Haiti’s Chief Consolidates Power, Overhauls Military

After neutralizing Haiti’s former military strongman by putting him under house arrest, President Leslie F. Manigat moved swiftly Sunday to consolidate his victory in a five-day power struggle and made sweeping changes in the command structure of the armed forces and the police.

The stunning rapidity with which Manigat made the changes affecting the high command of the country’s most powerful institution--as well as the police, the pivotal Presidential Guard and locally powerful provincial and district commanders--took most observers here by surprise. The United States and other Western embassies, apparently caught off guard, said they would have no immediate comment.

Most prominent among 37 officers whose retirement, transfers or promotions were announced by Manigat’s Ministry of Information was Col. Gregoire Figaro, the feared chief of police of Port-au-Prince, widely believed to be responsible for waves of terrorist murders that have swept the capital city during the past year. Figaro was abruptly retired without explanation.

Key Aides Transferred

Figaro’s chief aides, including his top intelligence officer and the head of the police narcotics bureau, were transferred to other staff jobs in the army, of which the police force forms a part. He was replaced by the chief of Port-au-Prince traffic police, Col. Roland Chavannes, who has the reputation of being an honest cop.

Another major military figure, Col. Prospero Avril, powerful inspector general of the Presidential Guard and former counsel to the provisional military government of Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, which ran Haiti until Manigat took office, was demoted to a staff job in charge of military attaches abroad.

Avril was close to Namphy, whom Manigat fired Friday from his dominant role as commander in chief of the armed forces after a three-day crisis that brought the armed forces close to an internal war. Since Manigat’s disputed rise to office in an army-staged election, Avril had ruled the Presidential Guards force of about 1,000 troops, outranking the nominal commander, Col. Charles Louis, whom Manigat promoted to brigadier general and renamed as the guard commander Sunday.

Another presidential guard officer who was close to Namphy, Maj. Henry Robert Augustin, was demoted to officer in charge of the army’s laundry and dry-cleaning unit.

Most of the country’s district military chiefs, majors and captains who have dominated provincial and rural areas with almost dictatorial powers, were transferred to powerless staff jobs or to other districts far from their current posts.

One of them was Capt. Ernest Ravix, the district commander of the port city of St. Marc, who organized a demonstration of thousands of people against Manigat last month when the president, a former political science professor, sent a customs officer to the port to stamp out the smuggling of contraband. The illicit trade reportedly was controlled in St. Marc by Ravix.

Significantly, there were no changes in the country’s only two battle-equipped infantry battalions--the Dessalines and the Leopards--which apparently backed Manigat last week in his conflict with Namphy.

Foreign diplomats and Haitian analysts said it also was significant that the announcement of the changes came from the Manigat civilian government and not from the military, as has been the custom. In a covering note released with the list, Information Minister Roger Savain said the command changes were ordered by the acting commander in chief, Brig. Gen. Morton Gousse, who was promoted from colonel on Friday and named by Manigat as a temporary replacement for Namphy.

Political analysts said that Defense Minister Williams Regala, formerly Namphy’s No. 2 in the armed forces command, probably played a major role in shaping the command changes for Manigat.

House Surrounded

Meanwhile, the once-powerful general who ruled Haiti from the fall of the Duvalier family dictatorship on Feb. 7, 1986, until Manigat’s inauguration exactly two years later, remained under house arrest at his walled home just outside the capital. Troops of the Dessalines Battalion, whose commander, Col. Jean-Claude Paul, emerged during last week’s crisis as Namphy’s chief army opponent, surrounded the house.

The soldiers, armed with Uzi submachine guns, refused to permit anyone to enter or leave the house, and telephone calls to Namphy’s private line went unanswered. One officer outside the whitewashed, barbed-wire-topped wall of Namphy’s home chuckled and shrugged when asked why the Dessalines Battalion was guarding the former armed forces commander. Asked if he had seen Namphy on Sunday, the officer nodded and said, “He’s OK.”

Some of Namphy’s relatives, who asked not to be identified, had expressed fear that the now-retired general may have been harmed after Manigat and the Dessalines commander moved against him. A number of sources, including Western diplomats, who have seen the once-portly Namphy in recent weeks said that he is weakened from either malaria or a liver problem and has lost weight.

Touched Off Crisis

The Dessalines commander, Col. Paul, apparently touched off last week’s crisis when he refused to obey an order from Namphy transferring him from his powerful and lucrative troop command to a relatively unimportant staff job in the armed forces headquarters. Paul, who is under indictment in the United States for drug trafficking, barricaded himself in the Dessalines barracks, defying Namphy to get him out by force.

When Namphy called for help from the army’s other combat-ready battalion, the Leopards, its commander, Col. Abelard Denis, refused, according to reliable sources. Denis and Paul were said to be close friends.

“That left Namphy out in the sun with no shade,” said a Haitian analyst, “and Manigat seized the opportunity to get rid of him. Now he’s finishing the job and getting rid of everyone connected with Namphy.”

Many Haitians questioned on the streets of the capital Sunday welcomed the news of the changes and agreed that Manigat’s image among a skeptical people had been improved as a result.

‘Seems Honest’

“It puts the government in a better position,” said a 46-year-old unemployed teacher who opposed Manigat’s army-staged election. “Manigat wasn’t democratically elected, but given the situation he was the best. He seems to be a very honest person, but this is only a beginning and he has much more to do to get rid of the corruption here.”

But another man, although pleased with Manigat’s action, was more cautious. “He’s smart and he’s cool,” said the 48-year-old driver of a taptap, or small bus, “and even though he leaned on the army to get in power, he is now moving by himself. But beware of Col. Jean-Claude Paul because he has the guns, and he has a lot of agents on the streets listening for wild talk from people like me. If you use my name in your newspaper, they will beat me.”

The degree of Manigat’s dependence on the continued support of the controversial colonel is unknown, but a top government official said the president does feel a sense of gratitude to Paul for the arrests during recent weeks of rival military troops whom he accused of random shootings and other terrorist acts designed to destabilize the civilian government.

No ‘Conclusive Evidence’

Asked how Manigat could feel comfortable allied to a military officer whom many Haitians and Americans view as unsavory, the official indignantly defended Paul:

“We have told (the United States) several times that if you have very conclusive evidence (against Paul), communicate it to us officially and then we will look into it and take whatever action we feel is appropriate.

“This has never been done. . . . A man is innocent until proven guilty, and there is no hard evidence.”

Although some analysts expressed fears that at least some of the officers affected by the Manigat order might create another crisis by refusing to abide by it, there had been no reaction from them as of late Sunday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy here made no comment beyond a statement Saturday by an official that the events of the week until then were unlikely to “encourage us to change our policy toward Haiti in any way.”

U.S. Aid Suspended

The United States suspended about $60 million in direct government aid after the failure of an attempt to hold free elections here last November. The official explained that Manigat’s actions, while laudable, were taken as part of an internal power struggle and did not necessarily represent movement toward democracy--as a fresh call for free and open elections would.

Manigat won office in a flawed election in January. The election, run by Namphy’s army, was boycotted by most Haitian voters and was fraught with irregularities. Apparently selected as the army’s choice, Manigat was declared the winner and took office Feb. 7.