Caribbean & Central America - October 2011 (ISSN 1741-4458)

If there is one single institution in Haiti’s modern history that has contributed least to preserving political and economic stability it is surely the armed forces. And yet despite urgent priorities every which way he turns, President Michel Martelly appears to have fastened on to the idea of restoring the army, disbanded in 1995 by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide ((1991, 1994-1996 and 2001-2004) after decades of interference in politics and a concomitantly disproportionate drain on the public purse, dozens of military coups (four in 1988 alone), and human rights abuses.

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