Haiti

Country in the Caribbean, occupying the western part of the island of Hispaniola; to the east is the Dominican Republic.

Government

Haiti has a multiparty political system, with a presidential and prime ministerial dual political executive, on the French model. Its 1987 constitution provides for two-chamber legislature, the National Assembly, and a president, who is popularly elected for a five-year term. The National Assembly comprises the a chamber of deputies, with 83 members elected for a four-year term, and a 27-member senate, with a third of the senate elected each two years, for six-year terms. The president appoints a prime minister who is able to command majority support and who chooses a cabinet in consultation with the president. There is also a supreme court, appointed by the president.

History

The island of Hispaniola was once inhabited by Arawak Indians who had died out by the end of the 16th century owing to conquest, warfare, hard labour, and diseases brought in by the Europeans after the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. The island was made a Spanish colony under the name of Santo Domingo, but the western part was colonized by France from the mid-17th century. In 1697 the western third of the island was ceded to France by Spain.

Independence achieved

The period 1790–1804 was fraught with rebellions against France, tension among blacks, whites, and mulattos, and military intervention by France and Britain. In one such rebellion, in 1791, the island was taken over by slaves, under Toussaint L'Ouverture, and slavery was abolished, but it was then reinstated after he was captured and imprisoned by the French. After independence in 1804 the instability continued, with Santo Domingo repossessed by Spain and then by Haiti, and self-proclaimed kings ruling Haiti. In 1844 Haiti and the Dominican Republic became separate states. During the late 19th century Haiti suffered from growing economic and political instability. Several leaders were ousted and murdered.

Duvalier era

Friction between Haitians of African descent and mulattos, and the country's political instability, brought a period of US rule 1915–34. US Marines dissolved the assembly in 1918 and imposed a constitution that permitted foreigners to buy land. In the 1940s and 1950s there were several coups, the last occurring in 1956, which resulted in Dr François Duvalier being elected president. After an encouraging start, his administration degenerated into a personal dictatorship, maintained by a private army, the Tontons Macoutes. In 1964 ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier made himself president for life, with the power to nominate his son as his successor.

On his father's death 1971 Jean-Claude Duvalier came to the presidency at the age of 19 and soon acquired the name of ‘Baby Doc’. Although the young Duvalier repeatedly promised a return to democracy, there was little change. In the 1984 elections about 300 government candidates contested the 59 seats, with no opposition at all. In 1985, political parties were legalized, provided they conformed to strict guidelines, but only one party registered, the National Progressive Party (PNP), which supported Duvalier's policies. He was overthrown and exiled to France in 1986.

Democratization failed

The new military regime led by Lt-Gen Henri Namphy offered no protection to the electoral council, and the US government withdrew aid. Elections in November 1987 were sabotaged by armed gangs of Duvalierists who massacred voters and set fire to polling stations and to vehicles delivering ballot papers in the country. Leslie Manigat, with army support, was made president in February 1988 but four months later was ousted in a coup led by Namphy, who was in turn replaced by Brig-Gen Prosper Avril in a coup in September 1988. Avril installed a largely civilian government, but the army was still in control and a coup attempt in April 1989 was quickly put down. Early in 1990 opposition to Avril grew, but was suppressed and acting president Ertha Pascal-Trouillot defied calls for her resignation.

Populist Aristide elected then ousted

Free and fair presidential elections were held in December 1990 and were won, by a landslide margin with 67% of the vote, by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a charismatic Catholic priest. On becoming president in February 1991, Aristide dismissed the entire army high command, with the exception of Gen Hérard Abraham, who had earlier permitted Haiti's first free elections. Aristide's radical populism raised concern in the country's elite and in September 1991 he was ousted in a military coup, led by Brig-Gen Raoul Cedras.

Hundreds of Aristide's supporters were killed in resistance against the coup and Aristide was forced into exile. In October 1991, the army appointed Joseph Nerette as interim president, with Jean Jacques Honorat as prime minister.

International sanctions

There was international condemnation of the coup and economic sanctions were imposed against Haiti, but all efforts to reinstate Aristide failed. Nerette's term of office was extended indefinitely. Between 1991and 1992, over 40,000 Haitians sought refuge in the USA, but most were refused entry and were repatriated. Over 4,000 were killed during the 1991–93 period of military rule.

In early 1992 the USA began to modify its 1991 sanctions, but the Organization of American States increased its sanctions in May 1992. Marc Bazin replaced Honorat as prime minister in June 1992, but resigned June in 1993 after a disagreement with the military, at which point a United Nations (UN) embargo was imposed.

Aristide's return blocked

UN-sponsored talks between military leaders and Aristide led in July 1993 to an agreement under which Aristide might return to Haiti on condition that an amnesty was granted to coup leaders. International sanctions were lifted in August after the chamber of deputies accepted Robert Malval, Aristide's nominee, as prime minister, but in October 1993 the military blocked Aristide's return. The UN immediately resumed its embargo, and froze Haiti's foreign assets. Malval resigned in December 1993, but agreed to remain in office until a successor was found. In May 1994 Emile Jonassaint, a pro-military Supreme Court judge, was appointed by the coup's leader, Brig-Gen Raoul Cedras, to replace Nerette as president.

Aristide returns

In September 1994 an opposed invasion of Haiti by US forces was averted after an agreement, brokered by former US president Jimmy Carter, was reached with the island's military leaders. The USA landed 15,000 troops without bloodshed, insisting that Haiti adopt a ‘structural adjustment programme’ of privatizing assets, removing trade tariffs, and not raising the minimum wage. The FRAPH death squads were not disarmed, and US aid was targeted to counter nationalist and revolutionary movements. In October 1994, Cedras, who had agreed to relinquish power in return for an amnesty, withdrew into exile in Panama and President Aristide returned.

Aristide gave up his priesthood to concentrate on the presidency, and nominated Michel Smarck as premier. An electoral commission was appointed to organize free elections, and in March 1995 the 21,000 US troops in Haiti handed over to a 6,000-strong UN

peacekeeping force, which was to oversee the island's ‘more complete transition to democracy’. Prior to their arrival, there had been concern over a breakdown of law and order, after several political assassinations. The pro-Aristide Lavalas (Waterfall) Political Organization coalition won the June and September 1995 legislative elections, amid opposition claims of electoral fraud. Claudette Werleigh was appointed premier in November 1996.

Préval succeeds Aristide as president

In December 1996, René Préval, a Lavalas candidate, was elected president. In February 1996, in the first peaceful handover to an elected president since independence, Preval succeeded Aristide, whose term as president had ended.

In late 1996, Aristide founded a breakaway Fanmi (Family) Lavalas (FL) party and the previously pro-Aristide Lavalas Political Organization later changed its name to the Organization du Peuple en Lutte (OPL; French for Organization of People in Struggle), but continued to support President Préval. In July 1998 the education minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, was nominated by Préval to become prime minister.

Dissolution of parliament and fresh elections

Repeated conflict between parliament and President Préval led him to dissolve it in January 1999 and rule by decree. Legislative elections which were due in 1999 were repeatedly postponed and no budget was approved. In March 2000, the electoral council overruled the president and announced a general election. The president of the electoral court, Leon Manus, refused to approve irregular results in the congressional election which took place in May 2000, but were marred by electoral fraud. He fled to the USA. After a second round of elections held in July 2000, but boycotted by the opposition, Aristide's FL party won almost 90% of the seats.

Aristide returns to power

Aristide won the presidential elections held in November 2000, with over 90% of the vote. But turnout was very low as the polls had been boycotted by the opposition Democratic Convergence. He took office in February 2001 and appointed Jean-Marie Chérestal as prime minister. The opposition refused to recognize Aristide as president and set up an (internationally unrecognized) alternative government. In June 2001, Aristide agreed to hold new parliamentary elections. In return, the Organization of American States (OAS) said it would help Haiti obtain $500 million of suspended aid.

In March 2002 Yvon Neptune of the FL became prime minister, and included in his cabinet Marc Bazin of the Movement of the Institution of Democracy in Haiti (MIDH), who had been instrumental in negotiating a settlement with opposition parties during the disputed elections of 2000.

Overthrow of Aristide

Elections scheduled for 2003 could not be held because the opposition refused to participate and demanded Aristide's resignation. This meant that, in January 2004, Aristide began to rule by decree, as the terms of most legislators had expired. This ignited violent anti-Aristide protests in Port-au-Prince. They soon spread to other cities and in February Gonaives and Cap-Haitien fell to rebel control. At the end of the month, with rebels marching on the capital, Aristide resigned as president and was flown out of the country on a US plane to the Central African Republic. The chief of the supreme court, Boniface Alexandre, took over as acting president and the UN sent in a peacekeeping mission. From June 2004, the mission was 7,000-strong and led by Brazil. Despite their presence, there was continuing violence in the country, with. FL supporters clashing with the police and peackeepers and demanding the return of Aristide, who they alleged had been ousted in a US and French-supported coup.

Préval returns as president

Elections planned by the interim government were postponed several times because of the unstable situation. They were finally held in February 2006 and brought the return to power of René Préval, who became president with 51% of the vote. He appointed Jacques-Édouard Alexis as his prime minister. During 2007–08, the country's poor were hit by rising food prices, which led to a food crisis and riots. This instability led to parliament dismissing Alexis as prime minister in April 2008.

Haiti (redirected from Republic of Haiti)