Yearbook 2003
Haiti. Violent clashes occurred in August and September in Haiti’s second city of Cap-Haiti between the opposition organization Fron Opozisyon Nor (FRON), which calls for the resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and representatives of the presidential party Fanmi Lavalas. FRON criticized the police for inaction.
According to Countryaah.com, Haiti Independence Day is January 1. The deadline set by the US cooperative organization OAS for an agreement between the government and opposition for new elections expired on September 4 without results. This was mainly due to the fact that the opposition’s demands for disarming Fanmi Lavala’s supporters and police reforms were not met.
Other riots erupted in the city of Gonaïves in early October following the assassination of Militia leader Amiot Metayer, whose militia force is considered an unofficial organization of violence in President Aristide’s service.
On June 27, 1993, indirect talks began in New York between General Cedras and the deposed Aristide. At the same time, the UN Security Council strengthened the economic, energy and weapons embargo of the country. In July, Aristide and Cedras signed an agreement to secure the president’s return and amnesty to the coup officers. In accordance with the agreement, Aristide appointed Robert Malval as prime minister.
Nevertheless, in Haiti, a wave of violence aimed at hindering the implementation of the agreement was launched. In October, a North American warship anchored off the capital, prompting a numerous crowd in Port-au-Prince to threaten to attack the ship. Clinton therefore ordered the ship to return to the US naval base at Guantánamo in Cuba. At the same time, the UN Security Council reintroduced a naval blockade of Haiti.
Malval government Minister of Justice Guy Malary was murdered. In nearly the same place, the businessman and Aristide supporter Antoine Izmery had been murdered a month earlier. The killers were members of the FRAPH (Front of Progress in Haiti), who were supporters of the coup makers and used the same methods as tonton macoutes.
The blockade shattered the country’s formal economy and increased the population’s poverty, without significantly reducing the living standards of the wealthy families who had financed the coup. At the same time, violence increased. Acc. In a UN report, 426 supporters of Aristide were assassinated during the period from May 1993 to February 1994. Aristide characterized Clinton’s upbringing of Haitian refugees on the high seas as: “a floating Berlin wall “.
In October 1993, the United States invaded Haiti, the coups were flown in exile, and on October 15, Aristide was able to return to Haiti. However, his political and economic leeway was severely limited as he had committed to implementing the IMF’s structural adjustment program in the country. Moreover, the country’s economy was largely dependent on foreign aid. In December, the country’s military was finally shut down in favor of setting up a new national police force.
Although he intended to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations during the dictatorship, he – after pressure from the United States – was forced to resort to symbolic acts, such as the inauguration of a monument to the victims of the death patrols.
In 1995, the North American invasion forces were replaced by UN battalions. In November 1995, one of Aristide’s close associates, René Préval, won the presidential election with 88% of the vote. The United States had already ensured that Aristides could not stand. On February 7, 1996, the new president took power in a country where 80% of the population lived below the poverty line. Préval asked the UN to allow the peacekeeping force to stay in the country for a further period – due to the myriad conflicts and acts of violence in which the new national police were involved. The abductions and murders – including of 8 off-duty policemen – continued, and several popular uprisings took place, which were severely beaten.
Republic of Haiti Brief Guide
According to AbbreviationFinder, Haiti is a state of about nine million people in the Caribbean. The Haitian state consists mainly of the western part of Hispaniola, the eastern part being dominated by the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the third largest state in the Caribbean and the largest in terms of population. The state became independent on January 1, 1804, from France.