Who Will Tame the Terror?

While in some countries turmoil is the first crude spasm of positive change, Haiti’s cycle of barbarity revolves around an old impasse: To push ahead with general elections scheduled for November could be to invite a massacre. But without elections, there is little hope the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country will soon see an end to its misery.

Haiti’s 30 years of military dictatorship were supposed to fade quietly after February, 1986, when--after some international prodding--President-for-Life Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier fled into exile. With a civilian government and without Baby Doc plundering the national coffers, development efforts could have begun to erase the country’s squalor. Unfortunately, Duvalier’s specter lived on in the 8,000-strong army and the dictator’s death squads, the Tonton-Macoutes.

Election day 1987 turned into a gory display of carnage. Elections are again planned, but the men with the guns are still not ready to give up power. A member of the civilian Council of State was gunned down in a Port-au-Prince hotel in June. Some of Baby Doc’s henchmen are returning to Haiti: Acting President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot is unable, for example, to have infamous Tonton-Macoutes leader Roger Lafontant arrested despite his public threats.

The civilized international response to such a situation is to dispatch election observers to oversee the process and assure its fairness. But during Haiti’s last electoral experiment even the observers became targets.

Thus some members of Haiti’s provisional government reportedly want to invite a United Nations peacekeeping force to protect the elections. But nobody is yet willing to publicly call for such intervention.

Given Haiti’s recent history, it may be necessary. Another alternative is training a select segment of the Haitian military in human rights and handing out perks to win their loyalty. None of this is very palatable to those who believe in sovereignty and self-determination. But the alternative--turning our backs on another potential massacre--is far worse.