Haiti Seeks Change but Still Looks for Leaders

Seven weeks after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, Haiti is bursting with political energy that has yet to find decisive leadership and clear direction.

Neither the military-led provisional government nor a hodgepodge of would-be civilian leaders have been able so far to harness popular demands for change and progress.

Some Haitians fear that the political confusion is dangerous. Lafontant Joseph, a lawyer and political rights activist, said that politicians need to unite to form “a protective barrier” to prevent widespread disorder and perhaps a new dictatorship.

“We are lucky things have not gotten out of hand,” Joseph said. “But we need to get it organized.”

Mass Demonstrations

Since mid-February, popular unrest has been expressed in a series of mass demonstrations and protests. Thousands of demonstrators last week and early this week chanted demands for a new civilian government.

But politicians have produced no formula for replacing the military in power.

“The military is not perfect, but that does not mean that civilians are going to be better,” said Hubert de Ronceray, a politician with presidential ambitions.

In response to popular unrest, the ruling National Government Council was restructured last week to eliminate unpopular officials who were associated with the fallen regime of President Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Support Asked for Council

De Ronceray said Haitians should support the restructured council, “not because we feel that it will solve problems, but rather to permit the country to move gradually toward democracy without falling into anarchy.”

“There are so many problems in the country now that we need the military in power to keep peace and order,” he told a small group of foreign reporters. “If we call for a civilian government, what authority will it have over the military?”

Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, the president of the council, this week repeated his pledge to hold free elections, but he did not set a date. De Ronceray is one of several politicians who have begun organizing to campaign for the presidency.

He and some of the other potential candidates have said they prefer to wait for elections rather than take part in any provisional civilian government.

Coalition Discussed

This week, some politicians were talking about forming a political coalition to help keep popular unrest from degenerating into political chaos. De Ronceray, however, said such an alliance of political leaders is impossible because they are all rivals for the presidency.

Gregoire Eugene, a Social Christian politician, said he was asked to join the proposed coalition but refused. Eugene said he felt that with only one vote in the alliance, his movement’s weight would not be commensurate with its size.

But foreign diplomats and other analysts say that Eugene’s party--like all others--has little if any mass following.

Sylvio Claude, a Christian Democratic politician, has set up a new office on a busy corner in the center of Port-au-Prince. The other day, he held a political meeting in a park across the street, but no more than 200 people showed up.

Newly Active Politicians

Among Haiti’s newly active politicians are returned exiles such as Rene Theodore, secretary general of the Communist Party. In an article published on the front page of a Port-au-Prince newspaper this week, Theodore said a committee formed with representatives of all Haitian provinces should decide how to replace the military-led provisional government.

The mass protest movement that led to Duvalier’s downfall was started by Haitian students in the provinces. Catholic priests, advocating social and political change, had a strong influence on the movement’s young organizers.

Priests apparently have not played an influential role in recent unrest, but some have begun to support demands for a civilian government.

Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 32, helped lead several hundred students in a peaceful march through downtown Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. The students were demonstrating against violence, but Aristide said they also were demanding the elimination of former Duvalier officials from the government.

“If Gen. Namphy and the council continue to give us a government with the Duvalierist system, we will continue to say no,” Aristide told reporters.

‘Bad Experience Is Worse’

Asked where people could be found with enough experience to replace public officials who worked under Duvalier, Aristide said, “Bad experience is worse than no experience.”

Roger Biambi, a Haitian who returned to Haiti after living 23 years in Miami, said neither the former Duvalier officials nor others in Haiti are prepared to run a government after nearly three decades of authoritarian rule.

The current leaders are “tainted” because they have failed to bring corrupt and brutal Duvalier officials to justice, Biambi said.

“We have no leaders who can bring this country up from the hole it was in,” he said. “The solution lies in having Haitians abroad come in to take over.”