The Republic of Haiti is a Caribbean state with a population of approximately 9 million people. It occupies the Western part of the island of Hispaniola, next to the Dominican Republic. A former colony, Haiti is a nation born of a slave revolt: it gained its independence from France as a result of the prolonged uprising of it’s nearly half million slaves, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture in the late 18th century. In 1804, it became the first black republic to declare independence, but post‐ independence Haiti has been plagued by political instability, oppression, and violence. Haitians have lived under many despotic governments, beginning with the dictatorships of the early 1800s, and there have been over thirty coups in its roughly 200‐ year history, the latest being the ousting of then‐President Jean‐Bertrand Aristide in 2004. An armed rebellion led to his resignation and exile