Bobo, Rosalvo (?–1929)
Bobo, Rosalvo (?–1929)
Rosalvo Bobo (d. 1929), Haitian populist leader of the Cacos rebellion of 1915. On 28 July 1915, U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince in response to the orders of Admiral William B. Caperton to restore civil order following the death of President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. They were also to prevent Rosalvo Bobo, Sam's political opponent and critic of U.S. imperialism in Haiti, from assuming the presidency.
Bobo opposed the McDonald contract, an attempt by a U.S. company to build a railroad through northern Haiti that would have involved the seizure of Haitians' property through eminent domain. He was also against U.S. receivership of Haitian customs. Thus the United States blocked his election to the Haitian presidency in 1915, instead ensuring that of Philippe-Sudré Dartiguenave, a puppet ruler. Bobo fled to Cuba, then to Jamaica, and finally to France, where he died.
See alsoHaiti, Caco Revolts .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
James Leyburn, The Haitian People (1941).
Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti (1971).
David Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Colour and National Independence in Haiti (1979).
Thomas O. Ott