"Don't forget that since 1915, the Pentagon has always controlled this country one way or another."

On the surface, the future would seem pregnant with promise for ti legliz (Creole for the little church), the movement of the poor Haitian Catholics that gave birth to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In the presidential elections scheduled for December 17, Aristide's former prime minister and friend René Préval is favored by nearly all observers to win by a wide margin. Aristide and Préval's party, the Lavalas Political Organization (OPL is the French acronym) already holds commanding majorities in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The everyday fear of torture or death has receded for most. And to the north in Washington, despite some frictions, the Clinton administration backed Aristide's return to power with U.S. troops.

Below the surface, however, deep tensions threaten Haiti's progress towards democracy, Soler said. The priest, along with many of his colleagues, believes that the 1991 coup that ousted Aristide was at least tacitly approved by the U.S. Embassy. But after three years of military government, "the pot of popular sentiment was about to boil over. The U.S. had to go with Aristide as the lesser of two evils. They managed to control Titid (Aristide's nickname) for a certain time with money, but they didn't succeed in controlling him for very long. Now, with Préval [the favored candidate in the December 17 presidential elections], it will be worse."

Washington, Soler maintains, is afraid that a Préval administation will move to bring to justice all the soldiers and paramilitaries implicated in the repression. "What [the U.S. government] wants for Haiti is a régime that looks social-democratic on the surface, but with Pinochet-style repression underneath," he said, referring to the former Chilean dictator. "Don't forget that since 1915, the Pentagon has always controlled this country one way or another."

From 1915 to 1934, U.S. forces occupied Haiti, leaving it in the hands of the gendarmerie, the forerunners of the recently abolished Armed Forces of Haiti. The Duvalier family dictatorship, which ruled from 1957 to 1986, received aid and support from several U.S. administrations. Reports in the New York Times and The Nation and recent statements by a Haitian former CIA agent on "Sixty Minutes" have linked American intelligence services with the Haitian military and death squads.

For historical background on Haiti, see:
Haiti Archives, Americas History section of World History Archives
http://neal.ctstateu.edu/history/world_history/archives/haiti.html

Justice on hold

"The truth is truly an indispensable condition for the durable reestablishment of democracy."

Haitian efforts to bring the torturers and killers to justice have stalled. A National Commission of Truth and Justice has been established by Aristide, but laboring in the smoking ruins of the Haitian justice system, it has made little progress. The United Nations, say many Haitians, has not finished the job of disarmament.

According to the Coalition of Haitian Human Rights Organizations, "More than a year after the return of the democratic process, access to justice is not guaranteed. The possibilities of recourse for the victims of the coup d'état are practically absent." The group criticized the Truth Commission for not working more closely with the populace and with human rights groups, and expressed concern over the consequences of failing to disarm the paramilitary gangs.

In light of the current marked increase in the activities of the paramilitaries, the Coalition said, "failure to disarm also means failure to dismantle the networks of terror that bloodied the country during the coup, and their possible resurgence after the departure of the multinational forces," scheduled for February.

In the words of Philippe Texier, formerly of the United Nations Human Rights Commission: "The truth is truly an indispensable condition for the durable reestablishment of democracy. It is above all a condition for eventual reconciliation and a posteriori pardon. Because you can't pardon when you don't know whom to pardon."

"People are still afraid to speak out," says Father Soler, because they don't know what will happen in two months. In an interview with a ti cominote legliz (Christian base community in Creole) in a Port-au-Prince slum, members did not want to be photographed and spoke guardedly about their activities. Their fear is compounded with growing dissatisfaction with the difficulties of day-to-day survival.

From the bidonvilles to Pétion-Ville

"Haitians are a very pacific people. But to live without water, without light, without anything, it's not possible."

Seventy percent of Haitians are unemployed, including one-and-a-half million in Port-au-Prince's bidonvilles. There, tiny shelters patched together from scraps are jammed cheek to jowl like chicken coops, and streets are an obstacle course of burnt out cars, garbage piles and rutted muck. Open sewers run between houses, and children wash themselves in vile-smelling puddles. A heavily armed new gang known as the Red Army, made up of ex-soldiers and paramilitaries, intimidates the newly trained police force, residents say.

Nearly all of the plants that used to assemble baseballs, garments and other goods for export closed under the coup. Public services are practically non-existent and salaries for those remaining are miniscule: teachers, at the high end, receive $80 to $100 a month.

"Haitians are a very pacific people," said Soler. But to live without water, without light, without anything, it's not possible. The French would never put up with it. I'm afraid that poor people will begin to destroy the houses and cars of the rich just to take out their frustrations."

Up on the hill in the wealthy suburb of Pétion-Ville, "every family has big guns, machine guns. They are very afraid," said Soler. Among Haiti's twenty or thirty families of millionaires, some allegedly raised $40 million to pay for the 1991 coup, according to Soler and other sources.

The Roman Catholic Church, to which the majority of Haitians belong, is also deeply split. With few exceptions, the bishops supported the coup. On the other side, "the Christians who served as the 'voice of the voiceless' were notable targets" of the coup, according to French commentator Benoit Guillou. Now, says Guillou, "the Church ... lies fallow. The credibility of the bishops remains seriously damaged. ... Dialogue between the two currents of the church is practically non-existent. Now, when the democratic construction of the country is at stake, the word 'reconciliation' risks losing its meaning."