The demons won.

Too few Marines [in the Haitian occupation of the 1920s] appreciated the religious and cultural factors at play in Haiti, such as—most notably for purposes of this article—the practice of Voodoo. To read Brigadier General John H. Russell’s evaluations during his tenure as high commissioner in the 1920s, Haiti went from a nation where “Vaudoism was rife and Human sacrifice was not uncommon” to a nation that benefited from “the introduction of the tenets of modern civilization” that “has done much to stamp out this Horrible Practice.”

Reality proved to be different, however. The Marines failed to suppress Voodoo; instead, they alienated many otherwise dis- passionate Haitians. The Marines rarely grasped how or why this religion was so central to Haitian life. Such confusions in turn restricted and ultimately negated the occupation’s effectiveness in achieving the mission of modernizing and democratizing the nation.

David J. Ulbrich, PhD
https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MCH/Marine-Corps-History-Winter-2019/Stability-or-Disruption-The-US-Marine-Occupation-and-the-Voodoo-Trials-in-Haiti-192630/