977.

Turits, Richard Lee. "A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic." Hispanic American Historical Review 82, no. 3 (2002): 589-635.