US satisfied
International Viewpoint #262 December 1994
PRESIDENT Jean-Bertrand
Aristide views his return as
part of the process of Haitian
reconciliation. Reconciliation
with the army, with the
oligarchy, with the political
forces which supported the
coup d'etat and with the
Catholic hierarchy. With each
passing week he speaks less
and less of justice and more
and more of reconciliation.
ARTHUR MAHON argues that
with the collusion of the US
army, the forces of repression
are again holding their heads
high.
F OUR days after his return,
Aristide announced that he had ordered the commanderin-chief of the Haitian army to "make order from disorder". Following the US intervention the army had found itself increasingly weakened by popular protests, to the extent that some journalists had written that it was at an end. However, since his return, Aristide has again given it legitimacy, calling upon the population to "walk hand in hand with both the Haitian and foreign military authorities". Nevertheless, he is not completely naive. He has moved certain high-ranking officers and has profited from the exposure of a piece of corruption to replace General Duperval, the head of the army. The US has refused to make the clean sweep which Aristide wanted, but he appears to have obtained their agreement to a reduction in the size of the army to 1500 men. Prior to the US intervention, and the desertions which followed, its official size was 7500 (although in reality only 3000, according to a number of US experts).Some will be dismissed and will receive an income and retraining from USAID. Most of the others will become members of the new police force. A training-school set up by the US will open its doors in January and
### HAITI will train around 5000 officers, mostly
In the meantime the US is training a provisional police force. At the end of December 3000 soldiers, with a week's training, will be ready to rule over the new order. There are many in Haiti who are worried by the recycling of Haitian soldiers into the new police force. The only soldiers to have been refused are the notorious torturers. Confidence The policy of reconciliation has given fresh confidence to the Haitian soldiers. Certain that they would get away with it, in two towns at least, they have fired on protesters -although in one of the towns the crowd then killed two soldiers. US soldiers stay passive in the face of abuses committed by the Haitian forces of repression. Even more than before the return of Aristide, they are showing solidarity with the FRAPH (Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti) paramilitaries and the officers challenged by the people. US soldiers have even been seen threatening protesters with their weapons. In the north of the country, they have had a local radio station closed down for making proposals deemed "anti-Americans" and denouncing a Haitian officer wellknown for his abuses. At Cap Haitien, they threw tear gas canisters at protesters atter Aristide visited the town. Betore several thousand people he had embraced Bishop Gayot, who, like his colleagues, had colluded with the putschists. A number of those present protested at this and, after he had left, around 2000 people had continued to protest against Gayot. At Haitian Electricity, a worker handcuffed and beaten by US soldiers, after he had occupied, with his colleagues, the office of the new director, whose appointment they found unacceptable. In a number of other businesses and faculties there were calls for the dismissal of senior staff accused of corruption.
Many paramilitries had to beat a retreat during the first few weeks following the arrival of the US troops. They are now again holding their heads high Even in the region surrounding Cap Haitien, which was deserted by soldiers, there is insecurity once more. Aristide recalled that the system of "area chiefs" who made the law in the country, was abolished in 1991. Nevertheless, in many areas of Haiti, and probably most of it, things have continued almost exactly as before. Here, an area chief and his lieutenants lay an ambush for some peasants. There, a deputy mayor is killed and decapitated. In the northwest, US soldiers have ben accused by a parliamentary deputy of having supplied new weapons to an area chief. And according to a senator, more than 200 thousand people who left their homes during the coup to escape repression are still afraid to return.
### Censured
The new government is meant to be a symbol of "national reconciliation". It is led by Smarck Michel, a businessman close to Aristide. He has already censured "destabilising" protests by workers and students. The President would have preferred Claudette Werleigh, who was Foreign Minister for a year, but was opposed by the US and the Haitian oligarchy. Wilthan Lherissson, a retired general, who held high office under Jean-Claude Duvalier and Namphy is Minister for Defence. The former President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Maurice Lafortune, was given the same job. Marc Henri Rousseau became Minister for Public works, Transport and Communications, making him the largest employer in Haiti. When his nomination was announced to the deputies, one of them exclaimed that it was an unacceptable provocation. In fact, the putschists had made Rousseau their Minister of Public Works after the coup d'etat. He was accused of having stolen money from the State coffers during the 1980s and was dismissed for this reason in 1991. As for the US, it has declared itself very satisfied. There now have thirty advisers to the Ministries. *
29