U.S. May Freeze Assets of Haitian Coup Backers

The U.S. Embassy threatened Thursday to freeze the U.S.-held assets of Haitian business and political leaders who backed the coup that deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The get-tough warning was delivered by U.S. Ambassador Alvin P. Adams Jr. as part of a hemisphere-wide embargo aimed at restoring Aristide to power.

One Haitian economist said that the nation, one of the world’s poorest, has enough official and private reserves to buy oil only for another six weeks. A shutdown of Haiti’s exports to the United States also would deal a major blow to the economy.

In another show of concern over the week’s developments here, the U.S. Embassy advised an estimated 15,000 Americans living in Haiti to consider leaving until the crisis is over. It also approved the voluntary departure of families of embassy officials and non-essential personnel, including Peace Corps members.

But no military evacuation of U.S. citizens was being considered as life in the Haitian capital came closer to normal.

The Port-au-Prince airport has partially reopened, but Pan American and American Airlines flights are not expected to begin until next week. Hundreds of Haitians are seeking to depart on other airlines that resumed operations this week. Meantime, army officials lifted a curfew and appealed to Haitians to turn unlicensed weapons over to the police.

On Thursday, the United States also suspended all government assistance programs to Haiti, including food aid but said that food may be provided through nongovernmental groups such as CARE.

By imposing sanctions that may dry up Haiti’s oil imports and force thousands of layoffs in trade-related industries, the Organization of American States hopes to end the forced exile of Aristide, the 38-year-old priest-president now living in Venezuela.

The firms that felt especially vulnerable to Thursday’s U.S. actions were those receiving components or goods from the United States, those that assemble garments or electronic parts.

But diplomats acknowledge that the key to reversing the coup is held by the enlisted ranks of the Haitian army. These soldiers are regarded as the driving force behind the coup because they felt that Aristide was creating his own militia and undermining the military’s traditional influence in Haiti.

OAS officials discussed how to employ sanctions to promote Aristide’s return without punishing ordinary Haitians. “The sanctions are not intended to penalize but to make sure a dialogue will be resumed,” said Canadian Ambassador Bernard Dussault.

Adams said he favors targeting unidentified members of Haiti’s elite who openly supported efforts to replace Aristide, a landslide victor in Haiti’s first democratic election last December.