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The New Haiti
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12635 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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6 / 1987 |
2,066 Words |
| Author
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Bob Roberts
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The overwhelming 99 percent approval of Haiti's new constitution by referendum on March 29 was a major step toward democracy by the hemisphere's poorest country. The higher-than-expected voter turnout of over 30 percent indicates a new confidence in the democratic process, a somewhat modest but significant improvement over last fall's low turnout to elect a Constituent Assembly. To Haiti, democracy is a new concept.
The Republic of Haiti was the second country in the hemisphere to win its independence, preceded by the United States only twenty-eight years earlier. A ragged untrained army of former slaves led by a self-educated freed slave, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's elite troops and declared independence on January 1, 1804.
The next 100 years saw partitioning of the nation at times, mostly inept and corrupt leadership and little progress in the nation's development. Coffee furnished the one cash crop. Illiteracy was nearly 100 percent.
Haiti rocked along precariously with the military placing men in the presidency. In 1956 it appeared that Col. Paul Magloire, one of the ablest men to hold the presidency for many years, planned to stay in power beyond his legal term. He was forced from office in December by a general strike and in the following nine months there were seven makeshift governments.
In the elections of 1957, Sen. Louis Dejoie, a successful industrialist and agriculturalist, polled over 975,000 votes while the army's favorite, Francois Duvalier, received only 212,000 votes. With U.S. collaboration the returns were altered and Duvalier was installed as president.
The next 29 years were possibly the darkest in Haiti's history. "Papa Doc" Duvalier's regime was a repressive dictatorship, rife with corruption. Close friends and supporters were able to control the most lucrative businesses. Outright theft of government funds and aid dollars provided by other countries became the accepted procedure in Haiti. Armed groups called Tontons Macoutes were formed by Duvalier and used as his personal secret police to frighten and brutally repress the people.
Papa Doc had the constitution changed and declared himself "President-for-Life." He also had the minimum age of the president lowered from 40 to 18. At Francois Duvalier's death in 1971, his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier became president - and the corruption and repression continued.
After 29 years of brutality from the government, the people of Haiti took to the streets in massive protests. In November 1985, high school students demonstrated in Gonaives against the Duvalier regime. The troops panicked and opened fire. A number of students were killed. This became the fuse for the explosion of demonstrations throughout the country. On February 7, 1986, Baby Doc and his wife Michele fled in a U.S.-furnished aircraft, and the National Governing Council (CNG) became head of an interim government with Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy as president.
There was great rejoicing at the departure of Duvalier as Haitians danced in the streets, but the euphoria has ended. Although personal freedoms have been restored and the dreaded Tontons Macoutes
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