Haiti: a democratic transition?
HAITI santry (taxes for moving animals, market taxes, taxes for passes...) and constitute a good part of state revenues. Obviously, they embezzle whatever money they need. They are more like racketeers than tax collectors. They are supported by numerous deputies, who constitute uncontrollable gangs. Along with the big landowners, the moneylenders, and the judges, the section
ON MARCH 10, General Prosper Avril, president of Haiti's military government since the coup of September 17, 1988, was forced to resign following a week of demonstrations that had left at least 20 people dead. Avril left Haiti for Florida on a
U.S. Air Force plane two days later. Meanwhile, Erta Pascal
Trouillot, the only woman on the Haitian Supreme Court, has emerged from negotiations between the opposition and the military as a caretaker president until elections can be held within the next 90 days. However, Haiti remains tense and rumours of a counter-coup abound. The following article, written before the fall of Avril, graphically underlines the difficulties which any "democratic transition" in Haiti will face.
ARTHUR MAHON component of the alliance dominates the import-export activities. It has its origins in the bourgeoisie, often of foreign origin, which grew up in the shadow of the U.S.
occupation (1915-1934) and led the country after this. The big coffee exporters form the nucleus of this fraction.
They were for a brief period badly treated by François Duvalier. But the regime needs them. They have always succeeded in maintaining their influence within the state apparatus and have simply had to cede a little space to the Duvalierist entrepreneurs. The coffee sector is in decline, and the exporters are looking for new sources of profit in industry and the service sector. Linked to agricultural activities, they are in contact with the notables and grandees of the rural world and share their concerns. These two sectors are fundamentally conservative and above all are seeking stability.
They support, not without some reservaadvanced by the U.S. experts for 20 years
- the abolition of all obstacles to the development of an economy based on economic liberalism and the import of foreign capital. Such a course would hit hardest the peasant sector and food-producing activities. The American plan enjoys the support of the "liberal" wing of the bourgeoisie above all. This latter, which suffered particularly under the
François
Duvalier regime, profitably invested some of its capital abroad and returned to Haiti under Jean-Claude, whilst keeping one foot outside the country. It has invested notably in the assembly plants, often in association with U.S. capital. Faced with the growing crisis of traditional agriculture, many capitalists wish to invest in the new economic sectors (subcontracting, tourism, services, representation of foreign firms). But there isn't enough room for everyone. And thiş wing of the bourgeoisie resents the fact that the Duvalierists use their control of the state apparatus to compete with them.
There is a sector of the bourgeoisie which the American plan, applied with force in 1986 and 1987, in no way assists This is the sector of the "new Duvalierist bourgeoisie" which developed under the protection of François Duvalier, basing itself on a protectionist economic policy (in force until the end of the 1960s). Already under Jean-Claude Duvalier, this sector was opposed to the economic turn that began the shift towards economic liberalism and the penetration of foreign capital. The American plan also worried some big landowners and village notables, who have traditionally dominated the countryside. Along bourgeoisie which constituted the administration under the dictatorship, social layers made up Duvalier's base: Whilst undoubtedly in decline, they maintained a considerable social weight.
### American plan implies administrative reform
The implementation of the American plan would imply an administrative reform and the dumping of a considerable part of its personnel. It would imply also an attack on the system of "section chiefs" in the countryside — "sheriffs" with total power, even including judicial power, in their zones of activity. They are responsible for the collection of the multiplicity of taxes which weigh on the peachiefs are part of the notables of the coun tryside. These last often have family links, and they constitute a veritable local mafia, holding in their hands all the essentials of power, economic as much as political. Uprooting this system would be a difficult task.
Rich pickings from state apparatus
In a society as impoverished as Haiti, where the economy is in profound crisis, the state apparatus is a stake of considerable value. It is virtually an economic sector in itself. It is a supplier of jobs. In Haiti, a dozen people live off one salary. The state, then, is the inexhaustible source that sustains an economy of total corrup unlike the tontons-macoutes, profited relatively little from the state. During the four years it has been in power, all the rackets have served to enrich it. Today, it is not even a question of embezzlement of funds - the Presidential Guard constitutes General Avril's power base openly helps itself from the state coffers. It is out of the question that it should give up such a pot of gold!
In these conditions, who in the dominant classes and the state apparatus is interested in free elections? In the final count, very few people - the "liberal" wing of the bourgeoisie, and the layers of the middle bourgeoisie who trail in its wake. The other sectors are bound by too many common interests to risk upheavals.
After the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, in February 1986, the "liberal" wing of the bourgeoisie thought that it could take control of the state apparatus. In spite of the obstacles created by the regime of General Namphy, it managed to have a constitution, the text of which was written by its supporters, put to the vote at a referendum in March 1987. One of its articles envisaged a ten year period during which those implicated in the Duvalier era would not be able to hold elected office. When this constitution was approved by an overwhelming percentage of voters, many thought that a page was being turned in the history of Haiti.
Unfortunately this belief was based on a misunderstanding of the text of this constitution and of the fact that free elections were unacceptable for the Duvalierists. It also involved a grave underestimation of their strength and the social sectors which supported them. The trial of strength came during the summer of 1987. After having banned a trade union federation, General
----- photo credits and running heads -----
9
International Viewpoint #181 • March 26, 1990