Péralte, Charlemagne Masséna

PÉRALTE, CHARLEMAGNE MASSÉNA (10 October 1886–1 November 1919), Haitian nationalist who led the Caco resistance against the US occupation of Haiti, which began in 1915. Cacos—a name that recalled the rural troops that took part in the Haitian Revolution of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries—were the rebel warriors led by Péralte against the United States Marines, who had been sent to Haiti to eliminate his insurrection during a May 1919 covert operation that included early instances of counter-guerrilla tactics and warfare. On the night of October 31, 1919, Péralte was betrayed by one of his officers, who led two American soldiers to his camp, where he was assassinated. The soldiers shot him at close range in the heart, then strapped his body to a mule so that they could bring it back to the city of Le Cap and display it as a deterrent. To further quell the resistance, a US Marine photographer took a photograph of Péralte’s body propped up against a wall, his arms spread down and out, wearing nothing but a loincloth, as if crucified. The photograph was circulated in hopes of stifling the resistance. Instead, the image became an iconic depiction of Péralte as a Black martyr. In it, he appears Christ-like; his head rests against the Haitian flag, and a crucifix is seen attached to the pole above him. Ultimately, the photograph remains one of the most recognizable in Haitian history, and it exists today as a powerful record of the US occupation of Haiti, ironically produced by the very government that it continues to undermine.