Haitian Politician Quotes

François Duvalier
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
René Préval
Henri Christophe

The people do not buy liberty and democracy at the market.

They have sent me to France destitute of everything; they have seized my property and my papers, and have spread atrocious calumnies concerning me. Is it not like cutting off a man's legs and telling him to walk? Is it not like cutting out a man's tongue and telling him to talk? Is it not burying a man alive?

We have dared to be free—let us continue free by ourselves, and for ourselves; let us imitate the growing child; his own strength breaks his leading-strings, which become useless and troublesome to him in his walk. What are the people who have fought us? What people would reap the fruits of our labors? And what a dishonorable absurdity, to conquer to be slaves!

Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Communism has established centres of infection... No area in the world is as vital to American security as the Caribbean... We need a massive injection of money to reset the country on its feet, and this injection can come only from our great, capable friend and neighbor the United States.

François Duvalier
François Duvalier
The drug trade does not function well with a strong state, or a healthy state. It tries to corrupt the police force, it tries to corrupt the judiciary, and the executive. And drug trafficking thrives in a weak state.

René Préval
René Préval
Nothing short of absolute independence in both government and commerce will satisfy us. This we shall have or cease to live.

Henri Christophe
Henri Christophe