**Abstract**

Chinese coolies' hiring during 1847–1853 represents a traumatic historic moment in global labor history. First that all, British and French notions of freedom rejected slavery form of domination, but industrial economies, such as sugar Caribbean enterprise, demanded a cheap labor force. Based on public statements published in British newspapers and private documentation found in Colombian and Cuban archives related to the process of hiring the Chinese labor force, this paper pursues a profound analysis and explanation of the firsts years of coolie contracting, depicting a convulse scenario of disputes among farmers, dealers, and coolies between the frame and the meaning of freedom.

**Keywords:** freedom, coolies, Caribbean economy, labor, slavery
