The Spaniards used the island of Hispaniola (of which Haiti is the western part and the Dominican Republic the eastern) as a launching point from which to explore the rest of the Western Hemisphere. French buccaneers later used the western third of the island as a point from which to harass English and Spanish ships. In 1697, Spain ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France. As piracy was gradually suppressed, some French adventurers became planters, making Saint Domingue, as the French portion of the island was known, the "pearl of the Antilles"--one of the richest colonies in the 18th century French empire. During this period, African slaves were brought to work on sugarcane and coffee plantations.
In 1791, the slave population revolted--led by Haitian heroes Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe--and gained control of the northern part of the French colony, waging a war of attrition against the French. By January 1804, local forces defeated an army sent by Napoleon Bonaparte, established independence from France, and renamed the area Haiti. The impending defeat of the French in Haiti is widely credited with contributing to Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803. Haiti is the world's oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States.
The 1991 Coup
In December 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a charismatic Roman Catholic priest, won 67% of the vote in a presidential election that international observers deemed largely free and fair. Aristide took office on February 7, 1991, but was overthrown that September in a violent coup led by dissatisfied elements of the army and supported by many of the country's economic elite. Following the coup, Aristide began what became a 3-year period of exile. As many as several thousand Haitians may have been killed during the period of de facto military rule. The coup triggered a largescale exodus of Haitians by boat.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a total of 41,342 Haitians at sea during 1991 and 1992, more than the number of rescued boat people from the previous 10 years combined. From October 1991 to September 1994 an unconstitutional military de facto regime governed Haiti.
Various OAS and UN initiatives to end the political crisis through the peaceful restoration of the constitutionally elected government, including the Governors Island Agreement of July 1993, failed. When the military refused to uphold its end of the agreements, the de facto authorities refused to allow a return to constitutional government, even though the economy was collapsing and the country's infrastructure deteriorated from neglect.
Transition to Democracy
On July 31, 1994, as repression mounted in Haiti and a UN-OAS civilian human rights monitoring mission (MICIVIH) was expelled from the country, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 940. UNSC Resolution 940 authorized member states to use all necessary means to facilitate the departure of Haiti's military leadership and to restore Haiti's constitutionally elected government to power. In the weeks that followed, the United States took the lead in forming a multinational force (MFN) to carry out the UN's mandate by means of a military intervention. In mid-September, with U.S.
troops prepared to enter Haiti by force, President Clinton dispatched a negotiating team led by former President Jimmy Carter to persuade the de facto authorities to step aside and allow for the return of constitutional rule. With intervening troops already airborne, Gen. Raoul Cedras and other top leaders agreed to accept the intervention of the MNF. On September 19, 1994, the first contingents of what became a 21,000 international force touched down in Haiti to oversee the end of military rule and the restoration of the constitutional government.
By early October, the three de facto leaders--Cedras, Gen. Philippe Biamby, and Police Chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois -and their families had departed Haiti.
Political Gridlock
In late 1996, former President Aristide broke from the OPL and created a new political party, the Lavalas Family (FL). The OPL, holding the majority of the Parliament, renamed itself the Struggling People's Organization, maintaining the OPL acronym. Elections in April 1997 for the renewal of one-third of the Senate and creation of commune-level assemblies and town delegations provided the first opportunity for the former political allies to compete for elected office. Although preliminary results indicated victories for FL candidates in most races, the elections, which drew only about 5% of registered voters, were plagued with allegations of fraud and not certified by most international observers as free and fair. Partisan rancor from the election dispute led to deep divisions within Parliament and between the legislative and executive branches, resulting in almost total governmental gridlock.
In June 1997, Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned. Two successors proposed by President Preval thereafter were rejected by the legislature. Eventually, in December 1998, Jacques Alexis was confirmed as Prime Minister. During this gridlock period, the government was unable to organize the local and parliamentary elections due in late 1998.
In early January 1999, President Preval dismissed legislators whose terms had expired--the entire Chamber of Deputies and all but nine members of the Senate--and converted local elected officials into state employees. The President and Prime Minister then ruled by decree, establishing a cabinet composed almost entirely of FL partisans. Under pressure from a new political coalition called the Democratic Consultation Group (ESPACE), the government allocated three seats of the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to opposition groups and mandated the CEP to organize the overdue elections for the end of 1999. Following several delays, the first round of elections for local councils--ASEC and CASEK, municipal governments, town delegates, the Chamber of Deputies, and two-thirds of the Senate took place on May 21, 2000.
The election drew the participation of a multitude of candidates from a wide array of political parties and a voter turnout of more than 60%.
The Electoral Crisis
Controversy mired the good start, however, when the CEP used a flawed methodology to determine the winners of the Senate races, thus avoiding run-off elections for eight seats and giving the FL a virtual sweep in the first round. The flawed vote count, combined with the lack of CEP follow-up of investigations of alleged irregularities and fraud, undercut the credibility of that body, whose President fled Haiti, and two members eventually resigned rather than accede to government pressure to release the erroneous results. This electoral manipulation and the subsequent intransigence of Haitian authorities toward international efforts led by the OAS to assist them take corrective measures, led to sharp criticism of the Government of Haiti from the international community. On August 28, 2000, Haiti's new Parliament, including the contested Senators accorded victory under the flawed vote count, was convened. Concurrently, most opposition parties regrouped in a tactical alliance that eventually became the Democratic Convergence.
It was the position of the Convergence that the May elections were so fraudulent that they should be annulled and held again under a new CEP, but only after then-President Preval stood down and had been replaced by a provisional government. In the meantime, the opposition announced it would boycott the November presidential and senatorial elections. Through a number of diplomatic missions by the OAS, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the United States, the international community had sought to delay Parliament's seating until the electoral problems could be rectified. When these efforts were rebuffed and Parliament was seated, Haiti's main bilateral donors announced the end of "business as usual.
" They moved to re-channel Haitian assistance away from the government and announced they would not support or send observers to the November elections. From September through late October 2000, the international community attempted unsuccessfully to bridge the differences between the Fanmi Lavalas government and the Democratic Convergence. In the absence of a solution and in keeping with the timetable established by the Haitian Constitution, elections for President and nine Senators took place on November 26, 2000. All major opposition parties boycotted these elections in which voter participation was very low.
International Presence
Since the transition of the 21,000-strong MNF into a peacekeeping force on March 31, 1995, the presence of international military forces that helped restore constitutional government to power was gradually ended. Initially, the U.S.-led UN peacekeeping force numbered 6,000 troops, but that number was scaled back progressively over the next 4 years as a series of UN technical missions succeeded the peacekeeping force. By January 2000, all U.S. troops stationed in Haiti had departed. In March 2000, the UN peacekeeping mission transitioned into a peace-building mission, the International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH). MICAH consisted of some 80 nonuniformed UN technical advisers providing advice and material assistance in policing, justice, and human rights to the Haitian Government.
MICAH's mandate ended on February 7, 2001, coinciding with the end of the Preval administration.
Principal Government Officials
President--Jean-Bertrand Aristide Prime Minister--Yvon NeptuneMinister of Foreign Affairs--Joseph Phillipe Antonio Ambassador to the U.S.--vacant (Louis Harold Joseph, Charge d'Affaires) Ambassador to the OAS--Raymond ValcinAmbassador to the UN--Dr. Jean C. Alexandre The Embassy of Haiti is located at 2311 Massachusetts Ave.
, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-332-4090).
