Haiti has a strong presence in Cuba, dating back to the late 1790′s after the Haitian revolution, when many French moved to Cuba and took the kidnapped Africans with them.  From this wave we get the Tumba Francesa and the Haitian roots music in Cuba.   Haitian tradition contains a strong strain of Dahomey and Congo, both of which are present in Cuba.  Haitian Rada is Cuban Arara, the Dahomey tradition.

More recently, Cuba is perhaps the only country to have welcomed so many Haitians fleeing the persecution of the Generals and their savage regime.  There are reportedly over 300,000 recent arrivals in Cuba.  And Creole, which is still spoken by descendants of the earlier waves, is Cuba’s second language, with a Creole radio station in Havana.  There are a number of Haitian roots groups playing in Cuba, including Ban Rrarra and Desandann.

Today, Cuba has several viable Haitian cultural organizations, including Bannzil Kreyol Kiba described in the article below by Susana Hurlich.

Cuba y Haití: Aún más próximas Portal Cultural Principe, 03-04-2004

Source: AfroCubaWeb.Com

By Max A. Joseph, Jr

It is patently absurd for anyone to think that Haiti, a country with a non-existent industrial base and a primitive political structure, can be assimilated within the global economy without the social dislocations that are tailor-made for revolutions. Truth be told, those who persist in taking this course are either guilty of shortsightedness or blatantly engaging in the willful destruction of the country.

I have read the U.N Charter, and nowhere does it stipulate that a sovereign country has to belong to the organization. As things stand now, it is embarrassing or inappropriate for a powerless little country like Haiti to be in it, since its basic rights as a member were arbitrarily revoked under the Security Council Resolution 1529.

Appropriately, the best course of action for Haiti is to withdraw from the U.N and establish bilateral relations with friendly countries. While such course of action does not guarantee prosperity and stability, it will however spare Haiti the ignominies associated with being a member of the United Nations. Case in point Chapter 1, Article 2(7) states that “Nothing in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter”, yet the Security Council, exercising its absolute power as guarantor of peace and security in the world, mandated the occupation of Haiti on February 29 2004.

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