Haiti Anti-Government Strike Called Off

Anti-government forces called off a general strike Wednesday after paralyzing Haiti for six of the past nine days, but they vowed to keep pressing for the fall of the country’s military-led junta.

The strike organizers set a Monday deadline for the junta to resign. They proposed the formation of a new junta that would be dominated by civilians. And they called for mass demonstrations Friday throughout the country as a kind of “plebiscite” to show popular demand for the proposed change of government.

There was no indication that the three members of the ruling National Government Council would resign--and every indication that Haiti’s political confrontation would continue.

“If the actual government refuses to resign, our people will choose all democratic ways, pacific and nonviolent ways, to fight against that power,” said Victor Benoit, a leader of the anti-government movement. Speaking to reporters, Benoit declined to specify what action might be taken.

‘Decision for the Future’

Jean-Claude Bajeux, another leader in the movement, confirmed that the strike was being discontinued.

“It’s off for the time being,” Bajeux said. “If we have to go back to the strike, we will do it. But that’s a decision for the future.”

He said a major reason for calling off the strike was the urgent need of Haiti’s impoverished majority. “People are hungry,” he said. “They have to work.”

Benoit and Bajeux are leaders in the National Congress of Democratic Organizations, known by the acronym Konakom in Haiti’s Creole language. It is a leftist-oriented federation of peasant leagues, labor unions, student organizations, civic groups and other entities.

Konakom, in turn, is the leading member of a coalition called the “57 Organizations,” which masterminded the general strike.

The on-and-off strike began June 29 as a protest against two government decrees that took control of elections away from Haiti’s independent Electoral Council and dissolved a leftist labor federation.

During the strike, the government revoked both decrees. But by then, the main demand of the strike movement had become the resignation of the National Government Council, known by the French initials CNG.

Bajeux confirmed reports that the 57 Organizations has sought negotiations with the CNG through foreign diplomats. Asked if the government had given any response, he said: “Not one. The government, since Feb. 7, 1986 (when Haiti’s dictatorship fell), has never answered anyone. They don’t take calls.”

Bajeux did have one “positive thing” to say about the government. “Yesterday and the day before, they didn’t send their wolves to the streets, they didn’t kill people,” he said.

On strike days last week, at least 22 people were shot to death, most by soldiers and police. The strike was held four days last week, suspended for the weekend, then resumed Monday and Tuesday.

Stores were shuttered, factories closed. Government offices mustered only skeleton staffs, and streets were clear of traffic.

Traffic Jams

Wednesday morning, Port-au-Prince came alive, with traffic jams on the main arteries, crowds at the downtown Iron Market and heavy attendance at dozens of factories that make baseballs, stitch clothing and assemble electronic goods for the U.S. market.

The 57 Organizations said in a statement Wednesday that the CNG’s policy “consists essentially of assuring the perpetuation of the Duvalierist regime.” Both the CNG’s president, Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, and its other military member, Brig. Gen. Williams Regala, were high military officials during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Duvalier fled to France after having been forced out of power by a nationwide protest movement.