Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a heart surgeon led a team of surgeons to Haiti this week to treat hundreds of seriously injured Haitians.

January 20, 2010 – American aid is pouring into Haiti. One Christian group is sending audio solar-powered Bibles into Haiti to bring spiritual hope to the victims of a terrible earthquake last week.

And, on Monday, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) brought a team of Christian surgeons with him to begin treating hundreds of seriously injured men, women and children. Dr. Frist, a heart surgeon, was there on behalf of Samaritan’s Purse, founded by Franklin Graham. Fox News ran a brief feature on Frist’s efforts on Monday evening: YouTube - TVC2006's Channel.

Christians like Dr. Frist and others are ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of the Haitian people in a land that has been bathed in spiritual darkness, violence and political corruption for hundreds of years.

A 6.1 aftershock hit Haiti today, causing more terror in a nation already suffering from a 7.0 quake last week.

An estimated 200,000 Haitians are already dead from the terrible earthquake that hit the island nation last week. Thousands are homeless and hundreds are seriously injured.

Spiritual & Political Darkness In Haiti

Haiti became a French colony in 1697 when Spain ceded the western part of the island then known as “Hispaniola.” The Spanish part of the island was the Dominican Republic.

France turned Haiti into one of its most profitable New World ventures – but it was done on the backs of hundreds of thousands of African slaves brought to the island nation. By 1789, Haiti had an estimated 500,000 slaves.

Between 1791-1804, Haitian slaves began revolting against their slavemasters. In 1804, Haiti became independent of France under former slave named Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Dessalines was killed while trying to suppress a mulatto revolt against his government and Henry Christophe took over. A civil war then broke out between Christophe and Alexandre Sabes Petion.

Christophe declared himself King Henry 1 of Haiti in 1811 but committed suicide in 1820 as mutinous soldiers assaulted his palace and were on the verge of killing him.

Jean-Pierre Boyer succeeded Christophe and in 1822 invaded Santo Domingo and took over the Dominican Republic. The Haitian invaders were eventually expelled in 1844.

Between 1843 and 1915, Haiti had 20 different rulers. Sixteen of them were overthrown by revolution or were assassinated.

In 1915, the United States invaded Haiti with a contingent of Marines and attempted to provide stability to the country until 1934. The U.S. invaded the country after a Port-au-Prince mob tore President Vibrun Guillaume Sam’s body to pieces in front of the French Embassy.

The occupation of Haiti by U.S. Marines proved to be a great benefit to the nation. During the occupation, Americans improved Haiti’s infrastructure by constructing roads, building bridges, building lighthouses, schools, and hospitals. Public health improved as well in the fight against malaria and other tropical diseases. While Marines left in 1934, America kept fiscal control over Haiti until 1947.

Between 1934 and 1957, the nation experienced relative calm. This changed in 1957 with the election of Papa Doc Duvalier, a practitioner of Voodoo and a man prone to killing his political enemies. In 1964, Duvalier declared himself president-for-life with the help of his vicious militia known as the Ton Ton Macoutes (Haitian Creole for “bogeyman”). It was modeled after the Italian fascist Blackshirts. They wore military uniforms, dark glasses and carried machetes. Their enemies were tortured and often hung in public places as a warning to opponents of Duvalier.

Duvalier died in 1971 and is succeeded by his son, known as Baby Doc Duvalier, who was just as violent and corrupt as his father.

Baby Doc ruled Haiti until 1986 when he fled the country to France and was replaced by Lieutenant-General Henri Namphy. 

During Baby Doc’s 31-year reign of terror, it is estimated that his Ton Ton Macoutes and his government murdered 60,000 people.

Aristide and Preval

One of the most notorious rulers of Haiti was John-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic Priest and practitioner of Voodoo. Aristide was also an advocate of Marxist liberation theology.

Aristide came to power in Haiti in 1991 amid widespread violence at the polls. Within months after he was in office, former Duvalier supporters – members of the Ton Ton Macoutes – tried to overthrow his government. At least 37 people died in the violence.

Aristide was overthrown in a military coup in October 1991 – eight months after his election. The military leaders claimed that Aristide had drawn up an enemies list of military officers and legislators and was planning on killing all of them. He was apparently going to form his own militia – loyal only to him.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton sent in U.S. troops to put Aristide back into office.

In 1995, Rene Preval (current head of Haiti) was elected President. He was re-elected in 2006 to a five-year term.

Preval was Aristide’s first prime minister. One of Preval’s first duties as prime minister was to tighten relationships with Fidel Castro. Preval said his visit to Cuba with Castro was characterized by “fraternal and intense talks.”

Aristide was re-elected in 2000 but fled into exile in 2004 after being pressured by foreign governments and an internal rebellion that left more than 100 dead. In March, 2004, U.S. Marines and French troops secured the capital in an attempt to restore order.

Aristide was an anti-American Marxist who approved of the practice of “necklacing” political enemies. Necklacing involves hacking off the hands and feet of an opponent with a machete, then pushing the person inside a tire. The tire is then doused with gasoline and the person dies a hideous death. According to Aristide: “What a nice tool! [Necklacing] What a nice instrument! [Loud cheers from crowd.] What a nice device! [The crowd cheers.] It is a pretty one. It is elegant, attractive, splendorous, graceful, and dazzling. It smells good. Wherever you go, you feel like smelling it. [The crowd cheers.] It is provided for by the Constitution, which bans macoutes from the political scene....”

Rene Preval doesn’t seem to have the same record of violence that Aristide had, but his election in 2006 was fraught with voter fraud. A U.N. peacekeeping force has remained in Haiti to maintain stability.

In 2008, Haiti was rocked by rioting over food prices. Streets were blocked by burning tires and torched cars. Riots attempted to burn down a U.N. compound and left five people dead. They also demanded that the 9,000 U.N. forces leave Haiti.The rioters blamed the U.N. troops for skyrocketing food prices.

In fact, thousands of containers of food rotted at Haitian ports due to a corrupt port system. Much food is donated through private charities and through the United Nations. Often, this donated food rots at the ports due to delays in transportation shipment or because of the outrageous fees private charities are forced to pay. Merchants shipping food and other materials into Haiti are expected to pay bribes to port officials to make the fees go away. (“Haitian port stalls as tons of food spoil,” Oakland Tribune, March 7, 2008)

While Haiti is a nation in spiritual darkness and political corruption with Voodoo being the dominate religion, there are exciting things happening there as Christians reach out to the hurting Haitian people. Haiti needs more than food, water, and medical help. It needs true biblical Christianity.

Aid to this nation should be funneled through groups like Samaritan’s Purse the American Red Cross or your local church to make certain the money is not siphoned off by corrupt bureaucrats.