Once Again, We Noticed Too Late : Haiti: It is a measure of the nation’s degradation that now it must hope for another military coup to dump a dictator.

A week before the latest round of arrests and beatings began in Haiti, mountains of human excrement were built in front of the offices of various political leaders and democratic organizations, and the stuff was splattered on and into the buildings. It was no doubt the army that erected these fitting monuments to itself; only the military and the police--and the municipal workers at their beck and call--have access to so much of this particular material and the means to transport it. “You are excrement,” the army was saying to the democratic movement. “You are our target.” The next day, a journalist who made broadcast fun of the tactic was assassinated. On the streets, graffiti no doubt written by members of that same army began to appear: “Avril for Five Years.” The excrement had hit the fan, and the writing was on the wall.

So much had already happened that Haitians were unsurprised by the latest developments. Since he took power in September, 1988, Gen. Prosper Avril has made it clear that he is an astute disciple of his mentor, the dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier. Haitians feared from the first day that Avril would never voluntarily leave the presidency and that he had no interest in the democratic election he had scheduled for October, 1990.

The U.S. government and the mainstream American media, however, exhibited no such insight. Instead of mistrusting the general, they treated him like a prince of peace. Pledges made by Avril to “lead Haiti down the irreversible path to democracy” were received with embarrassing acceptance by the State Department and Congress, which slowly began to release economic aid funds to his government.

The State Department said it was pleased at the lack of violence under Avril’s regime. Indeed, the nation looked calm from the outside, in contrast to the flagrantly bloody rule of his predecessor, Gen. Henri Namphy.

Avril silenced dissent. While the American media all but ignored the situation and the U.S. Embassy tried to avert its eyes, paramilitary units roamed Haitian cities and the countryside, attacking with impunity church organizers, members of peasant movements, youth groups and democratic political parties. Journalists were threatened with ugly fates, including death. Using the divide-and-conquer tactics of Papa Doc, Avril also subjugated the army to his will. He took the wheel of the military and plowed through the democratic movement like a tank, using the tried-and-true tools of torture, imprisonment and nighttime execution.

While the rest of the world failed to react, Avril became more violent, less worried about international repercussions. He could, he discovered, attack the popular movements at will and the international community would not blink. He had leaders of popular democratic organizations--like the nation’s largest labor federation--beaten, then displayed in bloodied bandages on state-run television, with virtually no coverage by the American news media. He dismantled in months what it had taken the Haitian people three years to build: the rudimentary structures of democracy.

The last few days have been a rude awakening for the U.S. government, which pursued with Avril the same ill-considered policy that it had used ever since Papa Doc took over the presidency in 1957: Support the man in power, no matter what breed of monster he may be.

Last week, Avril widened his scope, arresting the moderate and right-wing elements of the democratic opposition, at least one of them a probable candidate in the presidential election. Many were severely beaten. Some were then exiled, in direct contravention of the immensely popular 1987 Constitution.

Finally, with Haiti’s right and center under attack, the State Department took notice and issued an almost tough-minded statement condemning Avril’s actions. Of course, by now it is too late.

For most of us who know Haiti, the last months have been a nightmare of deja vu, like a book of days from the reign of Papa Doc. By now, everyone who could have planted the seeds of a new polity is dead or in prison or in hiding or in exile. All of the promise of the 1986 overthrow of the Duvalier dynasty has been exhausted in a sad, long struggle against a series of unpredictable dictators who actually represent the entrenched status quo. Three leaders of the democratic opposition--all men in their 30s, part of Haiti’s future--have been incarcerated since November. Radio stations once considered beacons of free speech are playing only music.

One small possibility remains for Haiti. If he continues on his irreversible path to dictatorship, Avril may find himself cut off from all financial support from the United States and other donor nations. When economies crumble, armies grow restless. There are already rumors of fissures within the military. Perhaps a few months of penury will lead to a coup. After all, there have been three coups during the four years since Jean-Claude Duvalier fell.

It is a measure of Haiti’s degradation that democrats who once aspired to a new world must now pin their hopes on the vagaries of military malcontents. But as the emptiness of the policies of the last few years becomes apparent, perhaps the Haitian people will once again gather up their courage and demand better.