Yaguana

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ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL OF XARAGUA

SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

OFFICE OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE

UNIVERSITY OF XARAGUA

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL DECREE

ON THE HISTORICAL CLASSIFICATION, INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL CONTINUITY, CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS, ORGANIC JURISDICTION, INSTITUTIONAL COMPETENCES, AND PERMANENT DESIGNATION OF YAGUANA–LÉOGÂNE AS THE ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL OF THE SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

Official Reference: SCIPS-X/ORP/ANC-YAG/2025-05-10

Date of Promulgation: 10 May 2025

Place of Promulgation: Miragoâne, Constitutional Capital of Xaragua

Promulgating Authority: Office of the Rector-President

Archival Depositary: General Archives of the State

Legal Classification: Supreme Constitutional Instrument — Ancestral Capital Act — Indigenous Territorial Continuity Law — Historical Government Classification Act — Organic Law of Ancestral State Institutions

Normative Rank: Entrenched Constitutional Instrument of Territorial Organization

Institutional Status: Permanent — Constitutionally Entrenched — Directly Applicable — Binding upon All Authorities, Officers, Institutions, Registers, and Jurisdictions of Xaragua

Territorial Subject: Yaguana — Present-Day Léogâne — Plain of Léogâne — Coastal, Agricultural, Mountain, River, and Communications Systems of the Eastern Region of the Palmes

Constitutional Function: Ancestral Constitutional Capital — Historical Seat of the Pre-Columbian Government of Xaragua — Principal Jurisdiction for Indigenous State Continuity, Historical Government Archives, Territorial Classification, Constitutional Protocol, Archaeological Administration, and Institutional Research

PREAMBLE

The Rector-President of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua,

Exercising the constituent, constitutional, executive, territorial, institutional, academic, regulatory, and archival authority vested in the Office of the Rector-President;

Acting pursuant to the Constitution, foundational acts, territorial laws, historical-classification statutes, organic laws, and institutional instruments of Xaragua;

Recognizing that the territory presently identified as Léogâne formed part of the inhabited, cultivated, administered, defended, and interconnected Indigenous geography of Ayiti–Bohío–Quisqueya before the commencement of European colonial intervention in 1492;

Recognizing Yaguana as the principal governmental seat historically associated with the political and territorial order of Xaragua;

Taking institutional notice of the authority exercised through Bohechío, Anacaona, subordinate caciques, community authorities, agricultural jurisdictions, systems of redistribution, maritime and terrestrial communications, political alliances, and collective obligations;

Recognizing Bohechío as a principal ruler of Xaragua during the final period of autonomous Indigenous government preceding the imposition of direct Spanish colonial administration;

Recognizing Anacaona as the successor to the supreme authority of Xaragua following the death of Bohechío and as a governing officeholder whose authority formed part of the institutional history of Yaguana;

Taking institutional notice of the marriage between Anacaona and Caonabo of Maguana as an interterritorial political alliance between two distinct Indigenous governmental systems;

Recording the destruction of the autonomous governing institutions of Xaragua by Spanish colonial authorities, including the seizure and killing of Anacaona and other Indigenous authorities during the government of Nicolás de Ovando, the suppression of the political assembly of Xaragua, the imposition of tribute and compulsory labor, the appropriation of territory, the displacement of populations, and the replacement of Indigenous jurisdictions by colonial institutions;

Recognizing that the destruction of the governing apparatus of Xaragua did not extinguish the prior existence of that government, the territorial identity of Yaguana, the historical record of its authorities, the Indigenous-derived nomenclature of the jurisdiction, or the continuing constitutional relevance of the territory;

Taking institutional notice of the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the French colonial administration of Saint-Domingue and of the development of Léogâne as a colonial parish, agricultural district, market jurisdiction, military position, communications center, and coastal outlet;

Recording the incorporation of the Léogâne plain into the plantation and slaveholding economy of Saint-Domingue, including land appropriation, compulsory labor, plantation production, commercial regulation, taxation, and the circulation of agricultural commodities;

Recognizing the participation of enslaved Africans and their descendants, free persons of color, maroons, soldiers, cultivators, artisans, transport workers, and local communities in the destruction of slavery and colonial government;

Taking institutional notice of the strategic position of Léogâne during the Haitian Revolution, the War of the South, the French expedition of 1802, the final War of Independence, and the establishment of the independent State in 1804;

Recognizing the successive incorporation of Léogâne into the imperial government established under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the southern and western republic organized after 1806, the reunified national administration completed under Jean-Pierre Boyer, and the subsequent constitutional and administrative systems of the nineteenth century;

Taking institutional notice of the municipal, judicial, military, agricultural, commercial, educational, religious, transportation, and regional functions exercised by Léogâne throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries;

Recording the incorporation of Léogâne into the centralized financial, military, policing, infrastructure, and territorial systems imposed during the United States occupation from 1915 to 1934;

Recognizing the continuing position of Léogâne as a principal agricultural and territorial jurisdiction of the Region of the Palmes and as a strategic point of communication connecting the Port-au-Prince area, the Gulf of Gonâve, the southern peninsula, the Massif de la Selle, and the Grand South;

Taking permanent institutional notice of the destruction sustained by Léogâne during the earthquake of 12 January 2010 and of the resulting requirements concerning seismic regulation, public construction, emergency administration, infrastructure redundancy, archival protection, and continuity of government;

Determining that Yaguana–Léogâne constitutes the historical territorial seat from which the name and pre-Columbian governmental identity of Xaragua are institutionally derived;

Determining that the constitutional preservation of Yaguana requires a permanent juridical status distinct from ordinary municipal, departmental, regional, academic, cultural, or commemorative classifications;

Establishing a formal distinction between the central governmental functions assigned to Miragoâne and the ancestral constitutional functions assigned to Yaguana–Léogâne;

Hereby adopts and promulgates the present Supreme Constitutional Decree.

TITLE I — CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF YAGUANA

Article 1 — Permanent Ancestral Constitutional Capital

Yaguana, corresponding to present-day Léogâne and its historically associated territorial system, is hereby constituted, designated, and confirmed as the permanent Ancestral Constitutional Capital of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua.

This designation constitutes a supreme territorial classification within the constitutional order of Xaragua.

Article 2 — Legal Effects of the Designation

The designation established by Article 1 determines:

the constitutional status of Yaguana;

its position within the territorial hierarchy of Xaragua;

its institutional relationship with Miragoâne;

its competence in matters of historical government, Indigenous territorial records, archaeology, archives, constitutional protocol, and institutional research;

the territorial attribution of authorities and institutions assigned to the Ancestral Capital;

the establishment of a permanent Ancestral Capital Register;

the application of the implementing and continuity provisions contained in this Decree.

Article 3 — Official Constitutional Formula

The complete official designation shall be:

YAGUANA–LÉOGÂNE — ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL OF THE SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

The abbreviated official designation shall be:

YAGUANA — ANCESTRAL CAPITAL OF XARAGUA

The Haitian Creole designation may be rendered as:

YAGWANA–LEYOGÀN — KAPITAL KONSTITISYONÈL ZANSÈT XARAGUA

Article 4 — Scope of Ancestral-Capital Status

The status established by this Decree is:

constitutional;

territorial;

governmental;

institutional;

historical;

archival;

archaeological;

academic;

representational;

protocolary.

It shall not be reduced to a cultural, literary, honorary, municipal, symbolic, or commemorative designation.

Article 5 — Historical Seat of Government

Yaguana is constitutionally classified as the principal historical seat associated with the supreme pre-Columbian political authority of Xaragua.

Its status is founded upon its documented relationship with:

the government of Bohechío;

the government of Anacaona;

the political organization of Xaragua;

the administration of communities and territories;

the coordination of agricultural production and redistribution;

the maintenance of interterritorial relations;

the reception of external representatives;

the exercise of political assembly and collective decision-making;

the preservation of governmental and genealogical continuity.

Article 6 — Permanence

The ancestral-capital status of Yaguana is permanent.

The destruction, interruption, displacement, replacement, or reorganization of governing institutions during successive historical periods shall not alter the constitutional classification established by this Decree.

TITLE II — CAPITAL HIERARCHY AND UNITY OF GOVERNMENT

Article 7 — Constitutional Capital

Miragoâne shall remain the permanent Constitutional Capital of Xaragua and the principal seat of:

the Rector-President;

the central Government;

the Supreme Constitutional Authority;

the General Archives of the State;

the supreme system of promulgation;

the central financial institutions;

the principal academic authority;

the supreme governmental registers;

the central continuity-of-government system.

Article 8 — Ancestral Constitutional Capital

Yaguana–Léogâne shall remain the permanent Ancestral Constitutional Capital and principal jurisdiction for:

the historical governmental record of pre-Columbian Xaragua;

the institutional classification of Bohechío and Anacaona;

the territorial record of the Indigenous government of Xaragua;

the Ancestral Capital Register;

Indigenous historical and archaeological administration;

constitutional protocol concerning the foundation and continuity of the State;

the Yaguana Division of the General Archives;

the Ça-Ira Campus of the University of Xaragua;

such additional institutions as may be assigned by constitutional law.

Article 9 — Allocation of Capital Functions

The constitutional allocation of capital functions is established as follows:

MIRAGOÂNE: central government, supreme promulgation, executive command, financial administration, central archives, constitutional supervision, and continuity of government.

YAGUANA–LÉOGÂNE: ancestral constitutional jurisdiction, historical government archives, Indigenous territorial classification, archaeological administration, academic research, state protocol, and preservation of the original political identity of Xaragua.

Article 10 — Unity of State Authority

Miragoâne and Yaguana shall exercise distinct functions within one constitutional order.

The ancestral-capital status of Yaguana shall not:

divide the central Government;

establish a competing executive authority;

transfer the seat of the Rector-President;

modify the place of supreme promulgation;

create a separate constitutional order;

diminish the status of Miragoâne.

The constitutional status of Miragoâne shall not extinguish, subordinate to ordinary administration, or render inoperative the ancestral-capital status of Yaguana.

Article 11 — Hierarchical Coordination

Every authority operating within Yaguana shall derive its competence from the Constitution, this Decree, an organic law, a rectoral decree, or an implementing instrument.

All authorities assigned to Yaguana shall remain subject to the supreme constitutional authority of the Rector-President.

TITLE III — PRE-COLUMBIAN TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT

Article 12 — Prior Indigenous Occupation

Before 1492, the territory now identified as Léogâne formed part of an established Indigenous territorial and political system.

The territorial record shall include:

permanent and seasonal settlements;

cultivated lands;

fisheries and coastal-resource zones;

rivers, springs, wetlands, and freshwater systems;

hunting and collection areas;

canoe routes;

inland communications;

agricultural-production zones;

local jurisdictions;

defensive positions;

political assembly sites;

systems of production, redistribution, kinship, and collective obligation.

Article 13 — Political Order of Xaragua

Xaragua constituted one of the principal Indigenous political-territorial orders recorded in Hispaniola at the end of the fifteenth century.

Its governmental structure comprised:

supreme cacical authority;

subordinate and local authorities;

community jurisdictions;

kinship-based succession and political relations;

organized agricultural production;

collection and redistribution of goods;

diplomatic relations;

interterritorial alliances;

maritime and overland communications;

territorial defense;

customary rules governing collective obligations.

These functions are constitutionally classified as components of organized Indigenous government.

Article 14 — Governmental Functions of Yaguana

Yaguana exercised functions associated with:

the residence of the principal political authority;

the direction of subordinate authorities;

the reception of representatives;

the coordination of territorial obligations;

the collection and redistribution of production;

the maintenance of alliances;

the organization of political assemblies;

the communication of decisions;

the administration of relations among constituent communities;

the preservation of political succession.

Yaguana is accordingly classified as an ancestral governmental capital and not merely as an Indigenous settlement.

Article 15 — Government of Bohechío

Bohechío is entered into the State Historical Register as a principal ruler of Xaragua during the final period of autonomous Indigenous government preceding direct Spanish colonial administration.

The official record shall document:

his governmental authority;

the territorial organization of Xaragua;

relations with subordinate communities;

relations with neighboring political systems;

the initial imposition of Spanish tribute;

the institutional effects of colonial pressure;

the succession of Anacaona.

Article 16 — Government of Anacaona

Anacaona is entered into the constitutional, governmental, and historical registers of Xaragua as:

a member of the governing line of Xaragua;

the sister of Bohechío;

the spouse of Caonabo of Maguana;

a participant in interterritorial relations;

the successor to the principal authority of Xaragua following the death of Bohechío;

the governing authority seized and killed during the suppression of Xaragua by the Spanish colonial administration.

Her legal classification within Xaragua shall be that of an Indigenous governing authority.

Her status shall not be confined to cultural, artistic, literary, folkloric, or commemorative representation.

Article 17 — Relations with Maguana

The marriage between Anacaona and Caonabo shall be entered into the State Historical Register as a political and dynastic relationship between Xaragua and Maguana.

It shall not be interpreted as the merger of the two political systems or the extinction of their distinct territorial identities.

Article 18 — Interterritorial Order

Relations among Xaragua, Maguana, Marién, Maguá, Higüey, and their constituent communities shall be recorded as relations among distinct Indigenous political-territorial systems.

The historical record shall address:

kinship;

marriage;

trade;

maritime navigation;

diplomatic exchange;

military alliance;

conflict;

population movement;

territorial boundaries;

relations among local authorities.

Article 19 — Indigenous Institutional Priority

The pre-Columbian government of Xaragua is constitutionally classified as the earliest organized territorial authority applicable to Yaguana.

Spanish, French, Haitian, occupation, departmental, arrondissement, communal, and municipal systems constitute subsequent administrative layers.

They shall not be classified by the institutions of Xaragua as the original source of political organization, territorial occupation, public authority, or institutional life within Yaguana.

TITLE IV — SPANISH COLONIAL DISPLACEMENT

Article 20 — Commencement of Colonial Intervention

The arrival of Spanish forces and authorities after 1492 initiated the external military, political, economic, territorial, and religious reorganization of the Indigenous jurisdictions of Hispaniola.

The colonial system introduced:

royal claims of sovereignty;

military coercion;

compulsory tribute;

forced labor;

land appropriation;

control of agricultural production;

missionary administration;

suppression of autonomous Indigenous authorities;

replacement of Indigenous jurisdictions;

colonial population classifications.

Article 21 — Imposition upon Xaragua

Spanish authorities progressively subjected Xaragua to tribute, political supervision, labor requirements, territorial intervention, and colonial regulation.

This process affected:

the competence of the cacical authority;

the allocation of labor;

the distribution of agricultural production;

relations among communities;

control of land and resources;

diplomatic relations;

governmental succession;

the exercise of territorial jurisdiction.

Article 22 — Suppression of the Government of Xaragua

During the administration of Nicolás de Ovando, Anacaona and other Indigenous authorities were assembled, seized, and killed in the course of the suppression of the remaining autonomous government of Xaragua.

For purposes of the constitutional and historical order of Xaragua, these acts are classified as:

removal of the governing authority;

destruction of a political assembly;

termination of autonomous territorial administration by colonial force;

seizure of the governmental seat of Yaguana;

replacement of Indigenous authority by Spanish colonial administration;

institutional destruction of the governing order of Xaragua.

The General Archives shall maintain the documented chronology of these events within the historical period of 1503–1504.

Article 23 — Colonial Administrative Replacement

Following the suppression of the principal government, Spanish authorities subjected the territory to:

encomienda;

tribute collection;

compulsory labor;

missionary supervision;

population concentration and displacement;

colonial land distribution;

agricultural and mineral extraction;

political surveillance;

replacement of Indigenous offices;

replacement of Indigenous territorial classifications.

Article 24 — Demographic Reorganization

Warfare, forced labor, epidemic disease, displacement, malnutrition, and disruption of Indigenous production caused a major demographic reduction.

The State shall document continuing Indigenous transmission through:

surviving persons and communities;

descendant populations;

incorporation into African and mixed rural communities;

family transmission;

agricultural and medicinal knowledge;

Indigenous-derived place names;

food systems;

material practices;

territorial routes;

continued occupation and use.

Article 25 — Toponymic Continuity

The forms Yaguana, Yagwana, Yaguane, Léogâne, Leyogàn, and other documented historical variants shall be entered into the National Toponymic Register.

Their transmission across Indigenous, Spanish, French, and Haitian periods shall constitute part of the official territorial record.

TITLE V — FRENCH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 26 — Incorporation into Saint-Domingue

Following the establishment and consolidation of French authority in western Hispaniola, the territory of Yaguana was incorporated into the colonial administration of Saint-Domingue.

The Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 formed part of the intercolonial framework through which Spain recognized French possession in the western part of Hispaniola.

Article 27 — Colonial Jurisdiction

Léogâne was subjected to French colonial institutions regulating:

territorial concessions;

plantation property;

slavery;

parish administration;

militia organization;

judicial authority;

commerce;

taxation;

maritime circulation;

racial legal classification.

Article 28 — Colonial Functions of Léogâne

Léogâne developed as:

a colonial town;

a parish jurisdiction;

an agricultural district;

a market center;

a military position;

a communications node;

a coastal outlet;

a jurisdiction connecting the western plain with the southern peninsula.

Its territorial position connected the Gulf of Gonâve, the plain of Léogâne, the Region of the Palmes, Port-au-Prince, Petit-Goâve, Grand-Goâve, the southern road system, and the mountain routes toward Jacmel.

Article 29 — Plantation Economy

The colonial economy of the Léogâne plain was organized through land appropriation, plantation property, enslaved labor, commercial licensing, taxation, and external trade.

Its principal sectors included:

sugar;

coffee;

indigo;

cotton;

livestock;

food production;

milling and processing;

internal markets;

transportation and storage;

coastal commerce.

Enslaved Africans and their descendants constituted the principal labor force supporting colonial production.

Article 30 — Colonial Legal Classification

The colonial legal order classified and regulated:

White colonists;

free persons of color;

enslaved Africans and their descendants;

surviving Indigenous persons and descendants;

military and administrative officers;

clergy;

merchants;

artisans;

transport workers;

rural cultivators.

These classifications determined property rights, legal capacity, labor status, mobility, taxation, access to office, and access to judicial institutions.

Article 31 — Seismic History

The earthquakes affecting the Léogâne region during the eighteenth century, including the destructive earthquake of 1770, shall form part of the permanent Territorial Risk Register.

The record shall include:

destruction of buildings;

deaths and injuries;

damage to plantations;

interruption of communications;

damage to public and religious facilities;

administrative displacement;

reconstruction measures;

seismic vulnerability of the plain.

TITLE VI — REVOLUTIONARY REORGANIZATION, 1791–1804

Article 32 — Collapse of the Colonial Order

The general uprising commencing in 1791 initiated the destruction of the slaveholding and colonial order of Saint-Domingue.

The conflict involved:

enslaved insurgents;

maroon forces;

free persons of color;

French republican authorities;

colonial factions;

Spanish forces;

British forces;

autonomous military commands;

rural cultivators;

competing civil administrations.

Article 33 — Strategic Position of Léogâne

Léogâne possessed military, agricultural, logistical, and communications importance because of:

its agricultural plain;

its coastal position;

its proximity to Port-au-Prince;

its access to the Region of the Palmes;

its road connections with the Grand South;

its routes toward Jacmel and the Massif de la Selle;

its capacity to supply personnel, food, transport, and matériel;

its position between western and southern military jurisdictions.

Article 34 — Abolition and Reorganization of Authority

The abolition of slavery and the destruction of plantation government altered the legal and institutional basis of authority within Léogâne.

Formerly enslaved persons, soldiers, officers, cultivators, artisans, and local communities became participants in the military and political structures from which the independent State emerged.

Article 35 — War of the South

The War of the South, also known as the War of the Knives, from 1799 to 1800 placed the Léogâne region within the contested territorial system separating the forces associated with Toussaint Louverture and André Rigaud.

The conflict concerned:

supreme military authority;

regional jurisdiction;

control of ports and roads;

agricultural production and revenue;

the status of the southern officer corps;

allocation of civil and military offices;

organization of post-emancipation labor and government.

Article 36 — French Expedition

The French expedition dispatched in 1802 attempted to restore direct metropolitan authority over Saint-Domingue.

Léogâne formed part of the territorial and military environment in which French forces, colonial authorities, Haitian commands, cultivators, and armed communities contested control of the colony.

Article 37 — Independence

The defeat of the French expedition terminated the colonial government.

The Declaration of Independence of 1 January 1804 incorporated Léogâne into the jurisdiction of the independent State.

Independence terminated the French legal source of public authority without extinguishing the earlier Indigenous territorial history of Yaguana.

TITLE VII — POST-INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Article 38 — Imperial Government

Following independence, Léogâne formed part of the territorial, military, and administrative system established under Governor-General and subsequently Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

The jurisdiction retained its agricultural, military, transportation, and communications functions.

Article 39 — Constitutional Division of 1806

Following the death of Dessalines in October 1806, Léogâne was incorporated into the southern and western republican order governed by Alexandre Pétion.

Its institutional position became connected to:

the republican government centered in Port-au-Prince;

the constitutional institutions of the South and West;

military and municipal administration;

distribution and regulation of land;

agricultural production;

regional political representation;

internal transportation and commerce.

Article 40 — Reunification under Boyer

The reunification of the northern and southern governments under President Jean-Pierre Boyer in 1820 incorporated Léogâne into a centralized national administration.

The city and its surrounding plain continued to exercise:

municipal functions;

military functions;

judicial functions;

agricultural production;

internal commerce;

coastal and overland communications;

regional territorial coordination.

Article 41 — Nineteenth-Century Functions

Throughout the nineteenth century, Léogâne remained a significant territorial jurisdiction by reason of:

its proximity to Port-au-Prince;

its position at the eastern entrance to the Region of the Palmes;

its agricultural plain;

its market functions;

its road and coastal connections;

its military utility;

its access to the southern peninsula;

its municipal and judicial institutions.

Article 42 — Constitutional and Military Record

The General Archives of the State shall document Léogâne’s participation in:

constitutional transformations;

changes of government;

civil conflicts;

military mobilizations;

electoral processes;

municipal administration;

judicial organization;

agricultural regulation;

territorial communications;

relations between central and regional authorities.

TITLE VIII — TWENTIETH-CENTURY ADMINISTRATION

Article 43 — United States Occupation

From 1915 to 1934, Léogâne was incorporated into the centralized national system subjected to United States military occupation and foreign supervision.

The occupation affected:

public finance;

customs and revenue;

policing;

military organization;

road construction;

agricultural administration;

public works;

territorial government;

labor obligations;

central supervision of local jurisdictions.

Article 44 — Post-Occupation Administration

Following the formal termination of the occupation, Léogâne continued to function as:

an agricultural-production center;

a regional market;

a municipal jurisdiction;

an arrondissement center;

a transportation node;

a connection between Port-au-Prince and the Grand South;

a center of education, justice, public health, religious institutions, and commerce;

a principal jurisdiction of the Region of the Palmes.

Article 45 — Territorial Economy

The economic base of the Léogâne plain includes:

sugarcane;

food crops;

fruit production;

livestock;

agricultural processing;

local and regional markets;

transportation;

coastal economic activity;

artisanal production;

commercial services.

The agricultural system of Léogâne is classified as infrastructure of strategic territorial importance.

Article 46 — Cultural Administration

The organized cultural institutions of Léogâne, including Rara organizations and their associated musical, processional, artisanal, territorial, and community structures, shall form part of the official social and institutional record of the Ancestral Capital.

The State shall document:

organizational structures;

internal offices and ranks;

territorial routes;

instruments;

uniforms and insignia;

oral records;

relations with communities;

historical participation in public and political life.

Such institutions shall be administered as components of the cultural record and shall not define or limit the constitutional status of Yaguana.

TITLE IX — EARTHQUAKE OF 12 JANUARY 2010

Article 47 — Permanent Disaster Classification

The earthquake of 12 January 2010 shall form part of the permanent constitutional, territorial, seismic, infrastructure, medical, administrative, and continuity record of Yaguana–Léogâne.

Léogâne is classified as a jurisdiction of permanent seismic priority.

Article 48 — Destruction of Public Capacity

The official earthquake record shall include:

deaths and injuries;

destruction of housing;

collapse of public buildings;

destruction of judicial and municipal infrastructure;

interruption of health and education services;

population displacement;

loss of archives;

destruction of roads and communications;

interruption of markets and agriculture;

national and international emergency operations.

Article 49 — Regulatory Consequences

The permanent disaster classification shall govern state instruments concerning:

seismic construction;

inspection of public buildings;

emergency shelters;

medical reserves;

water and sanitation;

decentralized energy;

redundant communications;

evacuation routes;

replicated archives;

continuity of government;

protection of historical and archaeological sites;

restoration of essential services.

TITLE X — CONTEMPORARY TERRITORIAL CLASSIFICATION

Article 50 — Present Administrative Position

Present-day Léogâne is recorded as:

a commune;

the chief town of the Arrondissement of Léogâne;

a jurisdiction administered within the Department of the West;

a principal city of the Region of the Palmes;

a coastal and agricultural territory;

an eastern point of access to the Grand South;

the contemporary urban jurisdiction corresponding to the historical territory of Yaguana;

the Ancestral Constitutional Capital of Xaragua.

Article 51 — Territorial Scope

The Ancestral Capital Territory shall comprise, subject to formal delimitation:

the urban jurisdiction of Léogâne;

the plain of Léogâne;

the coastal and maritime approaches;

designated rivers, wetlands, watersheds, and agricultural systems;

principal road corridors;

mountain access routes;

registered archaeological and historical sites;

properties assigned to the institutions of Xaragua;

the Ça-Ira Campus;

adjoining areas required for institutional, archival, academic, agricultural, environmental, infrastructure, security, and continuity functions.

Article 52 — Delimitation

The precise limits of the Ancestral Capital Territory shall be established through:

official coordinates;

cadastral descriptions;

boundary maps;

road and coastal reference points;

public-property records;

environmental zones;

agricultural zones;

historical and archaeological registers;

an implementing territorial decree.

Article 53 — Capital Planning Area

A Yaguana–Léogâne Capital Planning Area shall be established.

It shall be governed by:

an official territorial plan;

a land and infrastructure register;

an agricultural-protection plan;

a watershed and drainage plan;

a seismic and construction code;

a transportation plan;

a historical-site protection system;

an archival-protection plan;

a capital-security plan;

an emergency-continuity plan.

Article 54 — Miragoâne–Yaguana Corridor

The Miragoâne–Yaguana corridor is designated as a principal constitutional, territorial, administrative, economic, and communications axis.

It shall connect:

the Constitutional Capital;

the Ancestral Constitutional Capital;

the Department of Nippes;

the Region of the Palmes;

Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve;

the western approaches to Port-au-Prince;

the Gulf of Gonâve;

the Grand South.

TITLE XI — ORGANIC INSTITUTIONS OF THE ANCESTRAL CAPITAL

Article 55 — Ancestral Capital Authority

The Ancestral Capital Authority of Yaguana is hereby established under the supreme authority of the Rector-President.

It shall constitute the coordinating institution responsible for implementing this Decree.

Article 56 — Competences of the Authority

The Ancestral Capital Authority shall exercise competence over:

constitutional status and official nomenclature;

institutional coordination;

territorial planning;

historical-site administration;

Indigenous territorial archives;

archaeology;

official state protocol;

academic coordination;

agricultural-land protection;

environmental administration;

infrastructure planning;

emergency continuity;

management of assigned public property;

relations among institutions seated within Yaguana.

Article 57 — Administration

The Ancestral Capital Authority shall be directed by an Administrator-General appointed by the Rector-President.

The appointment instrument shall determine:

term of office;

delegated powers;

reporting obligations;

financial authority;

administrative responsibilities;

conditions of suspension or replacement;

institutional-security obligations;

archival duties.

Article 58 — Institutional Structure

The Ancestral Capital Authority may comprise:

Office of the Administrator-General;

Directorate of Constitutional Status and Territorial Organization;

Directorate of Indigenous Government Archives;

Directorate of Historical and Archaeological Administration;

Directorate of Agriculture, Watersheds, and Environmental Management;

Directorate of Infrastructure and Seismic Regulation;

Directorate of State Protocol;

Directorate of Academic and Institutional Coordination;

Capital Security and Emergency Continuity Office;

Finance, Procurement, Inspection, and Audit Office.

Article 59 — Ça-Ira Campus

The Ça-Ira Campus of the University of Xaragua is constituted as the principal academic institution of the Ancestral Capital.

Its authorized fields shall include:

Indigenous law;

constitutional law;

political history of Xaragua;

territorial government;

history of Yaguana and Léogâne;

study of Bohechío and Anacaona;

Caribbean Indigenous political systems;

colonial and revolutionary history;

archaeology;

historical geography;

archival science;

public-officer education;

disaster administration;

territorial planning;

Catholic institutional studies.

Article 60 — Yaguana Division of the General Archives

A Yaguana Division of the General Archives of the State is hereby established.

It shall preserve:

historical sources concerning the government of Xaragua;

records concerning Bohechío and Anacaona;

territorial maps and descriptions;

colonial records concerning Léogâne;

revolutionary records;

post-independence administrative records;

municipal and agricultural records;

documentation of the earthquakes of 1770 and 2010;

archaeological records;

oral histories;

photographs and plans;

authenticated digital reproductions.

Article 61 — Register of Indigenous Government

The General Archives shall maintain a permanent Register of Indigenous Government containing:

documented rulers and authorities;

territorial jurisdictions;

systems of succession;

political assemblies;

relations among Indigenous governments;

customary institutions;

diplomatic relations;

systems of agricultural and economic administration;

maritime and terrestrial networks;

colonial acts directed against Indigenous authorities.

Article 62 — Official State Protocol

Official acts conducted in Yaguana concerning the historical government, territorial continuity, accession of officers, installation of institutions, recognition of protected sites, or commencement of authorized academic programs shall be governed by state protocol.

Every such act shall be:

authorized by the competent authority;

documented in writing;

assigned an official reference;

entered into the Ancestral Capital Register;

deposited with the General Archives.

TITLE XII — HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 63 — Historical Landscape

The Yaguana–Léogâne Historical Landscape shall include all documented or subsequently identified:

Indigenous settlement areas;

agricultural systems;

governmental sites;

assembly sites;

burial sites;

canoe and terrestrial routes;

colonial sites;

revolutionary sites;

forts and military positions;

historic public buildings;

earthquake-damaged heritage;

archival and archaeological zones.

Article 64 — Classification of Sites

Protected sites shall be classified as:

Indigenous governmental sites;

Indigenous settlement sites;

archaeological reserves;

colonial administrative sites;

plantation and labor-history sites;

revolutionary and military sites;

post-independence governmental sites;

seismic-history sites;

protected agricultural landscapes;

public archival properties.

Article 65 — Archaeological Administration

No authority or institution of Xaragua shall authorize excavation, removal, alteration, transfer, exportation, or commercial use of archaeological material without:

prior authorization;

scientific assessment;

site registration;

conservation measures;

chain-of-custody documentation;

designation of institutional custody;

archival deposit;

publication of findings;

protection of human remains;

participation of the competent Indigenous institutions.

Article 66 — Protection Orders

The Ancestral Capital Authority may issue interim or permanent protection orders concerning:

unauthorized excavation;

destruction of historical structures;

removal of artifacts;

alteration of registered sites;

incompatible construction;

environmental degradation;

unauthorized commercial exploitation;

obstruction of official documentation;

damage to public archives.

Article 67 — Toponymic Administration

The names Yaguana and Léogâne shall be preserved through:

official maps;

state seals;

territorial registers;

public signage;

academic publications;

institutional communications;

historical-site designations;

educational programs;

digital archives;

official state instruments.

TITLE XIII — AGRICULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND INFRASTRUCTURE STATUS

Article 68 — Strategic Agricultural Zone

The plain of Léogâne is classified as strategic agricultural infrastructure of the Ancestral Capital.

The classification shall govern:

preservation of cultivable land;

irrigation;

watershed administration;

agricultural roads;

flood protection;

soil conservation;

processing facilities;

storage;

local markets;

seed and crop protection;

energy supply;

emergency food reserves.

Article 69 — Watershed and River Administration

The competent authority shall maintain a register of:

rivers;

tributaries;

irrigation channels;

wetlands;

flood zones;

drainage systems;

water-intake points;

protected watershed areas;

erosion zones;

critical agricultural-water infrastructure.

Article 70 — Infrastructure Classification

The following shall constitute critical infrastructure of the Ancestral Capital:

principal roads;

bridges;

agricultural roads;

communications systems;

water infrastructure;

energy installations;

public archives;

health and emergency facilities;

academic facilities;

government premises;

evacuation routes;

protected storage facilities.

Article 71 — Construction and Seismic Regulation

All public construction assigned to the institutions of Xaragua within Yaguana shall comply with regulations governing:

seismic design;

soil assessment;

drainage;

structural inspection;

emergency access;

fire safety;

communications redundancy;

protected records storage;

continuity of essential services;

periodic certification.

TITLE XIV — CONSTITUTIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONS

Article 72 — Internal Constitutional Authority

The designation of Yaguana as Ancestral Constitutional Capital constitutes an exercise of the internal constituent and territorial authority of Xaragua.

Its operative force within the constitutional order of Xaragua derives from:

the Constitution;

the constituent authority vested in the Rector-President;

the foundational acts of the State;

the territorial laws of Xaragua;

this Supreme Constitutional Decree;

the institutions and registers established under Xaraguayan law.

Article 73 — Indigenous Institutional Framework

The provisions of this Decree correspond to the principles recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including:

Article 3, concerning self-determination;

Article 4, concerning autonomy and self-government;

Article 5, concerning distinct political, legal, economic, social, and cultural institutions;

Article 11, concerning cultural traditions and historical manifestations;

Article 12, concerning traditions, ceremonies, objects, and sites;

Article 13, concerning histories, languages, oral traditions, and Indigenous names;

Article 14, concerning Indigenous educational institutions;

Article 20, concerning political, economic, and social institutions;

Article 25, concerning relationships with lands and territories;

Article 26, concerning traditionally owned, occupied, or used lands, territories, and resources;

Article 31, concerning cultural heritage and traditional knowledge;

Article 33, concerning identity, membership, and institutional structure;

Article 34, concerning institutional structures, customs, and juridical systems.

Article 74 — Function of International References

The international provisions referenced in this Decree form part of its interpretative and doctrinal framework.

The constitutional designation, territorial organization, institutional competences, archival classifications, and administrative mechanisms established herein derive directly from the constitutional order of Xaragua.

Article 75 — Catholic Institutional Character

The Catholic character of Xaragua shall be expressed through the competent governmental, academic, educational, archival, and protocol institutions assigned to Yaguana.

No ecclesiastical body shall exercise territorial, executive, judicial, financial, or administrative competence within the Ancestral Capital unless such competence is expressly conferred by the constitutional law of Xaragua.

TITLE XV — CONSTITUTIONAL ENTRENCHMENT AND CONTINUITY
Article 76 — Entrenchment
The status of Yaguana–Léogâne as Ancestral Constitutional Capital is constitutionally entrenched.
It shall not be altered by:
ordinary regulation;
ministerial decision;
academic resolution;
municipal act;
temporary interruption of institutional activity;
relocation of a campus or archive;
creation of another historical jurisdiction;
alteration of external administrative boundaries;
emergency evacuation;
destruction of government premises.
Article 77 — Amendment Requirement
Any instrument proposing to alter the ancestral-capital status shall expressly regulate:
constitutional amendment authority;
territorial continuity;
historical attribution;
custody of archives;
preservation of the name Yaguana;
institutional succession;
academic competence;
protection of historical sites;
relations with Miragoâne;
public property;
financial consequences;
continuity of government.
No implied repeal shall be permitted.
Article 78 — Emergency Seat
In the event of earthquake, hurricane, flood, epidemic, armed conflict, infrastructure failure, occupation of premises, communications interruption, or other public emergency, the Rector-President may establish:
an alternate administrative seat;
a provisional archival repository;
a digital Ancestral Capital Chamber;
a temporary academic facility;
a decentralized emergency administration;
an alternate command center.
Such measures shall not suspend, terminate, or transfer the constitutional status of Yaguana.
Article 79 — Continuity of Competence
The vacancy, suspension, dissolution, incapacity, or reorganization of a subordinate institution shall not extinguish its statutory competences.
Those competences shall provisionally revert to the Office of the Rector-President or to the superior authority designated by law.
Article 80 — Continuity System
The continuity system of the Ancestral Capital shall provide for:
replication of essential archives;
secure authentication of official acts;
delegation of authority;
alternate communications;
protection of territorial registers;
preservation of institutional records;
emergency public notices;
restoration of operations within Yaguana.
TITLE XVI — FINANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
Article 81 — Budget
The Ancestral Capital Authority shall prepare:
an annual administrative program;
an annual budget;
a capital-investment plan;
a historical-site protection program;
an archival program;
an infrastructure and emergency plan.
All expenditures shall require lawful authorization and documentary registration.
Article 82 — Public Property Register
A Public Property Register of Yaguana shall record:
government premises;
archival facilities;
academic facilities;
protected historical sites;
archaeological reserves;
assigned agricultural land;
infrastructure;
equipment;
vehicles;
emergency installations.
Article 83 — Procurement and Audit
Procurement, contracting, concessions, grants, and public expenditures shall be subject to:
written authorization;
budgetary availability;
registration;
documentary retention;
inspection;
conflict-of-interest controls;
financial reporting;
audit.
Article 84 — Annual Report
The Administrator-General shall submit an annual report to the Rector-President concerning:
implementation of this Decree;
institutional operations;
finances;
public property;
archives;
archaeological administration;
infrastructure;
agricultural protection;
risk management;
outstanding implementing measures.
TITLE XVII — REGISTRATION AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 85 — Ancestral Capital Register
A permanent Ancestral Capital Register shall be maintained by the General Archives of the State.
It shall contain:
the authoritative version of this Decree;
amendments and implementing instruments;
territorial maps;
delimitation instruments;
archaeological inventories;
historical-site registers;
institutional appointments;
official acts and protocols;
academic programs;
public-property records;
infrastructure plans;
emergency-continuity instruments;
financial reports;
archival certifications;
official seals and formulas.
Article 86 — Implementing Authority
The Rector-President shall possess primary authority to adopt all:
organic regulations;
appointments;
territorial instruments;
institutional statutes;
archival regulations;
academic directives;
protocol regulations;
historical-protection orders;
infrastructure plans;
budgetary authorizations;
emergency-continuity orders
required for the execution of this Decree.
Article 87 — Institutional Compliance
Every authority and institution of Xaragua shall conform its:
statutes;
territorial terminology;
official maps;
registers;
seals;
letterheads;
websites;
academic publications;
appointment instruments;
administrative procedures;
historical classifications
to the ancestral-capital status established herein.
Article 88 — Archival Authenticity
The version deposited in the General Archives of the State bearing the official reference, date, signature, and seal shall constitute the authoritative state copy.
Certified reproductions, authenticated digital copies, and official publications derived from the archival original shall possess the evidentiary status assigned by Xaraguayan law.
Article 89 — Preservation of Existing Acts
Official instruments issued before the promulgation of this Decree shall remain valid according to their governing provisions.
Their territorial and institutional references shall, where necessary, be interpreted consistently with the permanent status of Yaguana–Léogâne as the Ancestral Constitutional Capital.
Article 90 — Entry into Force
This Supreme Constitutional Decree entered into force on 10 May 2025.
It shall be entered into:
the Supreme Constitutional Register;
the Territorial Register;
the Ancestral Capital Register;
the Indigenous Government Register;
the Historical and Archaeological Register;
the Public Property Register;
the University Register;
the Official Gazette;
the General Archives of the State;
the institutional records of every competent authority of Xaragua.
FINAL CONSTITUTIONAL DETERMINATION
For all purposes of the constitutional, territorial, governmental, Indigenous, historical, institutional, academic, archival, archaeological, agricultural, environmental, infrastructure, financial, security, and continuity order of Xaragua, Yaguana–Léogâne is hereby recorded and classified as:
a territory of Indigenous occupation predating European colonial authority;
the principal historical governmental seat of the pre-Columbian political order of Xaragua;
the jurisdiction associated with the governments of Bohechío and Anacaona;
a center of Indigenous territorial authority, agricultural administration, redistribution, diplomacy, communications, and intercommunity coordination;
the site of the forcible suppression of the autonomous government of Xaragua by Spanish colonial authorities;
a territory subjected to tribute, compulsory labor, population displacement, land appropriation, missionary administration, and colonial institutional replacement;
a jurisdiction subsequently incorporated into French Saint-Domingue;
a colonial parish, agricultural district, market, military position, communications center, and coastal outlet;
a territory incorporated into the plantation and slaveholding economy;
a jurisdiction participating in the revolutionary destruction of slavery and colonial government;
a strategic territory of the War of the South and the final War of Independence;
a jurisdiction incorporated into the independent State established in 1804;
a component of the southern and western republican order established after 1806;
a jurisdiction of the reunified national administration after 1820;
a territory incorporated into the centralized systems imposed during the United States occupation from 1915 to 1934;
a principal agricultural, municipal, judicial, cultural, and communications jurisdiction of the Region of the Palmes;
a jurisdiction of permanent seismic priority following the earthquakes of 1770 and 2010;
the seat of the Ça-Ira Campus of the University of Xaragua;
the principal jurisdiction for the preservation and administration of the historical governmental record of Xaragua;
the permanent Ancestral Constitutional Capital of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua.
The constitutional allocation of capital functions is permanently established as follows:
MIRAGOÂNE — PERMANENT CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL, SEAT OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, SUPREME PROMULGATION AUTHORITY, AND GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE
YAGUANA–LÉOGÂNE — PERMANENT ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL, HISTORICAL SEAT OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN GOVERNMENT OF XARAGUA, AND PRINCIPAL JURISDICTION OF INDIGENOUS STATE CONTINUITY
ISSUED, PROMULGATED, AND ORDERED FOR ARCHIVAL REGISTRATION
By the constitutional authority of the Rector-President,
PASCAL DESPUZEAU DAUMEC VIAU
RECTOR-PRESIDENT OF XARAGUA
Issued at Miragoâne, Constitutional Capital of Xaragua, on 10 May 2025.
OFFICE OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT
SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY
GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE
UNIVERSITY OF XARAGUA
ANCESTRAL CAPITAL AUTHORITY OF YAGUANA
OFFICIAL SEAL OF THE ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL
SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

OFFICIAL ICONOGRAPHIC NOTICE
This illustration constitutes the official institutional representation of Bohechío, Cacique of Xaragua.
The representation was produced through a controlled historical reconstruction based upon colonial-era accounts concerning Bohechío’s physical bearing, public conduct, political authority, and documented attire, together with the surviving visual material associated with members of the ruling lineage of Xaragua.
The facial structure and general bearing were principally informed by the historical image traditionally attributed to his nephew, Cacique Enriquillo. Additional physiognomic characteristics were derived from documented descriptions and established representations of his sister and successor, Cacica Anacaona.
The resulting image is classified as an evidence-informed institutional reconstruction. It does not purport to constitute a surviving contemporaneous portrait of Bohechío.
Its official function is to provide a historically grounded visual representation of Bohechío based upon the available documentary, genealogical, vestimentary, and iconographic record of the governing family of Xaragua.

CULTURAL CAPITAL OF XARAGUA

SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

OFFICE OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE

UNIVERSITY OF XARAGUA

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL DECREE

ON THE HISTORICAL CLASSIFICATION, INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL CONTINUITY, CULTURAL-CAPITAL STATUS, HERITAGE JURISDICTION, CREATIVE ECONOMY, INSTITUTIONAL COMPETENCES, AND PERMANENT DESIGNATION OF JACMEL AS THE CULTURAL CAPITAL OF THE SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

Official Reference: SCIPS-X/ORP/CUL-JAC/2025

Place of Promulgation: Miragoâne, Constitutional Capital of Xaragua

Promulgating Authority: Office of the Rector-President

Archival Depositary: General Archives of the State

Legal Classification: Supreme Constitutional Instrument — Cultural Capital Act — Indigenous Territorial Continuity Law — Historical and Architectural Heritage Statute — Creative Industries and Cultural Economy Law — South-Eastern Institutional Organization Decree

Normative Rank: Entrenched Constitutional Instrument of Territorial and Cultural Organization

Institutional Status: Permanent — Constitutionally Entrenched — Directly Applicable — Binding upon All Authorities, Officers, Institutions, Registers, and Jurisdictions of Xaragua

Territorial Subject: Jacmel — Historical Yaquimel — Bay and Port of Jacmel — Urban Historic Center — Commune and Arrondissement of Jacmel — Cultural and Economic System of the South-East

Constitutional Function: Cultural Capital of Xaragua — Principal National Jurisdiction for Cultural Administration, Arts and Crafts, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Carnival Industries, Cinema, Publishing, Cultural Education, Creative Enterprise, and International Cultural Relations

PREAMBLE

The Rector-President of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua,

Exercising the constituent, constitutional, executive, territorial, institutional, academic, economic, regulatory, and archival authority vested in the Office of the Rector-President;

Acting pursuant to the Constitution, foundational acts, territorial laws, cultural statutes, economic instruments, university regulations, and historical-classification acts of Xaragua;

Recognizing that the territory presently known as Jacmel formed part of the inhabited, cultivated, navigated, administered, and interconnected Indigenous geography of Ayiti–Bohío–Quisqueya before the commencement of European colonial intervention in 1492;

Recognizing the Indigenous territorial designation Yaquimel as the historical toponym from which the name Jacmel developed through successive Spanish, French, and Haitian forms;

Recognizing the incorporation of Yaquimel into the wider pre-Columbian political and territorial order of Xaragua;

Taking institutional notice of the Indigenous settlement, agricultural production, fishing, river use, coastal navigation, inland communication, political relations, and territorial administration exercised within the region before European colonial government;

Recording the imposition of Spanish colonial claims, missionary administration, compulsory labor, population displacement, land appropriation, and the replacement of Indigenous jurisdictions;

Taking institutional notice of the subsequent incorporation of the territory into French Saint-Domingue and the formal development of Jacmel as a colonial town, port, parish, commercial district, agricultural-export center, military jurisdiction, and capital of the south-eastern colonial region;

Recording the incorporation of the territory into the plantation and slaveholding economy of Saint-Domingue, including coffee production, sugar cultivation, agricultural processing, maritime commerce, fiscal administration, and the compulsory labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants;

Recognizing the participation of enslaved insurgents, maroons, free persons of color, soldiers, cultivators, artisans, and local communities in the destruction of slavery and colonial government;

Taking particular institutional notice of the insurgent authority exercised by Romaine-la-Prophétesse and associated forces in the Jacmel, Marigot, and Bainet region during 1791 and 1792;

Recording the strategic position of Jacmel during the Haitian Revolution, the War of the South, the siege and military operations of 1799–1800, the French expedition of 1802, and the final War of Independence;

Recognizing the incorporation of Jacmel into the independent State established in 1804 and into the successive imperial, republican, presidential, military, departmental, arrondissement, communal, and municipal systems established thereafter;

Taking institutional notice of the use of Jacmel in 1806 by Francisco de Miranda during preparations connected with the independence of Spanish America and of the raising of the tricolour associated with his expedition in the Bay of Jacmel;

Taking institutional notice of the presence of Ramón Emeterio Betances in Jacmel in 1870 and of the city’s participation in nineteenth-century Caribbean political and transnational networks;

Recording the development of Jacmel as a major coffee-exporting port and commercial center during the nineteenth century;

Taking permanent notice of the fire of 1896, the destruction of a substantial part of the commercial center, and the subsequent reconstruction of the city through masonry, timber, metal, imported architectural components, warehouses, merchant houses, public buildings, and urban structures that now constitute a distinct historic district;

Recognizing the continuing institutional importance of Jacmelian architecture, urban form, artistic production, painting, sculpture, papier-mâché, carnival construction, masks, costumes, music, dance, cinema, photography, literature, publishing, design, culinary production, and cultural enterprise;

Recording the incorporation of Jacmel into the centralized financial, military, policing, infrastructure, and territorial systems imposed during the United States occupation from 1915 to 1934;

Recognizing the present administrative position of Jacmel as the capital of the Department of the South-East and the chief town of the Arrondissement of Jacmel;

Taking permanent institutional notice of the destruction sustained by Jacmel during the earthquake of 12 January 2010 and of the resulting requirements concerning seismic regulation, historic-building stabilization, archival protection, emergency government, and continuity of cultural institutions;

Taking institutional notice of Jacmel’s membership in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Crafts and Folk Art and of the international recognition thereby attached to its cultural-production system;

Determining that the concentration of historical architecture, cultural institutions, artists, artisans, production workshops, public festivals, educational facilities, creative enterprises, and international cultural relations requires a supreme constitutional classification;

Determining that culture shall be administered as a public institutional sector, a territorial economy, a field of education, an instrument of international representation, and a component of national infrastructure;

Distinguishing the cultural-capital functions of Jacmel from the central governmental functions of Miragoâne, the ancestral constitutional functions of Yaguana–Léogâne, the metropolitan functions of Les Cayes, and the western metropolitan functions of Jérémie;

Hereby adopts and promulgates the present Supreme Constitutional Decree.

TITLE I — CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGNATION

Article 1 — Permanent Cultural Capital

Jacmel is hereby constituted, designated, and confirmed as the permanent Cultural Capital of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua.

This designation constitutes a supreme functional classification within the territorial and constitutional order of Xaragua.

Article 2 — Legal Effects

The status of Cultural Capital determines:

Jacmel’s position within the territorial hierarchy of Xaragua;

the concentration of national cultural institutions within the city;

the establishment of a Cultural Capital Authority;

the protection of the historic urban center;

the administration of arts, crafts, architecture, carnival production, cinema, literature, publishing, music, and creative industries;

the establishment of cultural, architectural, artistic, and economic registers;

the attribution of national cultural programs and official cultural representation to Jacmel;

the application of the planning, licensing, investment, and continuity provisions established by this Decree.

Article 3 — Official Constitutional Formula

The complete official designation shall be:

JACMEL — CULTURAL CAPITAL OF THE SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

The abbreviated designation shall be:

JACMEL — CULTURAL CAPITAL OF XARAGUA

The Haitian Creole designation may be rendered as:

JAKMÈL — KAPITAL KILTIRÈL XARAGUA

Article 4 — Nature of Cultural-Capital Status

The status established by this Decree is:

constitutional;

territorial;

administrative;

institutional;

historical;

architectural;

artistic;

academic;

economic;

international.

The designation shall not be interpreted as a promotional, honorary, tourism-only, folkloric, or temporary title.

Article 5 — Cultural Jurisdiction

Jacmel shall constitute the principal jurisdiction of Xaragua for:

cultural policy;

historic-building administration;

architectural conservation;

arts and crafts;

creative industries;

carnival production;

cinema and audiovisual production;

music and performance;

literature and publishing;

cultural education;

artistic archives;

cultural tourism;

international cultural cooperation;

intellectual-property administration within the competence of Xaragua.

TITLE II — TERRITORIAL HIERARCHY

Article 6 — Distribution of Principal Functions

The principal capital and metropolitan functions of Xaragua are allocated as follows:

Miragoâne: Constitutional Capital and seat of central state authority;

Yaguana–Léogâne: Ancestral Constitutional Capital and historical seat of the Indigenous government of Xaragua;

Les Cayes: Principal Metropolis and primary urban, commercial, medical, educational, agricultural, maritime, and logistical center of the Grand South;

Jérémie: Western Metropolis and principal regional center of Grand’Anse;

Jacmel: Cultural Capital and principal jurisdiction for cultural administration, heritage, arts, architecture, and creative industries.

Article 7 — Unity of State Authority

The designation of Jacmel as Cultural Capital shall not:

transfer the seat of the Rector-President;

divide the central Government;

alter the constitutional status of Miragoâne;

diminish the ancestral-capital status of Yaguana;

alter the metropolitan status of Les Cayes;

establish a separate constitutional order;

create an autonomous sovereign authority outside the hierarchy of Xaragua.

Article 8 — Functional Supremacy

Within the fields assigned by this Decree, Jacmel shall constitute the principal functional jurisdiction of Xaragua.

Every ministry, university body, cultural institution, public authority, or external office exercising national cultural functions shall coordinate its activities with the competent institutions seated in Jacmel.

TITLE III — INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL ORDER

Article 9 — Indigenous Occupation

Before European colonial intervention, Yaquimel formed part of an established Indigenous territorial system.

Indigenous occupation and use included:

permanent and seasonal settlements;

agricultural production;

fishing;

coastal-resource use;

river and freshwater access;

canoe navigation;

inland routes;

intercommunity exchange;

territorial defense;

political relations among local authorities;

collective production and distribution.

Article 10 — Relation to Xaragua

Yaquimel formed part of the wider southern political and territorial geography associated with Xaragua.

Its position connected:

the southern coast;

the mountains of the South-East;

the inland approaches toward Yaguana;

neighboring coastal settlements;

maritime routes serving the southern territories;

agricultural and fishing communities.

Article 11 — Indigenous Toponymic Continuity

The forms Yaquimel, Jacmel, Jakmèl, and other documented historical variants shall be preserved in the National Toponymic Register.

The continued transmission of the name constitutes part of the territorial record connecting the contemporary city to its Indigenous geographic designation.

Article 12 — Institutional Priority

The Indigenous occupation and political organization of Yaquimel constitute the earliest territorial order recorded for the jurisdiction.

Spanish, French, Haitian, occupation, departmental, arrondissement, communal, and municipal systems constitute subsequent administrative layers.

They shall not be classified as the original source of settlement, territorial identity, economic activity, or organized public authority in Yaquimel.

TITLE IV — SPANISH COLONIAL INTERVENTION

Article 13 — Commencement of Spanish Claims

Spanish colonial intervention after 1492 imposed external claims and administrative structures upon the Indigenous territories of Hispaniola.

The colonial system introduced:

royal jurisdiction;

military coercion;

tribute;

compulsory labor;

land appropriation;

missionary administration;

population displacement;

colonial territorial classifications;

suppression of Indigenous authorities.

Article 14 — Administrative Displacement

The Spanish colonial system displaced Indigenous jurisdiction through:

removal or subordination of local authorities;

transfer of land into colonial control;

reallocation of labor;

population concentration;

extraction of resources;

replacement of Indigenous territorial designations;

integration into the colonial government of Hispaniola.

Article 15 — Demographic and Institutional Consequences

Warfare, forced labor, disease, displacement, malnutrition, and disruption of Indigenous production caused major demographic and institutional transformation.

The State shall document continuity through surviving populations, descendant communities, Indigenous-derived place names, agricultural practices, material culture, navigation routes, and territorial knowledge.

TITLE V — FRENCH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 16 — Establishment of French Jacmel

Jacmel was formally developed by French colonial authorities in 1698 as a town, port, parish, military position, administrative jurisdiction, and commercial center of the south-eastern region of Saint-Domingue.

Article 17 — Colonial Administrative Functions

The colonial jurisdiction exercised functions concerning:

port administration;

customs and taxation;

judicial authority;

militia organization;

parish administration;

land concessions;

plantation property;

market regulation;

maritime transportation;

communication with other colonial ports.

Article 18 — Plantation Economy

The economic system of colonial Jacmel was founded upon:

plantation property;

enslaved labor;

coffee production;

sugar cultivation;

food production;

agricultural processing;

coastal commerce;

external exportation;

warehouses and merchant establishments;

fiscal collection.

Article 19 — Coffee and Port Functions

Jacmel developed into a significant coffee-exporting and commercial port.

The port connected:

mountain-production zones;

plantation districts;

warehouses;

merchants;

maritime carriers;

colonial customs authorities;

external markets;

regional supply networks.

Article 20 — Colonial Legal Order

The population was subjected to colonial classifications regulating:

White colonists;

free persons of color;

enslaved Africans and their descendants;

surviving Indigenous persons and descendants;

officials;

military personnel;

clergy;

merchants;

artisans;

rural cultivators.

These classifications governed property, labor, legal capacity, taxation, mobility, public office, and access to judicial institutions.

TITLE VI — REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

Article 21 — Commencement of Revolution

The general uprising beginning in 1791 initiated the destruction of the slaveholding and colonial government of Saint-Domingue.

The revolutionary conflict involved enslaved insurgents, maroons, free persons of color, colonial factions, French authorities, foreign forces, regional military commands, cultivators, and local communities.

Article 22 — Romaine-la-Prophétesse

The insurgent movement associated with Romaine-la-Prophétesse in 1791 and 1792 shall form part of the permanent revolutionary record of Jacmel and the South-East.

The General Archives shall document:

the territorial scope of the movement;

participating communities;

military organization;

attacks upon plantations;

liberation of enslaved persons;

acquisition of weapons and supplies;

occupation and contestation of Jacmel;

colonial and military responses;

consequences for the regional plantation system.

Article 23 — Strategic Position

Jacmel possessed direct strategic importance because of:

its port;

its protected bay;

its agricultural hinterland;

its access to mountain routes;

its connections with Bainet and Marigot;

its relationship with the southern and western commands;

its capacity for maritime supply;

its position on the southern coast.

Article 24 — War of the South

During the War of the South from 1799 to 1800, Jacmel constituted a major military and political position associated with the southern command.

The conflict concerned:

supreme military authority;

regional jurisdiction;

control of ports;

customs and agricultural revenue;

the status of the southern officer corps;

civil and military appointments;

organization of the post-emancipation government.

Article 25 — Siege of Jacmel

The siege and military operations conducted at Jacmel during 1799–1800 shall be classified as a principal component of the constitutional and military history of the South.

The historical record shall include:

command structures;

defensive positions;

port control;

maritime resupply;

civilian conditions;

territorial administration;

the termination of southern control;

incorporation into the authority of Toussaint Louverture.

Article 26 — Final War of Independence

The French expedition of 1802 attempted to restore metropolitan control over Saint-Domingue.

The defeat of the expedition terminated French colonial government.

The Declaration of Independence of 1 January 1804 incorporated Jacmel into the jurisdiction of the independent State.

TITLE VII — POST-INDEPENDENCE AND CARIBBEAN FUNCTIONS

Article 27 — Independent Government

Following independence, Jacmel formed part of the territorial, military, port, judicial, and administrative system established under Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Article 28 — Southern and Western Republic

Following the constitutional division of 1806, Jacmel was incorporated into the southern and western republic governed by Alexandre Pétion.

The city continued to exercise:

port administration;

municipal government;

judicial functions;

military functions;

agricultural commerce;

external communication;

regional coordination.

Article 29 — Francisco de Miranda

The presence of Francisco de Miranda at Jacmel in 1806 shall form part of the permanent international and Caribbean record of the Cultural Capital.

The historical record shall document:

the use of the port and bay;

preparations for the expedition directed toward Spanish America;

the raising of the tricolour associated with Miranda’s independence project;

Jacmel’s function within early nineteenth-century Caribbean revolutionary communications;

the subsequent historical relationship of that tricolour with the flags of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Article 30 — Caribbean Political Relations

The General Archives shall document Jacmel’s participation in Caribbean political and intellectual networks, including the presence of Ramón Emeterio Betances in 1870 and the city’s relations with movements operating across Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the wider Caribbean.

Article 31 — Reunification under Boyer

The reunification completed under Jean-Pierre Boyer in 1820 incorporated Jacmel into the centralized national administration.

The city remained a departmental, commercial, maritime, judicial, military, and agricultural center.

TITLE VIII — NINETEENTH-CENTURY COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Article 32 — Port Economy

Throughout the nineteenth century, the Port of Jacmel supported:

coffee exports;

importation of manufactured goods;

customs collection;

warehousing;

merchant houses;

coastal navigation;

passenger movement;

official correspondence;

regional distribution;

international commercial relations.

Article 33 — Merchant and Urban Institutions

The commercial economy supported the development of:

warehouses;

merchant residences;

commercial streets;

public buildings;

transport services;

credit relationships;

import and export enterprises;

artisanal workshops;

municipal infrastructure;

professional and administrative institutions.

Article 34 — Fire of 1896

The fire of 1896 shall form part of the permanent urban, architectural, commercial, and disaster record of Jacmel.

The official record shall address:

destruction of the commercial center;

loss of buildings and merchandise;

interruption of port and market functions;

reconstruction measures;

imported building materials;

development of new merchant houses and warehouses;

adoption of architectural forms now associated with the historic center.

Article 35 — Reconstruction and Architectural Identity

The post-1896 reconstruction produced an urban system characterized by masonry construction, timber structures, metal balconies, cast-iron components, interior courtyards, commercial ground floors, upper residential levels, warehouses, civic buildings, and coordinated street frontages.

This built environment is classified as strategic architectural heritage of Xaragua.

TITLE IX — TWENTIETH-CENTURY ADMINISTRATION

Article 36 — United States Occupation

From 1915 to 1934, Jacmel was incorporated into the centralized system subjected to United States military occupation and foreign supervision.

The occupation affected:

public finance;

customs;

policing;

military organization;

roads and public works;

agricultural policy;

port administration;

territorial government;

labor obligations;

local political authority.

Article 37 — Post-Occupation Continuity

Following the formal termination of the occupation, Jacmel continued to serve as:

capital of the South-East;

port and commercial center;

judicial and administrative jurisdiction;

educational center;

agricultural market;

artistic-production center;

tourism jurisdiction;

transportation and communications node.

Article 38 — Development of Cultural Production

During the twentieth century, Jacmel consolidated its position through:

painting;

sculpture;

papier-mâché;

masks and costumes;

carnival construction;

music;

dance;

literature;

photography;

cinema;

architecture;

artisanal production.

These activities shall be classified as organized productive sectors.

TITLE X — EARTHQUAKE OF 12 JANUARY 2010

Article 39 — Permanent Disaster Record

The earthquake of 12 January 2010 shall form part of the permanent constitutional, urban, architectural, cultural, medical, infrastructure, administrative, and continuity record of Jacmel.

Article 40 — Cultural and Institutional Damage

The official record shall include:

deaths and injuries;

destruction of housing;

damage to public institutions;

damage to the historic center;

destruction or destabilization of heritage buildings;

loss of workshops and cultural facilities;

interruption of education and health services;

displacement of residents;

damage to roads, port facilities, and communications;

loss or exposure of archives and cultural property.

Article 41 — Regulatory Consequences

The earthquake record shall govern all instruments concerning:

seismic stabilization;

structural inspection;

restoration of historic buildings;

emergency shelters;

protected archival storage;

fire prevention;

evacuation routes;

decentralized water and energy;

communications redundancy;

continuity of cultural institutions;

conservation of movable cultural property;

reconstruction standards.

TITLE XI — CONTEMPORARY STATUS

Article 42 — Administrative Position

Jacmel is recorded as:

a commune;

the chief town of the Arrondissement of Jacmel;

the capital of the Department of the South-East;

a principal port and urban jurisdiction of the southern coast;

a national center of arts and crafts;

a center of historic architecture;

a center of carnival production;

a center of audiovisual and cultural education;

the Cultural Capital of Xaragua.

Article 43 — Regional Function

Jacmel shall exercise a principal coordinating function in relation to:

Cayes-Jacmel;

Marigot;

La Vallée-de-Jacmel;

Bainet;

the wider Department of the South-East;

adjoining coastal settlements;

mountain communities;

regional cultural and tourism corridors.

This coordination shall not extinguish the separate territorial identity of any commune or community.

Article 44 — UNESCO Creative City Classification

Jacmel’s membership in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Crafts and Folk Art shall be entered into the International Cultural Register of Xaragua.

The competent authority shall coordinate:

reporting;

international exchanges;

artisan participation;

cultural statistics;

educational programs;

exhibitions;

creative-enterprise development;

preservation of associated technical knowledge.

TITLE XII — CULTURAL CAPITAL TERRITORY

Article 45 — Territorial Scope

The Cultural Capital Territory shall comprise, subject to formal delimitation:

the urban jurisdiction of Jacmel;

the historic center;

the bay and port approaches;

cultural-production districts;

artisan workshops;

architectural-protection zones;

public cultural institutions;

educational and audiovisual facilities;

designated tourism corridors;

adjoining infrastructure necessary for cultural-capital functions.

Article 46 — Cultural Capital Planning Area

A Cultural Capital Planning Area shall be established and governed by:

an urban-conservation plan;

a historic-building register;

a cultural-facilities plan;

an artisan-production plan;

a carnival logistics plan;

a port and tourism-access plan;

an emergency-continuity plan;

a public-space plan;

a signage and toponymy code;

construction and restoration standards.

Article 47 — Delimitation

The precise limits of the Cultural Capital Planning Area shall be established through:

geographic coordinates;

cadastral descriptions;

boundary maps;

building inventories;

street and coastal reference points;

public-property registers;

historic-zone classifications;

an implementing territorial instrument.

TITLE XIII — CULTURAL CAPITAL AUTHORITY

Article 48 — Establishment

The Cultural Capital Authority of Jacmel is hereby established under the supreme authority of the Rector-President.

It shall constitute the principal executing institution responsible for the implementation of this Decree.

Article 49 — Administrator-General

The Authority shall be directed by an Administrator-General appointed by the Rector-President.

The appointment instrument shall determine:

term of office;

delegated powers;

reporting obligations;

budgetary authority;

institutional responsibilities;

conditions of suspension or replacement;

archival duties;

inspection powers.

Article 50 — Organic Structure

The Cultural Capital Authority may comprise:

Office of the Administrator-General;

Directorate of Cultural Policy and State Institutions;

Directorate of Historic Architecture and Urban Conservation;

Directorate of Arts, Crafts, and Creative Industries;

Directorate of Carnival and Public Cultural Production;

Directorate of Cinema, Audiovisual Media, and Photography;

Directorate of Literature, Publishing, and Libraries;

Directorate of Cultural Education and Professional Training;

Directorate of Cultural Tourism and International Cooperation;

Cultural Archives and Intellectual Property Office;

Infrastructure, Security, and Emergency Continuity Office;

Finance, Procurement, Inspection, and Audit Office.

Article 51 — Administrative Planning

The Authority shall prepare:

a five-year Cultural Capital Development Plan;

an annual cultural program;

an annual budget;

a heritage-conservation plan;

a creative-economy investment plan;

a public-infrastructure plan;

a cultural tourism plan;

an emergency-continuity plan;

an annual institutional report.

TITLE XIV — HISTORIC CENTER AND ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

Article 52 — Historic Center

The historic center of Jacmel is classified as protected urban and architectural infrastructure.

Its protection shall include:

street alignments;

building façades;

balconies;

roofs;

courtyards;

structural systems;

warehouses;

merchant houses;

public buildings;

significant urban views;

historically associated materials and construction methods.

Article 53 — Building Register

A Historic Building Register shall record:

address;

coordinates;

ownership or custody;

construction period;

architectural characteristics;

structural condition;

historical function;

legal protection status;

restoration history;

photographic and technical documentation.

Article 54 — Construction Controls

No registered building shall be demolished, substantially altered, transferred, or subjected to incompatible construction without:

prior authorization;

structural assessment;

architectural documentation;

conservation specifications;

approved plans;

archival deposit;

site inspection;

final certification.

Article 55 — Emergency Stabilization

The Cultural Capital Authority may order:

temporary shoring;

restricted access;

removal of immediate hazards;

protection from water infiltration;

fire-prevention measures;

recovery of architectural components;

emergency documentation;

temporary public custody where necessary for preservation.

Article 56 — Public Works

Road, drainage, electrical, telecommunications, water, sanitation, and public-space works within protected zones shall comply with the urban-conservation plan.

Public infrastructure shall not be installed in a manner that materially damages registered architectural features.

TITLE XV — ARTS, CRAFTS, AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

Article 57 — National Cultural Production System

Jacmel shall serve as the principal national jurisdiction for the organization of:

painting;

sculpture;

papier-mâché;

mask production;

costume design;

textile production;

woodwork;

metalwork;

ceramics;

graphic design;

photography;

audiovisual production;

music;

publishing;

performance.

Article 58 — Artisan Register

A National Register of Artists and Artisans shall record:

identity;

professional field;

workshop;

territorial location;

principal works;

technical specialization;

apprentices;

exhibitions;

commercial activities;

intellectual-property interests.

Registration shall not constitute a prerequisite for artistic identity but may be required for access to state programs, public procurement, grants, institutional commissions, and official representation.

Article 59 — Workshops and Production Zones

The Authority may establish protected or designated production zones for:

artisan workshops;

shared equipment;

materials storage;

exhibition;

commercial distribution;

professional training;

export preparation;

digital documentation;

fire and occupational safety;

waste management.

Article 60 — Public Procurement of Cultural Works

Public institutions of Xaragua may procure works from registered artists, artisans, designers, filmmakers, musicians, publishers, and cultural enterprises.

Every procurement shall specify:

scope;

authorship;

price;

delivery;

ownership;

reproduction rights;

attribution;

archival deposit;

authorized institutional use.

Article 61 — Cultural Investment

The competent financial institutions of Xaragua may establish:

workshop credit;

equipment financing;

production advances;

exhibition funds;

publication funds;

audiovisual-production funds;

heritage-restoration financing;

export-development instruments;

cultural-enterprise guarantees;

emergency-recovery facilities.

TITLE XVI — CARNIVAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 62 — Constitutional Classification

The Carnival of Jacmel is classified as:

a public cultural institution;

a system of artistic production;

a temporary urban operation;

a field of employment;

a cultural tourism asset;

a component of the official archives of Xaragua.

Article 63 — Carnival Register

The Authority shall maintain a register of:

participating organizations;

artists and artisans;

masks and structures;

bands and musical groups;

routes;

production workshops;

public contracts;

safety certifications;

photographic and audiovisual records;

annual administrative reports.

Article 64 — Operational Plan

Each authorized carnival cycle shall be governed by a written plan addressing:

routes;

crowd management;

public safety;

emergency medical services;

fire prevention;

temporary structures;

electricity;

sanitation;

waste collection;

transportation;

commercial licensing;

protection of historic buildings.

Article 65 — Institutional Character

Carnival production shall be administered as a coordinated cultural and economic sector.

Its public administration shall preserve artistic independence while regulating infrastructure, safety, public finance, commercial use, archival documentation, and official representation.

TITLE XVII — CINEMA, MEDIA, LITERATURE, AND EDUCATION

Article 66 — Audiovisual Jurisdiction

Jacmel shall serve as the principal jurisdiction of Xaragua for:

cinema education;

film production;

documentary production;

photography;

animation;

sound recording;

digital archives;

film exhibitions;

audiovisual festivals;

preservation of recorded cultural material.

Article 67 — Literature and Publishing

The Cultural Capital shall support:

libraries;

publishing;

literary archives;

author and translator registers;

journals;

historical editions;

educational publications;

public readings;

book distribution;

digital publication.

Article 68 — Cultural Education

The University of Xaragua and authorized institutions may establish programs concerning:

art history;

architecture;

conservation;

visual arts;

crafts;

design;

cinema;

music;

cultural administration;

museum and archive management;

publishing;

creative enterprise.

Article 69 — Professional Certification

The competent institutions may issue professional certificates concerning:

heritage restoration;

archival handling;

cultural-event administration;

audiovisual production;

artisan business management;

museum operations;

public-art installation;

cultural tourism;

conservation documentation;

emergency protection of cultural property.

TITLE XVIII — CULTURAL ARCHIVES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Article 70 — Jacmel Division of the General Archives

A Jacmel Division of the General Archives of the State shall be established.

It shall preserve:

architectural records;

historic maps;

building inventories;

photographs;

carnival records;

artist and artisan records;

films and sound recordings;

literary and publishing archives;

institutional records;

oral histories;

commercial and port records;

earthquake and reconstruction documentation.

Article 71 — National Cultural Register

A National Cultural Register shall contain:

protected buildings;

artists and artisans;

cultural institutions;

workshops;

festivals;

collections;

films;

publications;

musical works;

significant cultural enterprises;

public commissions;

state-owned cultural property.

Article 72 — Intellectual Property

The competent institutions shall document authorship, ownership, licensing, reproduction, attribution, collective marks, geographical associations, and authorized commercial use.

No registration shall transfer ownership unless an express written instrument provides otherwise.

Article 73 — Institutional Reproduction

The State may reproduce registered cultural works only according to:

applicable law;

written authorization;

public-domain status;

contractual licence;

archival exceptions established by law;

attribution requirements.

TITLE XIX — CULTURAL TOURISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Article 74 — Cultural Tourism

Cultural tourism shall be administered as a regulated economic sector connected to:

historic architecture;

museums and galleries;

artisan workshops;

carnival;

cinema and music;

gastronomy;

beaches and coastal sites;

natural sites;

accommodation;

transportation.

Article 75 — Licensing

Tourism and cultural establishments may be subjected to licensing requirements concerning:

public safety;

sanitation;

structural condition;

consumer information;

cultural authenticity claims;

environmental protection;

taxation and fees;

emergency preparedness;

accessibility;

archival and statistical reporting.

Article 76 — International Cooperation

Jacmel shall serve as a principal platform for the international cultural relations of Xaragua.

Cooperation may include:

artist exchanges;

exhibitions;

film and music programs;

heritage conservation;

university partnerships;

municipal and regional cultural networks;

UNESCO Creative Cities activities;

professional training;

cultural investment;

international distribution.

Article 77 — External Representation

No external institution, delegation, association, festival, or commercial operator shall represent the Cultural Capital or the State of Xaragua without written authorization from the competent authority.

Participation in external programs shall not confer authority to bind Xaragua unless expressly provided in the authorizing instrument.

TITLE XX — INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONTINUITY

Article 78 — Critical Cultural Infrastructure

The following may be classified as critical cultural infrastructure:

archives;

museums;

libraries;

schools;

production workshops;

cinemas;

performance spaces;

historic buildings;

public squares;

communications systems;

protected warehouses;

emergency repositories.

Article 79 — Emergency Planning

Every regulated cultural institution shall maintain:

an emergency plan;

evacuation procedures;

fire-safety equipment;

collection inventories;

emergency contacts;

protected data backups;

procedures for removing or securing movable property;

continuity arrangements;

annual readiness certification.

Article 80 — Continuity of Cultural Government

In the event of earthquake, hurricane, fire, flood, epidemic, armed conflict, infrastructure failure, occupation of premises, or communications interruption, the Rector-President may establish:

an alternate administrative seat;

a digital Cultural Capital Chamber;

a provisional archive;

temporary production facilities;

an emergency cultural administration;

alternate public-information systems.

Such measures shall not suspend or transfer the constitutional status of Jacmel.

TITLE XXI — FINANCE, PUBLIC PROPERTY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Article 81 — Annual Budget

The Cultural Capital Authority shall prepare an annual budget covering:

administration;

heritage protection;

archives;

cultural production;

grants and procurement;

infrastructure;

international cooperation;

training;

public events;

emergency continuity.

Article 82 — Cultural Development Fund

A Cultural Development Fund may be established to finance:

artists and artisans;

workshops;

restoration;

exhibitions;

publications;

films;

festivals;

professional training;

cultural enterprises;

emergency recovery.

Article 83 — Public Property Register

The Cultural Capital Authority shall maintain a register of:

public buildings;

cultural facilities;

archives;

collections;

equipment;

vehicles;

protected sites;

public artworks;

digital assets;

licensed institutional property.

Article 84 — Audit

All budgets, contracts, grants, licences, acquisitions, concessions, and public commissions shall be subject to:

written authorization;

financial registration;

documentary retention;

inspection;

conflict-of-interest controls;

annual reporting;

audit.

TITLE XXII — CONSTITUTIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
Article 85 — Internal Constitutional Authority
The designation of Jacmel as Cultural Capital constitutes an internal act of constitutional and territorial organization adopted by the competent authority of Xaragua.
Its operative force within Xaragua derives from:
the Constitution;
the constituent authority of the Rector-President;
the foundational acts of the State;
the territorial and cultural laws of Xaragua;
this Supreme Constitutional Decree;
the institutions and registers established under Xaraguayan law.
Article 86 — Indigenous Institutional Framework
The present Decree corresponds to the principles recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including:
Article 3, concerning self-determination;
Article 4, concerning autonomy and self-government;
Article 5, concerning distinct institutions;
Article 11, concerning cultural traditions and manifestations;
Article 12, concerning traditions, objects, and sites;
Article 13, concerning histories, languages, and Indigenous names;
Article 14, concerning educational institutions;
Article 20, concerning political, economic, and social institutions;
Article 25, concerning relationships with lands and territories;
Article 26, concerning traditionally owned, occupied, or used territories;
Article 31, concerning cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and cultural expressions;
Article 33, concerning identity and institutional structure;
Article 34, concerning institutional structures and juridical systems.
Article 87 — International Cultural Framework
The administration of cultural property, historic architecture, creative industries, education, and international cultural cooperation may take account of applicable international cultural instruments and UNESCO programs.
Such references shall form part of the interpretative and institutional framework of this Decree.
Article 88 — Source of Operative Authority
The constitutional status, territorial organization, administrative competences, public institutions, registers, and implementation mechanisms established herein derive directly from the constitutional order of Xaragua.
TITLE XXIII — ENTRENCHMENT AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 89 — Constitutional Entrenchment
The status of Jacmel as Cultural Capital is constitutionally entrenched.
It shall not be altered by:
ordinary regulation;
ministerial decision;
academic resolution;
municipal act;
temporary interruption of services;
closure of a cultural institution;
relocation of an archive;
alteration of external administrative boundaries;
emergency evacuation;
physical destruction of public premises.
Article 90 — Amendment Requirement
Any instrument proposing to alter the cultural-capital status shall expressly regulate:
constitutional authority;
territorial continuity;
institutional succession;
custody of cultural archives;
protection of the historic center;
continuation of cultural programs;
public property;
financial consequences;
relations with other capital jurisdictions;
continuity of government.
No implied repeal shall be permitted.
Article 91 — Institutional Succession
The vacancy, suspension, dissolution, incapacity, or reorganization of a subordinate institution shall not extinguish its statutory competences.
Those competences shall provisionally revert to the Cultural Capital Authority, the Office of the Rector-President, or another superior authority designated by law.
Article 92 — Cultural Capital Register
A permanent Cultural Capital Register shall contain:
the authoritative version of this Decree;
amendments and implementing instruments;
territorial maps;
historic-building inventories;
cultural-institution registers;
appointments;
budgets and audits;
public-property records;
international agreements;
emergency-continuity instruments;
official seals and formulas;
annual administrative reports.
Article 93 — Implementing Authority
The Rector-President shall possess primary authority to adopt all appointments, regulations, budgets, plans, classifications, licences, territorial instruments, institutional statutes, public-property measures, and emergency orders required for execution.
Article 94 — Institutional Compliance
Every authority and institution of Xaragua shall conform its:
statutes;
official nomenclature;
maps;
registers;
seals;
letterheads;
websites;
academic publications;
cultural programs;
appointment instruments;
administrative procedures
to the cultural-capital status established herein.
Article 95 — Archival Authenticity
The version deposited in the General Archives of the State bearing the official reference, date, signature, and seal shall constitute the authoritative state copy.
Certified reproductions, authenticated digital copies, and official publications derived from the archival original shall possess the evidentiary status assigned by the laws of Xaragua.
Article 96 — Entry into Force
This Supreme Constitutional Decree shall enter into force immediately upon promulgation.
It shall be entered into:
the Supreme Constitutional Register;
the Territorial Register;
the Cultural Capital Register;
the Historic Architecture Register;
the National Cultural Register;
the Creative Economy Register;
the International Cultural Register;
the Official Gazette;
the General Archives of the State;
the institutional records of every competent authority.
FINAL CONSTITUTIONAL DETERMINATION
For all purposes of the constitutional, territorial, Indigenous, historical, administrative, architectural, artistic, academic, economic, tourism, infrastructure, archival, international, and continuity order of Xaragua, Jacmel is hereby recorded and classified as:
a territory of Indigenous occupation predating European colonial authority;
a jurisdiction preserving the Indigenous-derived territorial name Yaquimel;
a component of the pre-Columbian political and territorial order of Xaragua;
a territory subsequently subjected to Spanish colonial claims and institutional displacement;
a town, port, parish, military position, and administrative center formally developed under French colonial authority;
a jurisdiction incorporated into the plantation and slaveholding economy of Saint-Domingue;
a principal coffee-producing, exporting, warehousing, and commercial center;
a territory participating in the revolutionary destruction of slavery and colonial government;
a principal jurisdiction of the insurgent movement associated with Romaine-la-Prophétesse;
a strategic position during the War of the South and the siege of 1799–1800;
a jurisdiction incorporated into the independent State established in 1804;
a Caribbean port associated with Francisco de Miranda and the independence movements of Spanish America;
a jurisdiction connected to nineteenth-century Caribbean political networks;
a major commercial and coffee-exporting port of the nineteenth century;
a city substantially reconstructed following the fire of 1896;
the custodian of a protected historic urban and architectural district;
a territory subjected to the centralized systems of the United States occupation from 1915 to 1934;
the administrative capital of the Department of the South-East;
a jurisdiction affected by the earthquake of 12 January 2010 and subject to permanent seismic and heritage-protection requirements;
a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Crafts and Folk Art;
the principal national center for arts, crafts, architecture, carnival production, cinema, audiovisual media, literature, publishing, cultural education, and creative enterprise;
the permanent Cultural Capital of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua.
The constitutional distribution of principal functions shall be recorded as follows:
MIRAGOÂNE — CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL AND SEAT OF CENTRAL STATE AUTHORITY
YAGUANA–LÉOGÂNE — ANCESTRAL CONSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL AND HISTORICAL SEAT OF THE INDIGENOUS GOVERNMENT OF XARAGUA
LES CAYES — PRINCIPAL METROPOLIS OF THE GRAND SOUTH
JÉRÉMIE — WESTERN METROPOLIS AND PRINCIPAL REGIONAL CENTER OF GRAND’ANSE
JACMEL — CULTURAL CAPITAL AND PRINCIPAL NATIONAL JURISDICTION FOR HERITAGE, ARTS, ARCHITECTURE, AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
ISSUED, PROMULGATED, AND ORDERED FOR ARCHIVAL REGISTRATION
By the constitutional authority of the Rector-President,
PASCAL DESPUZEAU DAUMEC VIAU
Rector-President of Xaragua
Issued at Miragoâne, Constitutional Capital of Xaragua.
OFFICE OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT
SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY
GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE
UNIVERSITY OF XARAGUA
CULTURAL CAPITAL AUTHORITY OF JACMEL
OFFICIAL SEAL OF THE CULTURAL CAPITAL
SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

PORT-DE-PAIX, ÎLE DE LA TORTUE, THE NORTH-WESTERN LITTORAL, THE UPPER ARTIBONITE, AND THE WESTERN MARITIME ACCESS SYSTEM OF XARAGUA

SOVEREIGN CATHOLIC INDIGENOUS AND PRIVATE STATE OF XARAGUA

OFFICE OF THE RECTOR-PRESIDENT

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

GENERAL ARCHIVES OF THE STATE

UNIVERSITY OF XARAGUA

SUPREME COUNCIL FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND HISTORICAL TERRITORIES

SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

ON THE INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION, PRE-COLUMBIAN POLITICAL ORDER, HISTORICAL NOMENCLATURE, AUTONOMOUS INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, MULTI-ORIGIN POPULATION FORMATION, MARITIME HISTORY, COASTAL ACCESS, ANCESTRAL SEA RIGHTS, ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION, AND PERMANENT CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF PORT-DE-PAIX, ÎLE DE LA TORTUE, THE NORTH-WEST, THE UPPER ARTIBONITE, AND THE WESTERN COAST OF XARAGUA

Official Reference: SCIPS-X/ORP/NW-TOR-ART-WMA/2025

Place of Promulgation: Miragoâne, Constitutional Capital of Xaragua

Promulgating Authority: Office of the Rector-President

Archival Depositary: General Archives of the State

Legal Classification: Supreme Constitutional Territorial Law — Indigenous Ancestral Jurisdiction Act — Autonomous Indigenous Communities Protection Statute — Maritime and Insular Historical Instrument — Western Coastal Access and Sea-Rights Law

Normative Rank: Entrenched Constitutional Instrument of Indigenous Territorial and Maritime Organization

Institutional Status: Permanent — Constitutionally Entrenched — Directly Applicable within Xaragua — Binding upon All Authorities, Officers, Institutions, Registers, and Jurisdictions of Xaragua

Principal Historical Territory: Port-de-Paix — Île de la Tortue — North-Western Littoral — Upper Artibonite — Associated Mountain, Riverine, Coastal, and Island Communities

Distinct Western Maritime Territory: Western Coast of Ancestral Xaragua — Bays, Coves, Anchorages, Landing Points, Maritime Corridors, Coastal Sites, and Sea-Access Zones, including the maritime approaches of the Bay of Port-au-Prince

Constitutional Function: Preservation and Exercise of the Original Indigenous Territorial Jurisdiction of Xaragua — Protection of Autonomous Indigenous Communities — Maintenance of Ancestral Coastal and Maritime Rights — Historical, Archaeological, Academic, Environmental, and Economic Administration without Direct Ordinary Government of Exogenous Civil Populations

PREAMBLE

The Rector-President of the Sovereign Catholic Indigenous and Private State of Xaragua,

Exercising the constituent, constitutional, Indigenous, territorial, maritime, insular, riverine, archival, academic, protective, environmental, and economic authority vested in the Office of the Rector-President;

Acting pursuant to the Constitution, foundational acts, territorial laws, maritime statutes, historical-classification instruments, and institutional regulations of Xaragua;

Recognizing that the island recorded under the Indigenous names Hayti or Ayiti, Bohío, and Quisqueya or Kiskeya possessed organized populations, political authorities, settlements, cultivated territories, fisheries, maritime routes, river systems, inter-island relations, and systems of collective obligation before European intervention;

Recognizing the North-Western region as part of the Indigenous political geography associated with Marién, the western and south-western coast as part of the ancestral territorial order associated with Xaragua, and the Upper Artibonite as an inland, riverine, agricultural, and communications interface among Marién, Maguana, Xaragua, and adjoining communities;

Recognizing Île de la Tortue as an Indigenous maritime territory whose history preceded its Spanish, English, French, and Haytian names and preceded its occupation by European hunters, settlers, sailors, merchants, engagés, boucaniers, flibustiers, privateers, pirates, company agents, and colonial authorities;

Taking institutional notice of the Indigenous government associated with Guacanagarí in Marién and of the political, commercial, maritime, kinship, and defensive relations maintained among the territories of the island and the wider northern Caribbean;

Recording the arrival of Spanish expeditions on the North-Western coast in December 1492, the imposition of European geographic names, the establishment of colonial claims, and the subsequent military, labor, religious, territorial, and demographic reorganization of the region;

Recording the effects of Spanish warfare, tribute, encomienda, compulsory labor, epidemic disease, missionary administration, land appropriation, population displacement, maritime restrictions, and the suppression or subordination of Indigenous authorities;

Taking institutional notice of the weakening of Spanish settlement in western and North-Western Hayti and the formation during the seventeenth century of a multi-origin, legally differentiated, and politically unstable society on Tortuga and the adjoining mainland;

Recognizing that this society included Indigenous survivors and descendants, Africans and African-descended persons of free, freed, enslaved, fugitive, maritime, military, artisanal, agricultural, commercial, household, and undetermined status, Europeans of free, contractual, dependent, indentured, military, maritime, captive, penal, refugee, and undetermined status, and persons of mixed Indigenous, African, and European descent;

Determining that race, color, ancestry, language, national origin, religion, occupation, legal condition, political allegiance, and degree of personal freedom constituted separate historical categories;

Recognizing that not every African or African-descended person was enslaved, that not every European was free, and that mixed families and Creole communities developed through marriage, informal union, kinship, migration, contract, commerce, military association, maritime labor, enslavement, manumission, coercion, and household incorporation;

Determining that Tortuga shall not be reduced to a pirate settlement, a European colony, a plantation appendage, or a racially binary society;

Taking institutional notice of the distinct legal positions of boucaniers, flibustiers, pirates, commissioned privateers, royal naval forces, colonial soldiers, company agents, settlers, engagés, sailors, servants, captives, enslaved persons, freed persons, fugitives, and autonomous local communities;

Taking institutional notice of Jean Le Vasseur, Fort de Rocher, Spanish counteroffensives, English and French settlements, proprietary and company interests, the government of Bertrand d’Ogeron, and the development of Port-de-Paix beginning in 1665;

Recording the consolidation of French colonial government, the development of plantation agriculture, the expansion of African enslavement, the continued existence of free and freed African-descended populations, and the formation of a differentiated local Creole society;

Recognizing the participation of Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the North-West, and the Upper Artibonite in resistance, the Haytian Revolution, the War of Independence, the independent State of Hayti, the northern State and Kingdom of Hayti, the reunified national administration, and subsequent constitutional governments;

Recognizing that the western coast, including its bays, coves, islands, anchorages, fisheries, river outlets, and maritime approaches, formed part of the ancestral territorial and maritime system of Xaragua;

Taking institutional notice of the subsequent concentration of exogenous and post-Indigenous populations in several western coastal zones, particularly within and around the Bay of Port-au-Prince;

Determining that the demographic transformation of the western coast does not extinguish the original, sovereign, customary, ancestral, and Indigenous maritime jurisdiction of Xaragua;

Determining that Xaragua shall not directly administer the ordinary civil affairs of exogenous populations established within those areas, but shall preserve and exercise its rights through Indigenous communities, coastal sites, bays, coves, ports, landing points, navigation corridors, fisheries, maritime zones, environmental protection, investments, academic institutions, and access to the sea;

Recognizing autonomous Indigenous communities as protected collective institutions possessing their own internal social, cultural, territorial, and customary organization within the constitutional protection of Xaragua;

Determining that the autonomy of Indigenous communities does not create autonomous territorial sovereignty separate from Xaragua and does not diminish the supreme Indigenous jurisdiction of Xaragua;

Hereby adopts and promulgates the present Supreme Constitutional Law.

PART I — OBJECT, SCOPE, AND CONSTITUTIONAL CLASSIFICATION

Article 1 — Object

The present Law establishes the constitutional status, historical record, institutional functions, and maritime organization of:

Port-de-Paix;

Île de la Tortue;

the North-Western littoral;

the Upper Artibonite;

the historically associated mountain, riverine, coastal, and island communities;

the western coast of ancestral Xaragua;

the bays, coves, anchorages, landing points, fisheries, and maritime corridors attached thereto.

Article 2 — Principal Indigenous Territory

Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the North-West, and the Upper Artibonite are constituted within Xaragua as:

THE NORTH-WESTERN, TORTUGAN, AND UPPER ARTIBONITE INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.

Article 3 — Western Maritime Access System

The western coast is constituted within Xaragua as:

THE WESTERN ANCESTRAL MARITIME ACCESS SYSTEM OF XARAGUA.

It shall principally serve territorial access, navigation, fisheries, anchorage, maritime commerce, environmental protection, investment, research, and the exercise of ancestral sea rights.

Article 4 — No Autonomous Territory

Neither the principal jurisdiction nor the Western Maritime Access System is constituted as:

an autonomous territory;

an associated state;

an independent local sovereignty;

a separate constitutional order;

a competing government;

a territorial administration external to Xaragua.

Article 5 — Autonomous Indigenous Communities

Indigenous communities situated within the classified territory may possess autonomous internal institutions concerning:

community membership;

customary leadership;

cultural transmission;

local ceremonies;

community property;

fisheries practices;

environmental stewardship;

traditional knowledge;

internal consultation;

community dispute resolution.

Their autonomy shall operate under the protection, constitutional jurisdiction, and external representation of Xaragua.

Article 6 — Non-Administration of Exogenous Populations

Xaragua shall not, by this Law alone, assume direct ordinary administration over exogenous or non-incorporated civil populations residing within the classified territories.

Ordinary non-assumed functions include:

municipal civil registration;

general electoral administration;

routine policing;

ordinary public education;

ordinary public health;

municipal taxation;

ordinary civil courts;

routine residential services;

general local licensing;

daily municipal infrastructure.

Article 7 — Preservation of Jurisdiction

The absence of direct ordinary administration shall not constitute:

territorial abandonment;

extinguishment of title;

transfer of Indigenous jurisdiction;

recognition of an adverse Indigenous title;

waiver of maritime rights;

relinquishment of historical sites;

renunciation of access to the sea;

acceptance of permanent exclusion from ancestral territory.

Article 8 — Primary Fields of Xaraguayan Action

Xaragua may act through:

protection of autonomous Indigenous communities;

territorial and maritime registration;

historical and archaeological protection;

university institutions;

archives;

fisheries and coastal-resource programs;

ports and landing agreements;

investment;

tourism;

cultural restoration;

environmental protection;

maritime safety;

economic participation;

international Indigenous representation.

PART II — OFFICIAL HISTORICAL NOMENCLATURE

Article 9 — Nomenclature Register

The General Archives shall maintain a permanent Register of Indigenous, Spanish, French, English, and Haytian Territorial Names.

Each entry shall identify:

the recorded name;

language;

geographic application;

approximate period;

documentary source;

spelling variants;

established, probable, traditional, disputed, or unidentified status.

Article 10 — Indigenous Names of the Island

The forms Hayti, Ayiti, Bohío, Quisqueya, and Kiskeya, together with documented variants, shall be preserved as Indigenous names associated with the island.

Article 11 — Colonial and International Names

The following shall be recorded as subsequent designations:

La Española and Española, under Spanish usage;

Santo Domingo, under Spanish colonial usage;

Saint-Domingue, under French colonial usage;

Hispaniola, as a later international geographic form.

Xaragua shall use Hayti in its constitutional and historical instruments.

Article 12 — Marién

Marién shall be entered as the principal recorded Indigenous political-territorial name associated with the North and North-West.

Article 13 — Xaragua and Yaguana

Xaragua, Jaragua, Yaragua, and documented variants shall be preserved as names associated with the western and south-western Indigenous political system.

Yaguana shall be recorded as the principal governmental seat associated with Xaragua and present-day Léogâne.

Article 14 — Tortuga

The official register shall include:

Isla Tortuga and La Tortuga, under Spanish usage;

Île de la Tortue, under French usage;

Tortuga and Turtle Island, under English usage;

Latòti and Île de la Tortue, under Haytian usage.

No unattested Indigenous name shall be declared authentic.

Article 15 — Port-de-Paix

The official register shall include:

Port-de-Paix, as the established French form;

Pòdepè, as the Haytian Creole form;

Spanish names attributed to the bay or surrounding coast, including documented variants of Valparaíso or Puerto de Paz, subject to verification of their precise geographic application.

Article 16 — Môle-Saint-Nicolas

The register shall include:

San Nicolás, Puerto de San Nicolás, and Bahía de San Nicolás, under Spanish usage;

Môle-Saint-Nicolas, under French usage;

Mòl Sen Nikola, under Haytian Creole usage.

Article 17 — Windward Passage

The maritime register shall preserve:

Paso de los Vientos or Canal del Viento;

Passage du Vent;

Windward Passage.

Article 18 — Artibonite

The forms Artibonite, Artibonito, Latibonit, and documented variants shall be preserved with their linguistic and historical classifications.

Article 19 — Unidentified Indigenous Names

Where Indigenous occupation is established but the original local name is not securely documented, the State shall record:

INDIGENOUS OCCUPATION AND TERRITORIAL USE ESTABLISHED — ORIGINAL LOCAL NAME NOT DOCUMENTARILY DETERMINED.

PART III — PRE-COLUMBIAN INDIGENOUS ORDER

Article 20 — Historical Priority

The constitutional history of the territory shall commence before 1492.

European arrival, mapping, naming, occupation, or settlement shall not constitute the origin of the territory.

Article 21 — Indigenous Occupation

Before European intervention, the North-West, Tortuga, Upper Artibonite, and western coast contained:

permanent and seasonal settlements;

cultivated lands;

conucos;

fisheries;

shellfish zones;

freshwater systems;

hunting and collection territories;

canoe routes;

river and mountain corridors;

political jurisdictions;

burial and ceremonial sites;

systems of production, exchange, and collective obligation.

Article 22 — Indigenous Government

Government operated through:

principal cacical authorities;

subordinate caciques;

nitainos and local officeholders;

village authorities;

kinship structures;

agricultural coordination;

redistribution;

diplomatic relations;

defensive mobilization;

customary law;

succession;

preservation of territorial memory.

These functions constitute organized Indigenous government.

Article 23 — Marién

Marién constituted a principal Indigenous political-territorial system associated with northern and North-Western Hayti.

Its relations extended toward:

Cuba;

the Bahamas;

the Windward Passage;

the northern coast;

inland valleys;

mountain corridors;

Artibonite;

neighboring Indigenous territories.

Article 24 — Guacanagarí

Guacanagarí shall be entered into the State Historical Register as a principal governing authority associated with Marién during the initial period of Spanish contact.

The archives shall preserve the documentary record concerning his government, alliances, territorial relations, and interactions with Spanish expeditions.

Article 25 — Pre-Columbian Tortuga

Before European settlement, Tortuga formed part of the Indigenous maritime geography of northern Hayti.

Its functions included or may have included, according to documentary and archaeological evidence:

fishing;

canoe navigation;

marine-resource use;

communication with the mainland;

seasonal or permanent settlement;

collection of freshwater and timber;

observation of the adjacent channel;

use of reefs, beaches, and coastal zones.

Article 26 — Upper Artibonite

The Upper Artibonite constituted an inland and riverine territorial interface supporting:

agriculture;

settlement;

watershed use;

mountain communications;

movement of persons and goods;

political relations among Marién, Maguana, Xaragua, and adjoining communities;

communications between the interior and the coast.

Article 27 — Ancestral Western Coast

The western coast formed part of the ancestral maritime and territorial system of Xaragua through:

coastal settlements;

bays and coves;

fisheries;

canoe routes;

agricultural outlets;

salt and marine-resource zones;

communication with Yaguana;

access to the Gulf of Gonâve;

relations with offshore islands;

connections with the southern peninsula.

Article 28 — Indigenous Economy

Production included, according to locality:

manioc;

maize;

sweet potatoes;

beans;

peppers;

fruits;

cotton;

medicinal plants;

fishing;

shellfish;

salt;

canoe and tool production.

Article 29 — Indigenous Maritime System

The maritime system included:

nearshore and offshore fishing;

inter-island navigation;

transport of persons and goods;

observation of winds and currents;

knowledge of reefs and channels;

access to Cuba and the Bahamas;

political and economic communication;

territorial defense.

Article 30 — Indigenous Continuity

The destruction of formal cacical institutions did not eliminate all Indigenous continuity.

Continuity shall be documented through surviving persons, descendants, mixed families, place names, agricultural knowledge, fisheries, navigation, vocabulary, material culture, and continuing territorial occupation.

PART IV — SPANISH COLONIAL INTERVENTION

Article 31 — Spanish Arrival

The arrival of Spanish expeditions on the North-Western coast in December 1492 commenced an external military, political, religious, economic, and geographic intervention.

Article 32 — La Navidad

La Navidad shall be classified as an attempted Spanish fortified settlement established within the pre-existing Indigenous political geography of Marién.

Article 33 — Spanish Colonial Measures

Spanish authority introduced:

claims of royal sovereignty;

military occupation;

compulsory tribute;

encomienda;

forced labor;

missionary administration;

land appropriation;

population displacement;

colonial courts;

maritime restrictions;

suppression of Indigenous authorities;

regulation of production and commerce.

Article 34 — Demographic Destruction

Warfare, forced labor, disease, displacement, malnutrition, and disruption of Indigenous production caused a major reduction of the Indigenous population.

Population loss shall not be interpreted as the disappearance of all Indigenous descendants or territorial rights.

Article 35 — Livestock and Hunting Territories

The introduction and multiplication of cattle, pigs, and other livestock transformed the region and subsequently supported the hunting economy of boucaniers operating outside effective Spanish control.

Article 36 — Spanish Maritime Policy

Spanish authorities attempted to preserve control over navigation, trade, settlement, ports, taxation, and relations with foreign Europeans.

Article 37 — Devastations and Withdrawal

The forced-relocation policies associated with the Devastations of Osorio weakened Spanish settlement in western and North-Western Hayti and facilitated the establishment of foreign hunters, cultivators, merchants, smugglers, and maritime groups.

PART V — TORTUGA: MULTI-ORIGIN POPULATION AND SOCIAL FORMATION

Article 38 — Multi-Origin Society

Seventeenth-century Tortuga developed as a multi-origin society composed of:

Indigenous survivors and descendants;

French settlers;

English settlers;

Dutch sailors and merchants;

other Europeans;

Africans and African-descended persons;

mixed Indigenous, African, and European families;

locally born Creoles;

religious refugees;

migrants, captives, fugitives, and displaced persons.

Article 39 — Separation of Historical Categories

The following categories shall be treated separately:

ancestry;

color;

geographic origin;

language;

religion;

freedom or enslavement;

contractual condition;

occupation;

military status;

political allegiance;

property status;

community membership.

Article 40 — African and African-Descended Persons

Africans and persons of African descent included persons who were:

free;

enslaved;

freed;

maroons;

fugitives;

sailors;

soldiers;

craftsmen;

cultivators;

merchants or intermediaries;

maritime workers;

members of mixed households;

persons of changing or undetermined status.

African origin shall not constitute automatic evidence of enslavement.

Article 41 — Europeans

Europeans included persons who were:

free settlers;

engagés;

servants;

debtors;

prisoners;

deportees;

coerced recruits;

subordinate sailors;

soldiers under command;

refugees;

fugitives;

dependent workers;

persons of changing or undetermined status.

European origin shall not constitute automatic evidence of freedom.

Article 42 — Indigenous Persons and Descendants

Indigenous persons and descendants may have appeared as:

members of surviving communities;

free persons;

coerced laborers;

captives;

cultivators;

fishers;

guides;

interpreters;

sailors;

spouses and relatives within mixed families;

persons incorporated into African, European, or Creole communities.

Article 43 — Mixed Families

Mixed families developed through:

marriage;

informal union;

kinship;

adoption;

household incorporation;

alliance;

migration;

maritime employment;

military association;

commerce;

enslavement and manumission;

coercion.

No uniform legal or social character shall be attributed to every mixed household.

Article 44 — Mobility of Status

A person’s status could change through:

completion or transfer of an engagement;

capture;

escape;

manumission;

military service;

maritime employment;

marriage;

migration;

change of occupying authority;

gubernatorial or judicial decision;

community recognition;

acquisition or loss of property.

Article 45 — Individual Classification

No person shall be classified as free, enslaved, engaged, captive, pirate, privateer, settler, or subject of a state solely on the basis of race, color, surname, ancestry, occupation, or residence.

PART VI — BOUCANIERS, FLIBUSTIERS, PRIVATEERS, AND PIRATES

Article 46 — Boucaniers

Boucaniers were principally hunters and processors of meat and hides using the boucan method.

A boucanier was not automatically a pirate or state combatant.

Article 47 — Flibustiers

Flibustiers were maritime raiders whose legal status depended upon commissions, wars, targets, territorial scope, and recognition by competing powers.

Article 48 — Privateers and Corsairs

Privateers or corsairs operated privately owned armed vessels under commissions or letters of marque issued by public authorities.

Article 49 — Pirates

Pirates conducted maritime robbery, seizure, or violence for private purposes without lawful authorization recognized by the prosecuting authority.

Article 50 — Royal Naval Forces

Royal naval forces acted directly under state command and shall be distinguished from privateers.

Article 51 — Chartered Companies

Chartered companies exercised powers derived from public concessions and shall be distinguished from the Crown, royal navy, independent settlers, and pirate associations.

Article 52 — Competing Classifications

A person authorized by one power could be treated as a pirate by another.

The archives shall identify the issuing authority, commission, conflict, targets, conduct, and competing legal classifications.

PART VII — FORTIFIED GOVERNMENT AND COLONIAL CONFLICT

Article 53 — Jean Le Vasseur

The government associated with Jean Le Vasseur during the 1640s shall be recorded as a principal stage in the fortified organization of Tortuga.

Article 54 — Fort de Rocher

Fort de Rocher is classified as:

a fortified governmental site;

a military installation;

a maritime-control position;

evidence of European competition;

a protected archaeological jurisdiction.

Article 55 — Spanish Counteroffensives

Spanish attacks sought to remove foreign settlers, destroy fortifications, suppress contraband, terminate maritime raids, and restore Spanish control.

The major assault of 1654 shall form part of the permanent military record.

Article 56 — Changes of Control

The General Archives shall maintain a chronological record of French, English, Spanish, proprietary, company, gubernatorial, and royal authority over Tortuga.

PART VIII — HUGUENOTS, ENGAGÉS, AND LABOR SYSTEMS

Article 57 — French Protestant Presence

French Protestants participated in Caribbean networks of settlement, commerce, cultivation, navigation, and privateering.

No French resident shall be classified as Huguenot without evidence.

Article 58 — Religious Displacement

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685 contributed to the departure, concealment, forced conversion, and international displacement of French Protestants.

Article 59 — Engagés

Engagés were persons bound by fixed-term labor contracts, frequently for three years, in exchange for transportation, maintenance, and eventual release or compensation.

Article 60 — Conditions of Engagement

The archives shall document:

recruitment;

coercion;

transfer of contracts;

physical punishment;

restrictions on movement;

excessive labor;

extension of service;

mortality;

escape;

release.

European contractual status did not necessarily provide practical freedom.

Article 61 — Expansion of African Enslavement

The expansion of plantations increased the forced transportation and hereditary enslavement of Africans.

The system imposed sale, transfer, compulsory labor, racial classification, restrictions on family life, denial of legal capacity, and colonial policing.

Article 62 — Free and Freed Populations

The expansion of slavery did not eliminate the presence of free-born, manumitted, fugitive, maroon, maritime, military, artisanal, agricultural, commercial, or property-holding African-descended persons.

PART IX — PORT-DE-PAIX AND FRENCH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT

Article 63 — Establishment of Port-de-Paix

Port-de-Paix developed beginning in 1665 as a French mainland settlement and governmental center under the authority associated with Bertrand d’Ogeron.

Article 64 — Government of Bertrand d’Ogeron

The administration pursued:

permanent settlement;

agricultural expansion;

population recruitment;

regulation of maritime actors;

development of ports;

extension of gubernatorial authority;

relations with companies;

consolidation of French control.

Article 65 — Colonial Institutions

French colonial government operated through governors, military commanders, company officials, courts, parishes, customs authorities, fiscal regulations, colonial ordinances, royal commissioners, metropolitan ministries, and naval forces.

Article 66 — Governmental Seat

Port-de-Paix exercised principal governmental functions in the developing French colony before the transfer of the principal northern seat to Cap-Français in 1711.

Article 67 — Treaty of Ryswick

The Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 shall be recorded as the principal European interstate instrument recognizing French possession in western Hispaniola.

PART X — CREOLE SOCIETY, SLAVERY, FREEDOM, AND RESISTANCE

Article 68 — Creole Population Formation

The interaction of Indigenous, African, European, and mixed populations contributed to the formation of a locally constituted Creole society possessing:

territorial knowledge;

maritime skills;

agricultural practices;

multilingual influences;

kinship networks;

commercial relations;

military experience;

local cultural institutions.

Article 69 — No Racial Presumption

Official records shall not state or imply that:

every Black person was enslaved;

every White person was free;

every mixed person possessed an intermediate status;

every Indigenous person disappeared;

ancestry alone determined legal capacity or political position.

Article 70 — Intermediate and Disputed Conditions

The archives shall document conditional freedom, disputed manumission, temporary captivity, contractual dependence, military exemption, fugitive status, foreign protection, maritime service, and other conditions not reducible to a binary classification.

Article 71 — Resistance

Resistance included:

escape;

marronage;

refusal of labor;

armed revolt;

maritime flight;

prohibited commerce;

destruction of colonial property;

preservation of independent networks;

military participation;

formation of independent rural and maritime communities.

PART XI — HAYTIAN REVOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE

Article 72 — Revolutionary Transformation

The general uprising beginning in 1791 initiated the destruction of the colonial slaveholding order.

The North-West became contested by insurgent forces, colonial authorities, French republican commissioners, Spanish forces, British forces, autonomous commanders, cultivators, maroons, and foreign naval forces.

Article 73 — Strategic Functions

The North-West possessed strategic importance through Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the Windward Passage, proximity to Cuba, mountain routes, agricultural supply, coastal communications, maritime landings, and access to Artibonite.

Article 74 — French Expedition of 1802

The French expedition of 1802 sought to restore direct metropolitan authority and subordinate the military order established in Saint-Domingue.

Article 75 — François Capois

François Capois, known as Capois-la-Mort, shall be entered into the State Military Register as a native of the Port-de-Paix region, a revolutionary officer, and a principal commander of the War of Independence.

Article 76 — Independence

The Declaration of Independence of 1 January 1804 terminated French colonial government and incorporated Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the North-West, the Upper Artibonite approaches, and the western coastal system into the independent State of Hayti.

PART XII — POST-INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

Article 77 — Government under Dessalines

Following the termination of French colonial government and the proclamation of independence on 1 January 1804, Port-de-Paix, Île de la Tortue, the North-Western littoral, the Upper Artibonite approaches, and the western coastal system formed part of the territorial, military, maritime, agricultural, and administrative order established under Governor-General and subsequently Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

The region retained and developed functions concerning:

territorial defense;

port administration;

coastal surveillance;

military communications;

agricultural production;

internal and maritime commerce;

navigation through the Windward Passage;

relations with Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the wider Caribbean;

control of roads and mountain corridors connecting the coast with the interior;

maintenance of the territorial unity of the independent State of Hayti.

Article 78 — Constitutional Division of 1806

Following the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines in October 1806, Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the North-West, and the northern approaches were incorporated into the constitutional and administrative arrangements established under the Constitution of 1806.

Article 79 — Northern State and Kingdom

The North-West subsequently formed part of the northern State of Hayti and Kingdom of Hayti under Henry Christophe.

Article 80 — Reunification

Following the termination of the northern monarchy in 1820, the region was incorporated into the reunified national administration under Jean-Pierre Boyer.

Article 81 — Nineteenth-Century Functions

Port-de-Paix retained its functions as a port, military jurisdiction, commercial center, agricultural outlet, regional administrative seat, interface with Tortuga, and point of Caribbean communication.

Article 82 — United States Occupation

From 1915 to 1934, the North-West and Upper Artibonite were subjected to the financial, military, policing, labor, road, customs, and administrative systems of the United States occupation.

Article 83 — Contemporary Position

Port-de-Paix remains the principal urban and port center of the North-West, while Tortuga maintains a distinct insular, maritime, fisheries, and historical identity.

PART XIII — PROTECTION OF AUTONOMOUS INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

Article 84 — Recognition

Xaragua may recognize autonomous Indigenous communities situated within the North-West, Tortuga, Upper Artibonite, and western coastal system.

Article 85 — Community Autonomy

Recognized communities may regulate their internal cultural, customary, social, environmental, fisheries, property, membership, and ceremonial affairs through their own institutions.

Article 86 — Protection by Xaragua

Xaragua shall protect recognized Indigenous communities against:

forced displacement;

unauthorized land appropriation;

destruction of historical sites;

unlawful removal of archaeological materials;

exclusion from traditional fisheries;

appropriation of traditional knowledge;

involuntary assimilation;

unauthorized commercial exploitation of cultural identity.

Article 87 — Representation

Xaragua may represent or assist a recognized community in external, academic, cultural, environmental, economic, or Indigenous-rights matters at the request of the community or pursuant to a standing constitutional instrument.

Article 88 — Non-Substitution

Protection, financing, investment, or external representation by Xaragua shall not replace the internal institutions of the recognized Indigenous community.

Article 89 — No Separate Sovereignty

Community autonomy shall not create a sovereign territory, independent state, or constitutional order separate from Xaragua.

PART XIV — WESTERN ANCESTRAL MARITIME ACCESS SYSTEM

Article 90 — Historical Status of the Western Coast

The western coast is recorded as a component of the ancestral territorial and maritime order of Xaragua.

This status includes the Bay of Port-au-Prince and other western coastal spaces historically connected with Yaguana, the Region of the Palmes, the Gulf of Gonâve, Miragoâne, and the Grand South.

Article 91 — Demographic Transformation

The establishment and concentration of exogenous and post-Indigenous populations, particularly in the Bay of Port-au-Prince, altered the demographic and administrative structure of the western coast.

Such transformation shall not extinguish the original Indigenous jurisdiction of Xaragua.

Article 92 — No Direct Administration of Exogenous Populations

Xaragua shall not directly administer the ordinary civil affairs of exogenous or non-incorporated populations established within the Western Maritime Access System.

Article 93 — Original Ancestral Right

Xaragua permanently preserves its:

original territorial right;

sovereign customary Indigenous jurisdiction;

ancestral coastal title;

right of access to the sea;

right to maintain maritime communities;

right to protect historical and archaeological sites;

right to use bays, coves, anchorages, and landing points;

right to participate in coastal investment and economic development;

right to protect marine and coastal resources;

right to maintain maritime claims and registers.

Article 94 — Functional Character

The Western Maritime Access System shall not be organized as a continuous civil-administration district.

It shall operate principally through designated:

bays;

coves;

anchorages;

ports;

beaches and landing points;

maritime corridors;

fisheries;

island connections;

historical sites;

institutional properties;

economic projects;

environmental zones.

Article 95 — Bay of Port-au-Prince

The presence of a large exogenous population within the Bay of Port-au-Prince shall not eliminate the ancestral maritime character of the bay.

Xaragua’s functions within the bay shall principally concern:

access points;

navigation;

maritime corridors;

coastal heritage;

environmental protection;

fisheries;

institutional investments;

historical sites;

relations with Indigenous and maritime communities;

access to the Gulf of Gonâve.

Article 96 — Territorial Access Points

An access point may consist of:

an anchorage;

a landing site;

a wharf;

a ferry terminal;

a fishing station;

a research facility;

an emergency shelter;

a cultural or historical site;

an institutional property;

a maritime logistics installation.

Article 97 — No Abandonment through Discontinuous Use

The exercise of jurisdiction through separate access points rather than continuous direct civil administration shall not constitute fragmentation, abandonment, or renunciation of the underlying Indigenous territorial title.

PART XV — SEA RIGHTS AND MARITIME JURISDICTION

Article 98 — Ancestral Relationship with the Sea

The sea, littoral, fisheries, reefs, channels, islands, and maritime routes attached to the ancestral territory form part of the Indigenous territorial system of Xaragua.

Article 99 — Maritime Zones

Xaragua shall maintain constitutional and technical records concerning:

internal waters;

baselines;

territorial sea;

contiguous maritime interests;

exclusive economic zone interests;

continental-shelf interests;

fisheries zones;

navigation corridors;

marine-conservation zones;

submerged archaeological territories.

Article 100 — Exclusive Economic Zone

The exclusive economic zone claimed or maintained by Xaragua shall be treated as a maritime zone connected to its ancestral coasts, islands, communities, economic rights, marine resources, and constitutional territorial order.

Article 101 — Bays, Coves, and Anchorages

Xaragua may classify, use, protect, develop, finance, or participate in bays, coves, roadsteads, and anchorages through institutional acts, property rights, community arrangements, investment instruments, or maritime agreements.

Article 102 — Fisheries

Xaragua may establish fisheries programs concerning:

traditional access;

food security;

conservation;

processing;

markets;

vessel safety;

fishing equipment;

marine research;

protected species;

community economic participation.

Article 103 — Maritime Communities

Xaragua may recognize and protect maritime communities engaged in fishing, navigation, boat construction, coastal transport, environmental stewardship, marine research, rescue, and transmission of maritime knowledge.

Article 104 — Maritime Safety

Xaraguayan institutions may maintain capacities concerning navigation, emergency communications, search and rescue, evacuation, hydrographic information, disaster logistics, and protection of maritime sites.

PART XVI — INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION

Article 105 — Power to Invest

Xaragua may invest within Port-de-Paix, Tortuga, the North-West, Upper Artibonite, and the Western Maritime Access System without assuming direct ordinary administration of the surrounding civil population.

Article 106 — Authorized Sectors

Investment may concern:

fisheries;

agriculture;

water systems;

renewable energy;

port and landing infrastructure;

ferries and coastal transport;

boat construction and repair;

storage;

food processing;

telecommunications;

historical restoration;

archaeological protection;

cultural and ecological tourism;

university and research facilities;

emergency infrastructure.

Article 107 — Community Participation

Projects affecting a recognized Indigenous community shall provide for its participation, consultation, economic benefit, protection of community property, and preservation of traditional knowledge.

Article 108 — Investment without Political Substitution

Ownership, financing, technical assistance, or economic participation by Xaragua shall not automatically create direct municipal government over non-incorporated populations.

Article 109 — Historical Tourism

Historical tourism may include:

Marién;

Indigenous maritime routes;

Tortuga before European settlement;

boucaniers;

flibustiers;

privateering and piracy;

Fort de Rocher;

Huguenot migration;

engagés;

African and Creole population formation;

slavery, freedom, and resistance;

the Haytian Revolution;

François Capois;

maritime archaeology.

Documentary history shall be distinguished from commercial legend.

PART XVII — HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND ARCHIVAL GOVERNANCE

Article 110 — Protected Historical Landscape

Protected sites may include:

Indigenous settlements;

conucos;

burial sites;

canoe routes;

colonial contact zones;

early European settlements;

forts;

ports;

plantations;

maroon sites;

revolutionary sites;

shipwrecks;

historic roads;

cultural landscapes.

Article 111 — Archaeological Authorization

No archaeological material shall be removed, sold, exported, altered, or commercially exploited under Xaraguayan authority without prior authorization, documentation, conservation, custody, archival deposit, and protection of human remains.

Article 112 — Population and Legal-Status Register

The General Archives shall separately document:

Indigenous persons and descendants;

free persons;

enslaved persons;

freed persons;

engagés;

servants;

sailors;

soldiers;

captives;

fugitives;

maroons;

mixed families;

persons of disputed or undetermined status.

Article 113 — Evidentiary Standard

Race, color, surname, ancestry, religion, occupation, or national origin shall not substitute for evidence of legal condition.

Where the condition cannot be established, the record shall state:

LEGAL CONDITION UNDETERMINED ON THE AVAILABLE DOCUMENTARY RECORD.

Article 114 — State Archives

Authoritative or certified records may be maintained at:

Miragoâne;

Port-de-Paix;

Tortuga;

the Upper Artibonite;