Troubled Island

Calm has returned to Haiti, two weeks after precipitate government action set off the most serious rioting since dictator Jean Claude Duvalier was overthrown a year and a half ago. But the underlying tensions remain, and the interim government that replaced the dictator must be careful not to repeat the egregious errors that unleashed such anger.

The troubles began when the provisional government, a three-man junta headed by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, issued two decrees that stirred memories of the repressive Duvalier era. One dissolved a labor federation that had been critical of the interim government’s wage and labor policies. The second transferred control of the nation’s coming elections from an independent Provisional Electoral Council to government officials. The latter was the more troubling, for it was in direct violation of the new constitution that Haitian voters approved just months ago.

The moves were unexpected, and Haitians took to the streets in half a dozen towns demanding that the decrees be revoked. Several political, religious and business leaders called for a general strike, which successfully shut down the capital, Port-au-Prince. Even more troubling were the protests of younger Haitians who built street barricades and bonfires and began tossing rocks at police. Inevitably, security personnel responded with violence of their own, and as of last weekend the toll stood at 22 dead and hundreds injured.

Only after several foreign governments, including the Reagan Administration, quietly joined the protests did the Haitian government seem to realize that it had overstepped its authority, and badly. After a show of negotiations with the Provisional Electoral Council, the government surrendered control of the elections and reinstated the charter of the labor federation. But the protests continue, peaceful for now, and have brought to the surface suspicions that have lingered ever since “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled into exile.

In a nation as poor and ill-fed as Haiti, any dynasty that stretched over 30 years--as did the Duvalier regime--was bound to taint the relatively few well-educated Haitians by enlisting them in government service. At one time or another even some of the dictatorship’s staunchest foes had served in foreign posts. Even Gen. Namphy and other “non-political” leaders of the armed forces are suspect because they did so little to oust Duvalier until public anger forced them to move. Thus many Haitians fear that there are still “Duvalierists” lurking in the government, waiting for a chance to seize control before their nation can establish a genuine democracy.

This underlying fear of Duvalierism sparked the angry protests of the last two weeks, and--judging from the size and spontaneity of the demonstrations--the fear is shared by many, perhaps the majority, of Haitians. This is a lesson that even a “non-political” military man like Namphy must have learned by now. If he has not, the United States and other nations trying to help Haiti along the slow, torturous path toward democracy must keep repeating the message until it sinks in. There is no other way to keep the Haitian people from taking to the streets in anger and frustration.