Dealing With Haiti

It is a sad indication of how badly things are going in Haiti these days, but the best thing that can be said about the palace coup that ousted Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy last weekend is that its leaders want to end the violent anarchy that has engulfed the nation.

That will undoubtedly come as a relief to most of the oppressed nation’s 6 million people, who have grown even more fearful than normal as violence of the most shocking sort has become commonplace. The most recent incident involved an attack by armed thugs against worshipers in a Roman Catholic Church in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Thirteen of their victims died. The next day some of the attackers went on television to boast of their roles in the massacre.

It was such audacity that prompted a group of noncommissioned officers in the Haitian army to move against Namphy, who had controlled the government since June, when he ousted a puppet civilian president. The soldiers were reportedly concerned that Namphy was, if not encouraging it, incapable of controlling the violence against government opponents. They fear that continued chaos will lessen the chances of Haiti’s getting foreign aid now that the already desperately poor nation is facing a severe cash shortage.

In a further effort to improve the Haitian government’s international image, the military men who exiled Namphy to the Dominican Republic have named civilians to head key government agencies. But the real power in Haiti remains with the military, specifically with a corps of senior officers who have never distinguished themselves as democrats or even as particularly honest men. The new head of the army, Gen. Prosper Avril, talks about restoring human rights in Haiti, yet he built his military career as a loyal supporter of the Duvalier dictatorship. Also remaining in power is Col. Jean-Claude Paul, commander of a powerful military unit who is under indictment in the United States on charges of being involved in drug trafficking.

That is why the Reagan Administration has refrained from making any commitments to Haiti’s new government, despite the fact that its leaders are desperate for the United States’ approval and the foreign aid that usually follows. Most American aid to Haiti was suspended last November, when the island’s first open elections in years were disrupted by violence in which 37 people were killed. At the time, the State Department said that U.S. aid would not be restored until Haiti had a democratic government that showed more respect for human rights and more interest in helping to fight the international narcotics trade. That firm stance is still a good one for this country to take in dealing with Haiti.