Levantine (Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian) Haitians: arrived from the mid-1800s, mostly Ottoman subjects, more during WWI; started as traveling merchants (US diplomat…

SUMMARYLevantine (Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian) Haitians: arrived from the mid-1800s, mostly Ottoman subjects, more during WWI; started as traveling merchants (US diplomat W. F. Powell, 1903: about 15,000 "Syrians," on "every road in the Republic"); "Syrian peril" / "Haiti for Haitians" press campaign and 1904 anti-Syrian riots; today 500,000-1 million Haitians with some Levantine ancestry, mostly integrated, many Black Haitians. Economic elite: a few wealthy families of Levantine background at the top (e.g., Gilbert Bigio). December 2022: Canada sanctioned Gilbert Bigio, Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah (asset freezes) over alleged financial support for Haitian gangs; they deny it. Record. CODE

NOTEnamed by specific alleged actions and documented sanctions, not by ethnicity. Lens: whoever controls the ports controls Haiti (Spain's ports -> France's -> 1915-34 US customs -> today's import oligarchy) = Pattern.