Binding Up Haiti’s Wounds

Things seem finally to have calmed down in Haiti after a week of attempted coups led to exchanges of gunfire between rival factions of that nation’s military. But the tensions that led to the most recent violence remain.

Since the corrupt Duvalier family dictatorship was overthrown three years ago, Haiti’s 7,000-man army has become the country’s only powerful institution. While the current leader, Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril, says he is trying to lay the groundwork for a transition to democratic, civilian government, there are still factions in the military that don’t want to give up the power and wealth they accumulated under the Duvaliers. Much of the political turmoil in Haiti since the departure of Francois (Baby Doc) Duvalier has resulted from the infighting among these military factions.

It appears that the first of two coup attempts last week was launched by a trio of colonels who were removed from their commands by Avril because they were suspected of drug smuggling. Avril loyalists defeated that faction. But within hours another, less well-organized group of soldiers took it upon themselves to try to oust the reformist general. The standoff that resulted between the second group of rebels and Avril’s Presidential Guard lasted several days and cost many lives. It also ended with Avril still in control of the government.

But no one can say how long this latest period of peace will last. Avril, however good his intentions, is trying to control an inherently unstable situation. His nation is bankrupt and so desperately poor that only substantial aid from abroad can improve the situation. And the governments that could provide that aid, particularly the United States and France, refuse to send it until they see evidence that Haiti is further along the road to democracy than it is now. That tough stance is necessary given the Haitian military’s reputation for corruption.

U.S. State Department officials are for the time being funneling what humanitarian aid they can to Haiti through international relief agencies like the Red Cross. But that only helps bind up the wounds left by the latest crisis. Long-term solutions to Haiti’s turmoil will be found only when Haitians elect their own leaders rather than having them emerge from periodic infighting among the nation’s elite and its military caste.