Refounding Haiti in the Spirit of Vertières
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
After the successive victories of the indigenous troops from Ravine-à-Couleuvre (February 23, 1802) to the heroic resistance of Crête-à-Pierrot (March 4-24, 1802), the decisive meeting at Camp-Gérard and the Congress of Arcahaie, the old and new freedmen rallied around Generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Anne-Alexandre Sabbès, known as Pétion. Together, they led the ultimate phase of the struggle for independence.
Their strategic objective then focused on Vertières, the last bastion of the expeditionary forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to re-establish slavery, in Haiti as in all French colonies. It was there, at Vertières, that Napoleon suffered one of his most bitter defeats, long before the debacle of the Iberian Peninsula, the retreat from Russia, and the collapse at Waterloo.
From then on, a question arises: can we not today refound Haiti in the spirit of Vertières? This Tuesday, November 18, 2025, will mark the 222nd anniversary of this major event in our collective history: the Battle of Vertières. On these heights of Cap, the spirit of liberty, fraternity, courage, dignity, determination, and unity that guided our heroes to victory was magnified. This date brings us back to the imperishable memory of these intrepid soldiers, among whom were François Cappoix, known as Capois-la-Mort, André Vernet, Henri Christophe, Philippe Guerrier, Jean-Philippe Daut, Paul Prompt, Louis Gabart, Paul Romain, Augustin Clervaux, and so many others whose sacrifice ensured the triumph of the cause of liberty against the Leclerc expedition. The feat of November 18 was not only a military victory for the colony of Saint-Domingue, which three months later became the first sovereign Black state in the New World. It primarily embodied a new beginning, a rebirth founded on hope, collective commitment, and the certainty that Haitians could shape their own destiny. Today, this November 18 must not only remain the memory of a glorious past. This date must, more than ever, remind us of the urgency to preserve our national unity in order to build a viable future for generations to come. At a time when our country is going through an unprecedented multidimensional crisis, marked by protean insecurity, an erosion of the social fabric, and a chronic sovereignty deficit, the spirit of Vertières remains an essential source of inspiration. When Dessalines and Geffrard met at Camp-Gérard, in the plain of Les Cayes, the former urged the officers and soldiers of the South to overcome the resentments inherited from the civil war and to unite their forces to end French domination. They did so, and this union led to November 18, 1803, November 29, 1803, and then January 1, 1804. Even today, in this same spirit of overcoming, courage, and historical responsibility, we are called to reweave broken ties, to reconnect with the common ideal, and to work, together, for the refounding of our Haiti, this country which remains, despite everything, dear to each and every one of us. Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet
Their strategic objective then focused on Vertières, the last bastion of the expeditionary forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to re-establish slavery, in Haiti as in all French colonies. It was there, at Vertières, that Napoleon suffered one of his most bitter defeats, long before the debacle of the Iberian Peninsula, the retreat from Russia, and the collapse at Waterloo.
From then on, a question arises: can we not today refound Haiti in the spirit of Vertières? This Tuesday, November 18, 2025, will mark the 222nd anniversary of this major event in our collective history: the Battle of Vertières. On these heights of Cap, the spirit of liberty, fraternity, courage, dignity, determination, and unity that guided our heroes to victory was magnified. This date brings us back to the imperishable memory of these intrepid soldiers, among whom were François Cappoix, known as Capois-la-Mort, André Vernet, Henri Christophe, Philippe Guerrier, Jean-Philippe Daut, Paul Prompt, Louis Gabart, Paul Romain, Augustin Clervaux, and so many others whose sacrifice ensured the triumph of the cause of liberty against the Leclerc expedition. The feat of November 18 was not only a military victory for the colony of Saint-Domingue, which three months later became the first sovereign Black state in the New World. It primarily embodied a new beginning, a rebirth founded on hope, collective commitment, and the certainty that Haitians could shape their own destiny. Today, this November 18 must not only remain the memory of a glorious past. This date must, more than ever, remind us of the urgency to preserve our national unity in order to build a viable future for generations to come. At a time when our country is going through an unprecedented multidimensional crisis, marked by protean insecurity, an erosion of the social fabric, and a chronic sovereignty deficit, the spirit of Vertières remains an essential source of inspiration. When Dessalines and Geffrard met at Camp-Gérard, in the plain of Les Cayes, the former urged the officers and soldiers of the South to overcome the resentments inherited from the civil war and to unite their forces to end French domination. They did so, and this union led to November 18, 1803, November 29, 1803, and then January 1, 1804. Even today, in this same spirit of overcoming, courage, and historical responsibility, we are called to reweave broken ties, to reconnect with the common ideal, and to work, together, for the refounding of our Haiti, this country which remains, despite everything, dear to each and every one of us. Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet
