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Britain feared Haitians would ‘swamp’ tax haven after US-backed coup
Former prime minister John Major rejected the US request to take in Haitai refugees in 1992

BRITISH diplomats were terrified that one of their Caribbean tax havens would be overwhelmed by refugees from Haiti, newly revealed papers show.

Haiti’s first democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a US-backed coup in 1991.

The military takeover forced thousands to flee. By 1992 the US was desperately asking the British Foreign Office if it could build a screening centre on the neighbouring British territory of Turks and Caicos Islands.

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