U.S. Halts Aid to Haiti Over Vote Stoppage

The Reagan Administration announced Sunday night that it is freezing all U.S. military aid and some economic aid to Haiti and that it is withdrawing all American military personnel from the Caribbean nation because of the military-led regime’s cancellation of national elections.

“All non-humanitarian economic aid programs to Haiti are being suspended and only humanitarian assistance will continue,” a State Department spokesman said. “The United States government reaffirms its support for the Haitian people in their efforts to secure a democratic political system through free and fair elections.”

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the United States provided $100 million in economic aid and $1.2 million in military aid to Haiti.

U.S. officials were unable to say Sunday night how much of the $100 million in economic aid could be considered humanitarian. They said that Haiti will still be given money to combat drug trafficking, which is a small part of the money in the military aid package.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Sunday that President Reagan has been briefed on the situation. “This regrettable situation will obviously set back the democratic processes,” Fitzwater said. “ . . . We continue to monitor the situation, but no other actions are planned.”

The shelving of the elections amounted to a serious setback for U.S. policy toward Haiti and sparked some criticism that the Reagan Administration should have taken stronger action earlier to ensure that the elections would take place.

Ever since February, 1986, when the United States quietly and successfully prodded former Haitian President-for-Life Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier to flee the country, the Administration had been seeking to pave the way for elections in Haiti and a transition to a civilian government.

“After three decades of dictatorship, you are free at last,” Secretary of State George P. Shultz told the Haitian people during a visit to Port-au-Prince, the capital, last year. It was the first visit to Haiti by an American secretary of state in more than 70 years.

Nevertheless, at least until Sunday night’s freeze in American aid, the United States had also tried to avoid antagonizing the National Government Council, led by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, which assumed power after Duvalier’s departure. In recent months, the military regime had clashed frequently with the independent, civilian council set up to run the elections. The government disbanded the election council Sunday.

Now, instead of a successful election, the United States finds itself confronted with a return to the mob violence that has plagued Haiti on several occasions since it gained independence from France in 1804. U.S. troops occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 in what was said to be an attempt to keep order there.

“Of course, it’s a shame that the democratic process wasn’t permitted to go on,” a disappointed Shultz said Sunday on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation.”

Duvalier Supporters Blamed

“So far as we know, this is violence caused by the supporters of the deposed dictator, Duvalier. . . . (The Haitian) people want freedom and will continue to work for it.”

Despite the State Department’s avowed commitment to democracy in Haiti, some critics charged Sunday that the United States had failed to back up its words with tough action to make sure the elections would occur.

“In large part, the blame is to be laid at the State Department’s door,” said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a private research group. “The State Department didn’t use its clout.”

Reagan sent a delegation headed by Roger Allen Moore, Republican National Committee general counsel, to observe the Haitian elections. According to a State Department spokesman, all members of the delegation who succeeded in getting to Haiti were safe and departing Sunday night.