Haiti Democracy Project

www.haitipolicy.org

Aristide with peace on his lips but war in his heart

by Rony Mondestin

MRN considers that the September 29, 1991 events, which were so painful to the country, were directly caused by hasty and unlawful moves of J.B. Aristide aiming to gain control of the military institution and parliament. The latter, confident of its own independent legitimacy, sought to play its constitutional role as co-manager and overseer of the executive. This brought on the August 13, 1991, events (attempt to lynch the members of parliament) organized by Aristide out of the National Palace.

The crisis is in the very nature of Lavalas and its chief

To the military institution which had opted, after General Avril's departure, for professionalization, J.B. Aristide issued a declaration of war during the February 7, 1991 inauguration ceremony by ostentatiously ousting some high-ranking officers. Afterwards, there were multiple reports of a plot to assassinate the commander-in-chief, and Generals Abraham and Jean-Pierre were compelled to resign. Furthermore, there were several revolts spearheaded by J.B. Aristide against top military officers.

Similarly, commandos were sent out to track ranking officers and assassinate them. This operation sought to enable the Lavalas chief not only to eliminate uncooperative military but above all to set up his own drug-trafficking network (the Roland Seide affair) within the military institution by putting into key positions corrupt officers loyal to him. All that was wrapped in the smooth rhetoric of Army/People.

This campaign could not be carried out in 1991 because some of the military targeted preferred to rise against Aristide instead of being shot like dogs. But it was executed from 1994, after "the return to constitutional order." Wrapped in the international community's mantle, Aristide set up a club of ambitious young officers like Toussaint, Médard, Salomon, Chérubin, Neptune, and Celestin intent on filling key posts in the moribund military institution, and above all to profit from drug activities and networks. Hence the spectacular assassinations of top army officers like Mayard, Lamour, Milton, sometimes in plain daylight, between 1994 and 1995.

The army, widely celebrated after Jean-Claude Duvalier's downfall and the events of February 7, 1986, could not handle the transition or oversee, as did their counterparts in Peru and Panama at the end of the 1960s, the democratization of the country. Immersed in corruption and torn by internal conflict (reflected in repeated coups) and petty in-fighting, the army was cut off from the active social forces to the point of arousing the population's mistrust and contempt. So it was in an atmosphere of general indifference that Aristide and his minions settled accounts with it between October 1994 and April 1995.

Aristide with peace on his lips but war in his heart

The Haitian people have suffered so much in the 1990s because of the outrages of a man who is convinced that authoritariansm is the only way to govern. And, for him this expresses itself in the permanent destabilization of any institution willing to act as counterbalance. Accordingly, one must understand that the crisis that has overtaken the country since April 6, 1997, first perceived as a struggle between two enemy brothers, is actually the struggle between totalitarianism and democracy institutionalization. Today too the crisis is not a conflict between two groups who are fighting for power. It is the consequence of Lavalas and of his chief. The latter has been and is still a man who has peace on his lips and war in his heart.

In a report written by the Justice and Peace Center in Montreal in 1990, Marc Maessschalk, who was an investigator in Haiti for a month, writes: "Aristide played the electoral game as a voodoo follower practicing Christianity, without losing his independent spirit, with some anarchical style, and without a true program. There is a dependence relationship with the leader. But, he has a notorious anti-organizational practice. No group has been able to get an autonomous status and to grow freely. Spontaneously, this leader is against any form of control of his power."

There were many authoritarian actions by Aristide's regime during the time of February 7 to September 29, 1991:

- Firing from the army five generals and an acting colonel

- Prohibition against ex-President Mrs. Trouillot leaving the country

- Illegal Appointment of Supreme Court Judges

- Appointment of a foreigner in the government (Health Ministry)

- Violation of the freedoms of meeting and association (Fire at the CATH headquarter on August 13, 1991)

- Illegal Creation of a paramilitary force, the SSP (President Security Service)

-etc...

The Haitian National Police, becoming complicit with the "ghosts" or street thugs, will become a victim of the ghosts just as the army was of the Tontons Macoutes

The institutionalization of Lavalas "ghosts" or thugs by the Lavalas executive power is following the same logic as Papa Doc used on the army in 1961. This self-destructive process is again facilitated by ambitious Aristide policemen, eager to make a quick fortune, ready to transform the PNH into a Pretorian guard at the service of the Supreme Chief.

This implies a policy of humiliation of the professionals in the corps who are forced to accept the promotions of individuals to key posts whose only qualification is fidelity to the Chief. Thus, the appointments of Nesly Lucien to head PNH and of Auriel Joseph as USPGN chief follow the pattern of Papa Doc's appointments of Gracia Jacques as presidential-guard chief and Breton Claude and Luc Pierre Louis as Casernes Dessalines commanders. They were all nearly illiterate but slaves of Papa Doc. The ouster of A. Charlier as head of the General Inspection and the exclusion of C. Alexandre, Youri Latortue, and M. Andrésol is similar to Duvalier's jettisoning of Kébreau and Bourcicaut from the army at the beginning of the 1960's, although all these had helped him take power.

Aristide destroys the professional foundation of PNH by favoring the promotion of his subordinate people within the Corps due to feudal (clientelistic) relationships. It also prevents the PNH from rising as a neutral institution and accelerates its operational fusion with the Lavalas fanatics, like the Army-Tonton Macoute fusion of the 1960's. A recent example of this PNH-Lavalas fanatic fusion was seen at Hinche on March 21, 2001 during the brutal repression of a peaceful protest (Peace and Justice Report of Hinche on March 2001).

If this is allowed to happen because of laxness, indifference, or lack of awareness, the professionals in the PNH expose themselves to serious dangers because policemen will be the first victims of this infernal machine. This was also the case for Papa Doc's military during the 1960's. Should the Lavalas regime succeed in stabilizing itself this would harden the position of the "ghosts" and embolden them to humiliate any police who were not subservient since the police are always potentially a danger to the executive.

Conflicts between the Lavalas executive and the PNH are unavoidable because of the arrogance and excessive moves of the Lavalas "ghosts." The latter represent the foundations of the regime. They will be favored in any clash with policemen because the police are now compelled to bow before the likes of Paul Raymond, René Civil , Yvon Bonhomme, Ronald Cadavre, Milien Romge, Dongo Joseph, Emmanuel Antoine, Micanor, Paul Cotin, G. Gilles, just as the army had to subordinate itself to Macoutes like André Simon, Luc Désir, Ti Bobo, Elios Maitre, Sainvoyis Pascal, Boss Peint, Ti Cabiche, Z. Delva, Astrel Benjamin, Ti Raymond and Pelota.

Systematic purges within the PNH, done under the pretext of plots against state security, have sparked the exile of police commissioners Nau, Féthière, and Philippe and almost cost them their lives. Let's remember that the repressive Duvalierist purges of the army caused the disappearance of almost two hundredofficers, "some of them for not having adopted Duvalier views in 1957-1958, others for having been notoriously known as independents, many at last for having being suspected of lack of loyalty (Gerard Pierre-Charles, 1973, in Radiographie of a Dictatorship). In 1963, this repression struck more than seventy officers: Max Paris, Multidor, and Turnier were coldly assassinated, others had to flee overseas to save their lives.

The Aristide that is in power now is a resentful, revenge-oriented, and conflictual autocrat. It is perpetrating the same misdeeds as in 1991. The government:

- includes at least a foreigner, M. Dubreuil, state secretary for public security

- ousts acting policemen (A. Charlier)

- undertakes unlawful appointments at high ranking PNH levels (N. Lucien, H Jean-Baptiste, R. Fabien)

- sacks and burns political party headquarters

- Organizes armed aggressions against political parties buildings (OPL/Convergence)

- Forbids opposition protests (Mirebalais, Hinche)

- Orders the beating of judges in their courts (M. Gaithier in Hinche)

- Launches arrest mandates against chiefs of political parties (Me Dalvius)

- Plans assassinations of opponents (the plot of Cataline)

- Reshapes Militia through Mayorships to neutralize PNH (Petit-Goave Incident)

The Aristide of 2001 is not different from the one of 1991. He is a warrior. A man who wants to rule alone and who wants to subordinate institutions to his personal goals, the Police being the first one. The following facts are an illustration of this point:

- Revolt nurtured at USPGN (National Palace General Security) on February 8, 2001 against top commisars responsible for the corps.

- On February 2001, a Lavalas militant, Harvel Jean-Baptiste, is appointed PNH General Inspector. He has the mandate to force policemen to execute orders from his master by threatening their careers.

- March 2001, Ronald Cadavre put in charge of Haitian port security management after having publicly attempted to assassinate police commissioner Jean-Jacques Nau on October 2000 by necklacing.

- March 27, 2001, unlawful appointment of Nesly Lucien, a simple Aristide bodyguard, to head the most important institution of the country, the PNH.

- Appointment of Rosemond Fabien to head the Central Direction of the Judicial Police. As a former unproductive priest and former Cap Haitien port-authority director he has no significant experience or training. The Cap-Haitian port is considered by Florida police as the main drug export port (60%) in Haiti.

- Ousted from the position of Administrative Police Central Director, A. Charlier was unanimously respected for his honesty and competence. Those responsible for the specialized corps, CIMO, and the Swat Team were fired.as well.

- Assassination Attempt against Mario Andresol by a commando (former Director of the Judicial Police).

Aristide represents a threat to the public peace and to the personal security of every citizen.

As in 1991, Aristide's maneuvers regarding PNH represent a threat to public peace, and to private security. While he speaks about dialogue and peace to fool the international community, he sparks dynamics which can only produce two things:

- a narco and autoritarian state where opposition and the civil society are excluded.

- a chaos as a result of PNH paralysis

Aristide's drive for absolute control of the police will entail a wave of violence which will produce victims in the police, as it was the case under Papa Doc with the army in 1961. To strengthen his power, Aristide will be compelled, like Duvalier, to get rid of the stronger personalities, namely those that are honest, straight, disciplined, and profesional policemen. In the context of planned insecurity by the Lavalas executive, their physical elimination will be hidden as common crimes and will never be investigated becasue the Judicial Police is controlled by Rosemond Fabien, a fundraiser for Aristide at the Cap-Haitian port authority.

Meanwhile, the new police management of the Aristide Kingdom begins to show its know-how, as the following balance sheet shows for the first days of April:

- Monday April 2, 2001: Assassination Attempt of Mario Andrésol, ex-chief of the Judicial Police

- Tuesday April 3, 2001: Assasination of Beauvoir Davilmar, a policeman from the Firebombers Corps, and of his girlfiend

- Wednesday April 4, 2001: Assassination of a US citizen, Alejo Morales, Haitian Tractor Employee

- Thursday April 5, 2001: Kidnapping of US Businessman Marc Ashton, Attack against a public transportation vehicle, five wounded people

- Friday April 6, 2001: Armed Attack at public transportation vehicle: two people shot dead and four wounded.

By the time you will read this list, it will probaby have grown longer, with the indifference and the arrogance of those who say that they govern us. Understand that this generalized delinquency is wanted and nurtured by the Lavalas executive. Statements of good intent rom the PNH spokeman should not let us forget that this violent power is setting up conditions which must justify planned assassinations of "the nation's enemies." Because, we must not forget it, in the Aristide kingdom, political opponents, independent, honest citizens, civil society organizations, are plotters, and like Catiline, must be executed.

Next: J.B. Aristide is a monster who eats his own children

April 9, 2001. MRN