Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s once and future leader, is not a happy man.
Even as thousands of American troops land in Haiti to clear the way for his long-awaited return as president, the temperamental Roman Catholic priest is having trouble placing his faith in Sunday’s agreement, which promises to remove the generals who ousted him three years ago and directed murderous attacks against his followers.
Aristide remained out of sight Tuesday in a luxury apartment building eight blocks from the White House, meeting with advisers and friends who said he essentially rejects the deal negotiated Sunday by former President Jimmy Carter.
The exiled Haitian president was described as feeling betrayed and disappointed that President Clinton who, after vowing to quickly remove the generals and force them into exile, accepted a compromise that leaves them in power for another month and permits them to remain in Haiti, where they may stir up opposition when Aristide returns next month.
Aristide’s dissatisfaction is an embarrassment for the Clinton administration, which now finds itself with a seemingly ungrateful client as American troops put their lives at risk to “restore democracy” in Haiti.
Characteristically, the 41-year-old priest, who dared challenge Haiti’s brutal Duvalier father-and-son dictatorships, doesn’t bend easily on what he considers issues of principle-such as the safety of his supporters and the survival of his government.
Clinton had a brief-and by some accounts testy-telephone conversation with Aristide on Sunday night. Clinton has since dispatched a succession of high-level officials, including National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, to try to persuade the Haitian leader to look at the “big picture”-that he will return to Haiti in less than 30 days under the protection of 15,000 U.S. troops-rather than quibble over details.
“I think he was obviously anticipating going back to Haiti a bit sooner,” said a senior administration official, trying to downplay the differences.
Aristide hasn’t appeared in public since Friday, when he joined Clinton and Caribbean leaders at a staged White House event intended to show solidarity and counter U.S. domestic criticism of Clinton’s anticipated invasion of Haiti.
In a brief written statement Tuesday, Aristide called for peace and democracy in his nation. He pointedly avoided mentioning Sunday’s agreement, however. Nor did he express appreciation for the thousands of American troops who would safeguard his return next month.
On the surface that may seem an ungrateful way to behave, indicative of the kind of prickliness and unpredictablilty raised by critics who argue against U.S. efforts to return him to office.
But Aristide, who has seen two U.S. administrations often promise more than they deliver, has reason to fear for the lives of his supporters every additional day that the generals remain in power.
In recent weeks, Aristide was repeatedly assured by Clinton’s special envoy, former Rep. William Gray III, that the administration would accept nothing less than the immediate exile of Haiti’s three top military leaders. Instead, the agreement allows them to remain in Haiti, and promises a broad amnesty covering their offenses.
Aristide told at least one member of Congress that the generals’ continued presence, even if they formally give up power, could lead to more violence against his supporters and make it impossible for him to govern.
In addition, Aristide is concerned that the U.S. hasn’t begun disarming Haiti’s military, nor the militia that has killed perhaps 3,000 of his supporters since the September 1991 coup. Burton Wides, counsel to Aristide in Washington, said the Pentagon invasion plan that the Aristide was given called for U.S. troops to begin disarming Haitian forces within 24 hours of landing in Haiti.
Administration officials say the timetable has been altered because of altered circumstances: the so-far peaceful arrival of American troops with the cooperation of the Haitian military. Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. will try to reduce the number of weapons in Haiti by offering to pay for arms turned in.
It has to trouble Aristide to hear Carter praise the patriotism and honor of the generals who led the bloody coup against Haiti’s first democratic government. And he may well wonder about Washington’s intentions as American military officers in Haiti praise the cooperation they are receiving from the military commander who turned against Aristide: Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras.
There is no small irony in the fact that Aristide, populist hero to Haiti’s poor and a disciple of radical liberation theology, will be able to return home only because of military intervention by the very nation whose power and influence he denounced as a leftist parish priest.
Elected with an overwhelming 70 percent of the vote in the first free elections held in Haiti’s history, the controversial priest remains the most popular political figure for millions of desperate Haitians who struggle against privation and repression in the hemisphere’s poorest nation.
But he is reviled by the powerful elite-the military, the wealthy families, and by some senior church officials-who fear retribution by his followers and an end to the systematic corruption that has enriched them.
The firebrand priest also is a most unlikely beneficiary of American military muscle. His strain of anti-Americanism and inflamatory calls for class warfare certainly would have alarmed Washington in the Cold War years.
He still causes some anxiety in Washington, although his policies in office were far more restrained than his explosive rhetoric.
“I have a lot of qualms about Aristide,” said Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “But there is no doubt that his election was fair and free, and democracy doesn’t always give you the kind of result you might want.”
Whatever Aristide’s personal shortcomings, human rights abuses and political violence were at an historic low during his brief rule as he began dismantling Haiti’s repressive system.
But human rights advocates were troubled by his appeal to mob power to intimidate his political critics, including his apparent nods toward necklacing-lynching people with a burning tire.
Since the 1991 military coup that ousted him after just seven months in office, Aristide has run a government-in-exile from his comfortable apartment in Washington. Envisioning his return, he has spent millions of dollars on a cadre of lobbyists and public relations specialists to press his cause with the administration, Congress and the public. The money is mostly Haitian government assets that had been frozen by the U.S. and provided to Aristide as the recognized leader.
He has outlined on paper some ambitious plans for military, judicial and economic reforms to be implemented upon his return. And he has been promised hundreds of millions of dollars in aid by the U.S. and other donor nations to help rebuild Haiti’s devastated economy and try to solidify a fragile democracy.
