Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is your host, Abby Martin. This is the audio of our show.

You can watch the episodes on our YouTube channel or at the Empirefiles.tv.

Major demonstrations continue to rock Haiti as protesters demand that U.S.-backed President Hovenal Moise step down from office.

On February 7th, his constitutional mandate to rule

ended, but instead of holding new elections or stepping down, he's just staying put. For almost two

years now, there have been daily mass protests demanding Moise step down over extreme corruption,

including the embezzlement of billions of dollars for social programs.

These demonstrations have been met with severe violence, many times with the assistance of occupying United Nations troops.

But while Haiti has drawn the attention of the world, it's a good time to revisit the history of not just how

Moise ended up in power, but how the American Empire has determined the destiny of the Haitian

people for generations. Haiti, once known as the crown jewel of the French Empire, was a center

of the slave trade. But in 1791, an unprecedented slave revolution

swept the island, driving out the French and then defeating the Spanish and British empires.

During this war for liberation, America's noble founding fathers jumped into the fray. People like

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,

and other slave-owning politicians rushed financial and political support to their slave-owning

counterparts in Haiti. Against all empires, the Haitian people were victorious, and in 1804

established the first ever free Black Republic.

In those early years of Haitian independence, the United States had barely started to become an empire.

In the late 19th and 20th century, after completing the vicious colonization of native land from coast to coast,

this baby empire took its first steps as a territorial empire.

In 1915, U.S. Marines invaded Haiti.

...