New Use for Haitian Army HQ
The headquarters of Haiti’s military--the once-feared symbol of tyranny in the Caribbean nation--is to be turned into the offices for the recently created Ministry for Women’s Affairs, a presidential decree issued Saturday said.
The decree provides a home for the women’s ministry that has been without a base since its inception in November. It was unclear when Minister Lyse-Marie Dejean will move into her new office or where the new seat of the army will be.
The surprise move ends the military’s decades-long ownership of the ornate, two-story building that stands across from the Presidential Palace in the center of the capital.
The yellow-and-white structure was feared by ordinary Haitians as a symbol of the army’s absolute power in the Caribbean country it ruled for most of Haiti’s 200-year history.
That rule ended in October when the leaders of the 1991 military coup that toppled constitutionally elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile under pressure from the United States.
The exiled Aristide returned to power within days and has since spent much of his time emasculating an institution known for its brutal treatment of political opponents and its disregard for law and order and human rights.
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