2021-KINAM MAGAZINE FEBRUARY - MARCH BOOK

HISTORY
KINAM MAGAZINE — FEBRUARY | MARCH 2021
Why this Dominican
dictator ordered the
execution of thousands
of Haitians in 1937,
and then kept it a secret
About 84 years ago, a massacre
on the border between Haiti
and the Dominican Republic led
to the deaths of tens of thousands
of Haitians, a tragedy felt by both
countries to date. The racially
motivated massacre became
known as the Parsley Massacre as
Dominican soldiers who carried
out the executions held a sprig of
parsley and would ask people they
suspect of being Haitians to pronounce
the Spanish word for it:
“perejil”.
Those who had their first language
being Haitian Creole found
it hard to pronounce the word correctly,
and this led to their deaths.
Historians say about 20,000 Haitians
were killed in the Dominican
Republic during the Parsley
Massacre of October 1937. Even
Dominicans who looked dark
enough to be Haitian were not
spared. And these executions were
carried out thanks to Dominican
dictator Rafael Trujillo.
Seizing power in a military revolt
in 1930, he would rule the Do-
minican Republic for more than
30 years in what is seen as one
of the most brutal periods in
the history of the Caribbean
nation. Remaining in absolute
control of the Dominican Republic
through his command of
the army, anyone who dared to
oppose him was either imprisoned
or killed. But he helped modernize
the Caribbean nation
and ensure economic
prosperity
for many while at
the same time
working to keep
his numerous heinous
crimes secret,
including
the killing of the
thousands of
Haitians on the
border dividing
the island of
Hispaniola between
Haiti and
the Dominican
Republic.
Born Rafael
— 45 —