Up to 40 Slain as Haiti Leader Tries to Restore Order : Manigat’s First 100 Days Uneasy

At precisely midnight on Leslie F. Manigat’s 100th day as president of Haiti, seven gunshots pierced the silence beneath the graceful palms that shade the veranda of the famed Grand Hotel Oloffson in central Port-au-Prince.

Although within earshot of the presidential palace, the harmless but unnerving gunfire last week had no discernible objective other than possibly to frighten the hotel’s foreign guests. But it fit into a pattern of violence and threats of violence that have dogged the Manigat administration since it took office Feb. 7 after a deeply flawed election, stage-managed to substitute for an attempt at free elections that collapsed in bloodshed last November.

There has been no official tally, but at least 30 and possibly as many as 40 people were killed in random attacks in Port-au-Prince during Manigat’s first 100 days, according to local press reports. Pistol shots and bursts of machine-gun fire have become commonplace. Many Haitians say they are afraid to leave their homes after dark.

No one knows who is behind the campaign of nerves, but Manigat said he has no doubt that the violence has been deliberately aimed at destabilizing his infant government.

‘Mess Things Up’

“Some people are opposed, are trying to mess things up because they want us to go back to the previous situation,” the 57-year-old former political science professor said. “We know there are two or three sectors that don’t want this government to succeed.”

Displaying the caution that has come to characterize his government, Manigat declined to name those “sectors”--other than to call them “certain people nostalgic for power.” But political analysts and foreign diplomats here say they almost certainly include followers of the former Duvalier family dictatorship and possibly elements of the army. Both were implicated in the bloody collapse of Haiti’s first free election in 30 years in November. Thirty-four people were killed as they tried to cast votes.

The atmosphere of insecurity is just one of Manigat’s problems as he tries to reshape a government whose working methods under the Duvalier dynasty were corruption and terror.

Reorganize Ministries

For example, Manigat’s mandate includes a constitutional requirement that all government ministries must be reorganized during his first six months in office. From outward appearances, the government has worked diligently to fulfill that requirement, passing enabling legislation in Parliament that will reorganize seven of the ministries.

But the key reorganization demands the separation of civil police functions from the control of the army, ultimately putting the former under the Justice Ministry.

But so far, there has been no parliamentary debate on reorganization of that ministry or control of the police. When it comes, political observers say, it almost certainly will raise the level of tension between Manigat and the army that sanctioned his election.

“To split the police from the army probably will not be acceptable to the army,” said a former Cabinet minister. “They’re very sensitive about that. The only other way to establish an independent police force is to do it from scratch, and Manigat can’t come up with the money to train and equip a new police force.”

War Against Drugs

A related problem is the war against drugs, which Manigat has pledged to pursue. But analysts, including American diplomats, believe he is essentially powerless. He has no independent police force, they point out, and drug trafficking and local drug distribution are believed to be under the control of powerful army officers.

Chief among the alleged drug lords in the Haitian military is Col. Jean-Claude Paul, indicted earlier this year in Miami in connection with a drug-smuggling conspiracy. Paul commands the military barracks that adjoins Manigat’s presidential palace.

“The drug traffic is getting worse rather than better,” commented an American official, noting that the increasing effectiveness of anti-drug trafficking measures in the Bahamas appears to have enhanced Haiti’s value to drug lords as a way station to the United States.

Manigat has announced a campaign against other forms of contraband that have long plagued Haiti. Smuggled goods such as used clothing, food and cigarettes have helped to hold consumer prices down because they escape taxes.

But even with army cooperation against the smugglers, the government has shown only modest success. On Friday, an effort to end smuggling in the port city of St. Marc by stationing a customs officer there was stalled when more than 5,000 local citizens shouting “Down with Manigat!” raged through the streets in protest.

The only bright spot, according to foreign economic analysts here, is that the financial picture of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is not as bad as many predicted it would be.

Haiti suffered a severe economic setback as a result of the election violence last November. The United States immediately ended about $60 million in aid, and international lending institutions put a hold on programs aimed at Haiti.

Since taking office, one of Manigat’s major efforts has been in trying to raise Haiti’s credibility among other aid-giving countries. The effort has had some success, a U.S. official said.

Meanwhile, a restoration of U.S. aid, which is being withheld pending clear signs that Haiti is embarked on a democratic course, is unlikely for at least another year, the U.S. official said.