Latinnews Archive
Latin American Weekly Report - 16 July 1987
CNG retreat does not stop unrest;NAMPHY'S POSITION WEAKENED BY SPLITS AND US DOUBTS
The political crisis which has been developing in recent weeks (WR-87-26) is now putting at risk the government of General Henri Namphy, causing divisions within the government and the armed forces.
After several stoppages in protest at bad economic conditions, a general strike has paralysed the country since late June and left more than 15 civilians dead and scores of victims injured. As unrest increases and the opposition hardens its attacks on the Counseil National du Gouvernement (CNG), Washington treads a cautious diplomatic path to keep Haiti in the US orbit.
Strikers' demands
The group of 57 organisations leading the strike rejected on 3 July as inadequate the CNG announcement restoring the independent supervisory electoral council and dismissing information minister Jacques Lorthe, who had said that he did not care whether or not the abolition of the electoral council on 24 June violated the country's new constitution. The abolition of the electoral council had been one of the two government measures prompting the general strike.
The other main demand of the strikers, the lifting of the ban on the trade union federation Confederation Autonome des Travailleurs Haitiens (Cath), was not rescinded, causing an escalation of the stoppage into one demanding Namphy's resignation. The electoral council itself broke off talks with the government accusing the military of 'barbarous' firing on civilians. Thousands protested against the government by sounding car horns and banging pots and pans.
After the collapse of negotiations between government and strikers, secret talks took place between opposition figures and senior military officers, reportedly discussing the replacement of General Namphy.
Washington's doubts
There were also signs of an erosion in support for Namphy in Washington. After 18 months of firm US backing, Assistant Secretary of State for interAmerican Affairs Elliott Abrams indicated that continued US financial aid may be conditioned on how Namphy handles future protests. 'No one should doubt our willingness to terminate aid to any government that abandons, thwarts or prevents a transition to democracy,' said Abrams.
Abrams' strong words, used as a guideline by other State Department officials, underscore the difficulties inherent in the political strategy the US has chosen. 'The US has backed the wrong people,' said Alan Ebert, an analyst at the Church-backed Washington Office on Haiti. 'The current (Namphy) government has no interest in reform and its disregard for the new constitution makes that clear.' His words were echoed in Haiti by the influential Catholic bishop of Jeremie, Monsignor Willy Romelus, who warned that Duvalierism still held sway in the country.
Ebert and other analysts believe that Washington's desire to prevent the development of a left-oriented government led the US to back a regime drawing its support from the tonton macoute system. 'The macoute system is like apartheid,' said Ebert. 'It can't be reformed; it has to be replaced.'
US aid commitments for the current fiscal year total US$ 101m -- up US$ 23m from the previous year -- and the Reagan administration has asked the US Congress to commit a similar amount for fiscal year 1988, starting on 1 October. The US has also provided important support to the military in an attempt to professionalise the armed forces: more than US$ 6m are earmarked for riot control equipment and training, after US$ 2m and US$ 4m granted for those purposes in 1986 and 1987.
Observers in Haiti warn that this sort of military aid may only serve to turn sectors of the population against the US, as the riot training and equipment went to 'the forces that killed demonstrators'.
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