Brief Overview of Haiti's Recent History

Annual Memorial Service at St. Jean Bosco church where Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the priest. The church parishioners were attacked during mass and the church burned down

Photo copyright by Michelle Karshan

July 2006

Haiti in Context for Better Understanding of Criminal Deportee Situation

Thirty years of a brutal dictatorship under the Duvaliers ended in 1986 and a series of interim governments, appointed, fraudulently elected, or who seized power through a coup d’etat, ran the country from 1986-1991.

During that period Haiti’s Constitution was replaced by a democratically-voted for Constitution of 1987, which had a clause barring former Duvalierists and Macoutes (henchmen) from public office for a period of ten years. The Constitution also mandated the implementation of several institutions to better serve Haiti’s majority.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overwhelmingly elected president in 1991 in Haiti’s first democratic elections but was overthrown by a bloody military led coup d’etat seven months later in September 1991. Upwards of 5,000 people were killed, a death squad called FRAPH was formed, rape was utilized as a political tool, torture was rampant, 100,000 people would then be forced to flee Haiti to other countries, some being interdicted and forced back or held at the Guantanamo military base, and over 300,000 persons were estimated to be internally displaced within Haiti itself.

After three years of resistance by Haiti’s poor majority, and international clamor, President Clinton returned President Aristide to Haiti in October 1994 and democracy was reinstalled.

President Aristide disbanded Haiti’s brutal military, thousands of refugees were returned to Haiti, President Aristide set about establishing the various democratic institutions mandated by the 1987 Constitution, including a civilian police force and civilian prison system.

Prohibited by the 1987 Constitution from running for president consecutively, President Aristide oversaw the organization of new democratic elections in 1996.

President Rene Preval was elected and inaugurated in what would be Haiti’s first transfer of power from one democratically-elected president to another.

President Preval implemented many of those Constitutional mandates initiated by Aristide and also oversaw the consolidation of all security forces placing them under the new civilian National Police.

Preval became the first democratically-elected president to successfully complete his term and after five years organized the next presidential elections in which President Aristide was re-elected.

It is important to note that during this entire period anti-democratic forces were active in trying to destabilize Haiti through violence, assassinations, killing of police, attacks on government offices, including the National Palace, Police Academy, prisons, police stations, and so forth.

President Preval organized new legislative and presidential elections and President Aristide was re-elected in what was recognized internationally as credible elections and inaugurated once again on February 2001. The 1987 Constitutional bar prohibiting former Duvalierist and Macoutes from public office had expired by then.

In early 2004, the democratically-elected president of Haiti, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced out of Haiti and 7,000 elected officials were forced from office as well. Many people working for or sympathetic to Aristide's government fled the country or went into hiding.

An Interim Haitian Government was appointed to run Haiti during which time they systematically persecuted Aristide supporters through torture, assassination, property damage and transformed the prisons into political prisons, attacked poor neighborhoods causing internal displacement in the country, and reversed much of the democratic processes gained over the previous years.

They integrated members of the disbanded Army and former death squads into the new civilian police force, allowed thugs and former Army members to control large portions of the country as a quasi-official force.

The Supreme Court members were fired replacing them, and other judicial posts, with their own appointments. During this period there was total impunity for atrocities committed, including for those perpetrated during the 1991 – 1994 coup period. Insecurity dramatically increased and kidnapping became the norm with the country remaining under terror.

The enormous gains underway in Haiti’s first civilian led national prison system were reversed and widespread torture, sub-human conditions – including widespread deaths from Beri Beri resulting from starvation – and the absence of judicial process became the norm.

The prisons, more specifically the National Penitentiary in Haiti’s capital, became the site of several violent incidents in which more than 100 prisoners lost their lives, and several rounds of escapes occurred.

After two years, and many postponements, presidential and legislatives elections were held and former President Rene Preval was overwhelmingly elected president despite lots of maneuvers to prevent a fair ballot count or participation.

After a lengthy delay, President Preval was finally inaugurated in mid-May 2006 and began to reorganize the government and move towards local mayoral and community representative elections.

The process of reinstituting a democratic government is still in progress with the first steps of the installation of Parliament, the inauguration of the President, the ratification of a new Prime Minister and his ministers (including the Minister of Justice), the ratification of a permanent police chief, and the appointment of a Security of State for Public Security have all very recently been completed. However, several key positions still have yet to be reorganized such as the appointment of Director Generals who are the administrators of the various Ministries and government agencies, the replacement of the diplomatic corps, the replacement of mayors and other local representatives, and an assessment and reorganization of offices that were restructured under the Interim Government, as well as evaluating which public administration personnel are actually eligible and qualified to remain, including within the ranks of police and corrections.

Further, during the period which forced President Aristide from the country and the subsequent two years, many police stations, courts and prisons were destroyed and the justice system reversed.

During the month of July 2006, insecurity, which can be attributed to several sectors, resurfaced and kidnappings escalated to a few a day.