Haiti has had a revolt.
Haiti . In the midst of the French Revolution ( 1789 -- 1799 ) , slaves and free people of colour revolted in the Haitian Revolution ( 1791 -- 1804 ) , culminating in the abolition of slavery and the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte 's army at the Battle of Vertières . Afterward the sovereign nation of Haiti was established on 1 January 1804 the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean , the second republic in the Americas , the only nation in the western hemisphere to have defeated three European superpowers ( France , Spain , and the UK ) , and the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt . The Haitian Revolution lasted just over a dozen years ; and apart from Alexandre Pétion , the first President of the Republic , all the first leaders of government were former slaves . Most recently , in February 2004 , a coup d'état originating in the north of the country forced the resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .