Key Aristide Official Gunned Down in Haiti

Gunmen on Thursday assassinated Justice Minister Guy Malary, a key supporter of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s and the official who was to oversee the dismantling of the corrupt and brutal Haitian police force.

The killing came three hours after U.N. special envoy Dante Caputo had said a worldwide economic embargo would go into effect as scheduled Monday unless the military and police here disarm civilian gunmen and guarantee an end to public violence.

In Washington, President Clinton deplored the killings and vowed to continue pressing for the return of Haiti’s elected president--even threatening a naval blockade to enforce the renewed economic embargo.

The murder of Malary, a 50-year-old law graduate of Howard University and a former World Bank official, was followed by two occupations of the National Assembly and a reported military riot in Petit-Goave, a port city about 35 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

The effect of Thursday’s bloodshed and other violence was to pull the plug from the life-support system that was barely sustaining a negotiated process aimed at ending military rule and returning Aristide to power.

At the same news conference where he demanded an end to violence that is tolerated--if not directed--by the military, Caputo for the first time acknowledged that the scheduled Oct. 30 arrival date for Aristide might be delayed.

Because the date had all but become scripture for the international community--”Aristide won’t be even two hours late,” Caputo had said recently--the special envoy’s admission of a possible postponement underlined a growing pessimism that democracy can be restored here under current circumstances.

According to U.N. officials and other diplomats, Malary and three bodyguards had just left his office in the central Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Turgeau about 1:30 p.m. They had traveled about 400 yards when his car was hit by a barrage of gunfire from two or three civilian-dressed men.

The car overturned, full of bullet holes and with the rear window shattered. Three bodies, including Malary’s, were found laid head to toe on the street outside Sacre Coeur church.

It was uncertain if they had been killed in the car or executed on the street. A fourth bodyguard was still alive in the car and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Diplomats said it appeared that the killing was planned to take place in front of the church, the site of the assassination last month of Antoine Izmery, a leading Aristide supporter, and a gathering place for Aristide followers.

Officials would not comment on the record about who they believe was responsible for the murder, the latest act of violence that has halted the process of restoring democracy and forcing from power the military and police leaders responsible for overthrowing the president two years ago.

One international official, however, pointed out that Malary was to be in charge of a new civilian police force, one divorced from the army. A key target of that reorganization is Col. Michel-Joseph Francois, the shadowy Port-au-Prince police chief publicly branded a killer by Caputo.

Malary also angered Francois and Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, the army commander, in September when he fired Supreme Court President Emile Jonassaint, a rabid anti-Aristide figure and, under the Haitian constitution, the next in line for president if Aristide fails to return.

“The killings had all the characteristics of the attaches,” the official said, referring to a paramilitary organization under Francois’ control that has carried out a 3 1/2-month terror campaign to scuttle an agreement signed July 3 on New York’s Governors Island that calls for Aristide’s restoration.

In addition to the Malary execution, members of a violent organization called the Force for Haitian Advancement and Progress stormed into the Parliament on Thursday afternoon and held several legislators and workers hostage for about 30 minutes.

The group, whose acronym in Creole--FRAP--means to strike or beat, demanded that Cedras remain as head of the military even though he has publicly agreed to resign by today.

Even as the FRAP gunmen were leaving, members of another anti-Aristide group occupied the legislature to demand that Aristide not return. The group, named the October 11th Revolutionary Council to honor the Monday violence that prevented a U.S. military ship from landing in Haiti, consists of other organizations that support Cedras and Francois.

Adding to the tension that has turned Port-au-Prince into a city of near-psychotics was the sudden and secret departure of a contingent of Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent here to train and advise Malary’s new police force.

A source close to the military said their departure was a sign that the international community is backing away from Aristide.

This same source, who claims to talk regularly with Cedras and Francois, said that if the international embargo takes effect next Monday, “we’ll have a new government. I don’t expect (pro-Aristide Prime Minister Robert) Malval to remain” in office.

Malval, a wealthy businessman, was named prime minister as part of the July 3 agreement. He has been accused by Cedras of abrogating the accord by not naming military supporters to his government.

When he met with reporters Thursday, Caputo said that “maybe we will have a delay” when asked if Aristide would still arrive Oct. 30 to resume the office taken from him in Cedras’ violent military revolt on Sept. 30, 1991.

When asked if Cedras’ resignation would cause the U.N. Security Council to hold up the punishing economic boycott, Caputo responded, “Not in my opinion.”

In addition, he said, Francois would have to be removed from office and the military would have to prove that it had disarmed army-sponsored civilian terrorist groups and would guarantee an end to all violence in the streets.