Parsley massacre

The Parsley Massacre
Date October 1937 Location Rio Artibonito and surrounding borderlands. Result $750,000 in reparations to Haiti sought, $525,000 paid.
Belligerents
Dominican Republic	Republic of Haiti
Commanders and leaders
Rafael Trujillo
Casualties and losses
17,000 to 35,000 Haitian civilians dead.

In October 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina ordered the execution of the Haitian population living within the borderlands with Haiti. The violence resulted in the killing of 17,000 to 35,000 Haitian civilians over a span of approximately five days. This would later become known as the Parsley Massacre.

Events

Trujillo had made his actions for the Haitian community clear in a short speech given at a dance held in his honor on October 2, 1937 in Dajabón, stating:

“

For some months, I have traveled and traversed the frontier in every sense of the word. I have seen, investigated, and inquired about the needs of the population. To the Dominicans who were complaining of the depredations by Haitians living among them, thefts of cattle, provisions, fruits, etc., and were thus prevented from enjoying in peace the products of their labor, I have responded, ‘I will fix this.’ And we have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians are now dead in Bánica. This remedy will continue.

”