And in his speech on December 23, announcement of the election results, he spoke both as the future president and guarantor of the institutions and the constitution, and as a militant for the country's future depended on the population's ability to develop autonomous forms of organization. In this things in hand, rich and poor; set up good neighbourhood brigades, good cleanup brigades; link up the organizations in the cities with those in the countryside. In this way there will be an avalanche of organizations much beloved Without this, the country will be like an empty bag, and an
EST Le POUVOIR D'UN PeUPLE empty bag cannot stay upright." On February 4, 1991, three days before officially becoming president, he that "operation lavalas" was finished and called for the building of a "lavalas organization".
In reality, the socio-economic crisis is so deep, the social inequalities so wide and the degree of dependence such that any serious reform runs up against a chain of problems.
Once at the head of the Haitian state, Aristide found himself in an extremely complicated situation. He faced:
• A state apparatus and administration forged by more than 30 years of Duvali-
• An unfavourable international situa-
• A greedy, parasitical bourgeoisie, lacking in entrepreneurial initiative.
• The absence of a structured mass
• A newly elected National Assembly and Senate, composed of mediocre climbers. This is especially true for the
Senate.
Thus, at the same moment as
Aristide announced that he would give his presidential salary to the poor if it was not reduced, the senators were putting in a claim for $7,000 a month and a fleet of
33 cars costed at $40,000 apiece. And this was despite the fact that 13 of the 27 senators were elected with Aristide on the
National Front for Change and Democracy (FNCD) ticket. In truth, they were elected because their voting slip had the same imprint (a cock) as Aristide's.
Freeloaders on the Aristide ticket
Most of them had never been members of the small organizations making up the
FNCD and some found themselves on the lists because they had not been able to get onto the lists of other organizations. One of the reasons for this is that the main organization in the FNCD, the KONA-
KOM (left-wing social democrat), called on its militants to withdraw from the elections because the FNCD had decided to stand Aristide rather than a KONAKOM leader.
Aristide does not seem to have great confidence in the FNCD, since none of its leaders has been invited into the government.
Since then, the FNCD has waged endless small campaigns against the government named by Aristide, while officially declaring its support for it. Some of its militants have made it clear that their objective is to get control of the state apparatus, which they consider their right.
If Aristide cannot rely on the political organization that supported him, he can expect even less from the Haitian Communist
Party (PUCH). After the election 25
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written in the 1987 constitution on, for example, the separation of the army and Besides the improvisory character of the electoral campaign there were three other deeper reasons for this. The first lay in Aristide's own political project. He explained that he himself would have pre- ferred a "people's revolution", but what
HAITI of Aristide, this organization has mainattitude of outright hostility tained the that it showed when he announced his candidacy. On many occasions, at the bidding of bourgeois politicians, it has denounced Aristide's attacks on democracy. Thus, it kicked up a fuss over the arrest of the former provisional president, Ertha Pascale Trouillot, accused of complicity in Lafontant's coup attempt. The PUCH considered that the arrest of a former president was a dangerous precedent — a view also taken by the Western embas-
So far, the Lavalas government has adopted what can only be described as a low profile. Priority has been given to the
"deduvalierization"
administration. The latter is proceeding slowly, since it is difficult in a few weeks to replace people from the former regime by competent supporters of the Lavalas government. This is a serious problem.
The struggle against corruption, contraband, and practices inherited from the past has, nonetheless, permitted steps for-
The army has been much weakened by the four years of military government. It has been deeply divided by the coups which characterized that period. After the forced departure of General Avril in March 1990, the Duvalierists lost direct control of the army to the benefit of offiwith the United States. This is one of the reasons why the elections took place. Profiting from this disarray and the relation of forces created by the semi-insurrection of January 7, 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide pulled off a when he assumed office on February 7. He closed his unusual inaugural address by sacking the army chief of staff in front of tens of thousands of people, and pensioning off six of the eight top army officers.
However, in exchange, he had to accept the appointment of figures tied to the US to key posts. And he has done his best to restore the army's prestige. From the start of the election campaign, he called for "a marriage between the people and the army" although the latter had not been purged. And when he said in his February 7 speech that the army had the Lafontant coup, this was far from the truth; the army hesitated a long time before intervening and nobody can be sure what it would have done if the people had not covered Port-au-Prince with burning barricades. In any case, Aristide has succeeded in gaining the confidence of much of the army rank-and-file and officers. This has enabled him to take some steps forward. In the cities, the army has disarmed several terrorist bands, while in the countryside the section chiefs, named by the army, whose writ was law, have been put under the authority of the justice ministry, and have given up at least some of their arms. The personnel of the section chiefs is being changed.
### Army plays traditional repressive role
The Duvalierist sectors of the army are on the defensive. But this does not mean that the army has ceased to play its traditional repressive role in the land strugdenounce speculators, and from time to time, in support of bosses against workward, among them the collection of record tax revenues. "Two wings of the same bird"
WE publish here the message from Father Aristide to the Dominican people, issued on June 21, 1991 at the time of the deportation of Haitians without proper papers from the Dominican Republic to Haiti.
THE Haitian people and the Dominican people are two wings of the same bird. Fragments of the great Caribbean nation, we are two proud peoples, fighting tirelessly for liberty, national independence and
The Haltlan people solemnly declares to the Dominican people that respect for human rights is an invariable line of its government's pollcy. It also solemnly declares that the exercise of national sovereignty is nothing other than an Instrument for the defence of human rights and cannot be used for the oppression of workers, children and old people.
Peoples should not treat their guests, however poor they are, inhu-
Our people express their solidarity with all Dominicans and above all those Dominican men and women who earn their living here. We share what little we have with them, and will never, we repeat never, profit
Our national identity has been forged in the struggle of the disinherited of diverse tribes and peoples from Africa and Europe, and we do not fear enrichment by the contributions of foreigners that come amongst us. We defend our sovereignty while defending the oppressed without distinction of race, colour, ideology, nationality and religion, for we have struggled throughout our history for the defence of the elementary principles of the rights of workers and of the human personality.
In these difficult hours for our two nations, the government of the
Republic of Haiti, leaves open its doors for dialogue. The first independent state in Latin America, Haiti Is jealous of its sovereignty, but will never, in the name of that sovereignty, attack the rights of children, women, workers and old people.
Alone, we are weak; in solidarity throughout the Caribbean we are strong; in solidarity throughout the Americas we are a power for right, 26 peace, social justice and liberty. * International Viewpoint #211 • July 22, 1991 been in the street with the people during ers. And the Aristide/army marriage is unlikely to prove solid if the president's popular support weakens or if the government comes into conflict with the oligarchy or US imperialism.
Outside the cities, people have shown great patience, despite the slow pace of change. In the cities, on the other hand, the sudden rise in the prices of basic products and the incessant power cuts gave rise to a feeling of dissatisfaction from
Thus in the city of Cap Haitien a vigorous demonstration directed at the big traders forced a sharp cut in prices that had rocketed in the preceding days. A significant rise in the minimum wage in industry was decreed by the executive, but this law was held up in parliament and will only come into force in
The make-up of the government reflects its low profile. Since no party won a clear victory in the parliamentary elections, Aristide had a free hand in choosing as prime minister one of his inner circle, René Préval, a long time anti-Duvalierist militant. At that time, popular support for Aristide was at its height (it remains very strong) and the parliament had to accept Aristide's decision. René Préval is also in charge of the interior and defence ministries. People with Aristide's confidence were also installed in other ministries which deal with the state apparatus. At the same time, some ministries - such as Economy and Finance, Trade, Justice and National Education — have been given to people who might turn up in any classic
It is sometimes said that Aristide's policy is to combine a government with a moderate appearance with the development of a mass movement. But the past,