BETRAYAL LEADING TO THE ASSASSINATION OF JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES, FATHER OF THE NATION, HAS IT PLUNGED HAITI INTO A CURSE?
A crime against sovereignty 219 years ago, on October 17, 1806, Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines, founding father of the Haitian nation, fell under the bullets of those he considered his brothers in arms. Betrayed, cowardly assassinated, his only crime was to have liberated an entire people from colonial oppression.
By La Rédaction · Port-au-Prince · · 3 min read · Updated 24 April 2026
Translated from French — AI-assisted and reviewed by the editorial team. The French version is authoritative. Read the original · About our translation policy
A crime against sovereignty
219 years ago, on October 17, 1806, Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines, founding father of the Haitian nation, fell under the bullets of those he considered his brothers in arms.
Betrayed, cowardly assassinated, his only crime was to have liberated an entire people from colonial oppression.
Dessalines had broken the chains of the slave system and dreamed of a fairer distribution of national wealth.
This noble and audacious struggle cost him his life. A prophetic warning A revolutionary hero, Dessalines was committed to offering freedom, dignity, and justice to the descendants of Africa who became the Haitian people. A visionary, he had warned us: “If your attitudes of betrayal persist, you will know the fate of ungrateful peoples.” What then seemed like a simple warning resonates today as a persistent curse, deeply rooted in the national consciousness. The original wound Ingratitude towards Dessalines not only led to his death; it tore the very heart of Haiti, plunging the country into an endless fratricidal struggle and destroying the national unity he had forged in the fire of freedom.
His executioners, not content with having killed him, even refused him the funeral honors due to his rank as Emperor and Father of the Nation.
Abandoned in the street, his body was collected by Défilée and Dauphin, two beings said to be “mad,” but whose madness was the purest expression of patriotism.
They offered the fallen Emperor an improvised burial — a gesture of unparalleled moral grandeur. The long silence and rehabilitation For thirty-eight years (1806–1844), Dessalines' name was forbidden to be cited in Haiti.
This deliberate silence aimed to erase not only his memory but also the very soul of the Haitian Revolution. It was necessary to wait for Charles Rivière Hérard's presidency of Haiti for the honor of the Founding Father to be restored.
Through the proclamation of August 21, 1843, and his speech of January 1, 1844, Dessalines was rehabilitated and the flame of his legacy rekindled in the national consciousness. Under the presidency of Sténio Vincent, in 1930, a statue was erected at the Champ de Mars, 124 years after his assassination — a late but powerful symbol of recognition. Modern gestures of remembrance The rehabilitation effort continued in recent history.
Under the presidency of Michel Martelly and the government of Prime Minister Evans Paul, a mausoleum was inaugurated on October 17, 2015, in Pont Rouge, the very site of his assassination.
More recently, on June 18, 2022, a new statue was erected in Grande Rivière du Nord, his hometown, in homage to the Emperor. Dessalines, eternal guide Jean-Jacques Dessalines remains the living symbol of resistance, dignity, and sovereignty.
His unwavering courage and dedication to freedom constitute the very foundations of the Haitian nation. Today, more than ever, it is up to us to do justice to his legacy, to restore his greatness, and to rekindle the flame of patriotism.
Dessalines' fighting spirit must once again become the moral and political compass for all Action for the Common Good (ABC). Call to national consciousness Let us restore the prestige of Haiti, the first independent black nation, a universal beacon of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
May we be worthy of Dessalines' dream, so that his sacrifice is never in vain.
Betrayed, cowardly assassinated, his only crime was to have liberated an entire people from colonial oppression.
Dessalines had broken the chains of the slave system and dreamed of a fairer distribution of national wealth.
This noble and audacious struggle cost him his life. A prophetic warning A revolutionary hero, Dessalines was committed to offering freedom, dignity, and justice to the descendants of Africa who became the Haitian people. A visionary, he had warned us: “If your attitudes of betrayal persist, you will know the fate of ungrateful peoples.” What then seemed like a simple warning resonates today as a persistent curse, deeply rooted in the national consciousness. The original wound Ingratitude towards Dessalines not only led to his death; it tore the very heart of Haiti, plunging the country into an endless fratricidal struggle and destroying the national unity he had forged in the fire of freedom.
His executioners, not content with having killed him, even refused him the funeral honors due to his rank as Emperor and Father of the Nation.
Abandoned in the street, his body was collected by Défilée and Dauphin, two beings said to be “mad,” but whose madness was the purest expression of patriotism.
They offered the fallen Emperor an improvised burial — a gesture of unparalleled moral grandeur. The long silence and rehabilitation For thirty-eight years (1806–1844), Dessalines' name was forbidden to be cited in Haiti.
This deliberate silence aimed to erase not only his memory but also the very soul of the Haitian Revolution. It was necessary to wait for Charles Rivière Hérard's presidency of Haiti for the honor of the Founding Father to be restored.
Through the proclamation of August 21, 1843, and his speech of January 1, 1844, Dessalines was rehabilitated and the flame of his legacy rekindled in the national consciousness. Under the presidency of Sténio Vincent, in 1930, a statue was erected at the Champ de Mars, 124 years after his assassination — a late but powerful symbol of recognition. Modern gestures of remembrance The rehabilitation effort continued in recent history.
Under the presidency of Michel Martelly and the government of Prime Minister Evans Paul, a mausoleum was inaugurated on October 17, 2015, in Pont Rouge, the very site of his assassination.
More recently, on June 18, 2022, a new statue was erected in Grande Rivière du Nord, his hometown, in homage to the Emperor. Dessalines, eternal guide Jean-Jacques Dessalines remains the living symbol of resistance, dignity, and sovereignty.
His unwavering courage and dedication to freedom constitute the very foundations of the Haitian nation. Today, more than ever, it is up to us to do justice to his legacy, to restore his greatness, and to rekindle the flame of patriotism.
Dessalines' fighting spirit must once again become the moral and political compass for all Action for the Common Good (ABC). Call to national consciousness Let us restore the prestige of Haiti, the first independent black nation, a universal beacon of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
May we be worthy of Dessalines' dream, so that his sacrifice is never in vain.
