Haiti’s ‘Puppet’ President Turns Tables on Army Chief

Often maligned as a puppet of the dominant Haitian army, President Leslie F. Manigat emerged as a surprise winner Thursday following his first open clash with the military strongman who put him in office.

Manigat explained at a news conference that he defied Gen. Henri Namphy, who ruled Haiti for two years following the exile of former dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, for purely constitutional reasons.

Following a five-hour meeting Wednesday, during which Manigat issued an unprecedented presidential command to cancel an order of the powerful army in chief, Namphy backed down and accepted the civilian leader’s decision.

“The solution has been taken under the democratic principle of the supremacy of civilian power and respect for constitutional norms to which American public opinion is very attached,” the Haitian president told one questioner from the United States.

Manigat said he acted as nominal commander of the armed forces when he rescinded the Namphy order, which would have arbitrarily retired and transfered a number of military officers, including controversial Col. Jean Claude Paul. The Namphy order would have removed Paul, who has been indicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, from his power base.

Widely circulated reports from credible sources said Paul and his powerful Dessalines Battalion, which dominates the capital, were ready Wednesday to engage in civil war against Namphy if necessary to protect Paul’s illicit interests, which allegedly include control of drugs and contraband consumer goods in the country.

Faced with the possibility of a bloody clash between the colonel’s troops and elements of the army loyal to Namphy, Manigat intervened. But he stoutly denied that he did it to protect Paul.

“It is not a question of individuals,” Manigat told a questioner. “It is a question of a principle, and under this principle the question has been resolved, not on the basis of any individual.”

Reliable sources said Paul aroused Namphy’s wrath some days ago when his troops, under the guise of an “anti-terrorist sweep,” arrested nine military officers, a Namphy loyalist and a civilian intelligence officer and began to interrogate them.

Namphy retaliated by ordering Paul’s transfer to a powerless staff job. Acting to avert open warfare, Manigat reportedly enlisted the aid of Defense Minister Williams Regala, Namphy’s former right-hand man in the military command that ruled Haiti from 1986 until earlier this year. They met for five hours with Namphy at Manigat’s presidential residence and convinced him that the situation was critical.

The source said Namphy acquiesced to being overruled by the president only after Manigat repeatedly assured him that he was not acting in defense of Paul but solely out of constitutional principle.

However, the source added that nothing was decided at the meeting concerning what to do about the powerful colonel who reportedly still holds his pro-Namphy prisoners at the Dessalines barracks.

Thus, while Manigat appeared to have emerged victorious from his first open confrontation with Namphy, the solution may be only temporary because Paul remains, said the source. He predicted more trouble in the months ahead.

“Given Haitian military pride, Namphy cannot remain as commander in chief if Paul remains as commander of Dessalines,” he said.

Paul remains a major embarrassment to Manigat as well following his March indictment on drug-trafficking charges by a federal grand jury in Florida. In addition to his alleged control over drugs, Paul is widely reported to oversee a large share of consumer goods smuggling in Haiti, a costly practice that Manigat has sworn to stamp out.