Haiti Cabinet Shuffled in Wake of Sanctions

The country’s military-backed government announced the appointment of four new ministers hours after President Clinton unveiled sweeping sanctions in hopes of hastening the restoration of democracy to the troubled Caribbean nation.

The Cabinet shuffle, made public late Friday on government radio, was immediately denounced by political observers in Haiti as “cosmetic.”

Clinton’s tough new economic sanctions will affect members of Haiti’s Cabinet, army high command and dozens of lesser officials.

The new sanctions freeze the personal assets in the United States of those wealthy Haitian individuals who act on behalf of Haiti’s military, notably those who financially support the armed forces.

Political observers in Haiti said the Cabinet appointments were cosmetic and represented an attempt by de facto Prime Minister Marc Bazin to surround himself with political allies.

Two of the new Cabinet members had already served in the earlier government headed by Jean-Jacques Honorat, which came to power shortly after the September, 1991, coup that ousted democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In the reshuffle, Charles Beaulieu, finance minister under Honorat, replaces Wiener Fort at the same ministry. Jean Robert Simonise, minister of foreign affairs under Honorat, was named minister of information, replacing Andre Calixte.

Pierre Mathurin, minister of mines under former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, was named minister of commerce, replacing Sidel Laine. Axan Abellard, who held key posts during the Duvalier regime, replaces Carmelo Pierre Louis as minister of public works.