Haiti an Inheritance of Anger

By John Moody

Just six weeks after President-for-Life Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier fled to France, Haitians were again in revolt against their government. Many were indignant at the failure of the five-member ruling National Council of Government to begin addressing the impoverished country's problems. That resentment boiled over when an irate army captain ordered his men to beat a bus driver after a routine traffic incident, sparking strikes last week that left the country's public transportion completely paralyzed. In response, troops opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least four people. Mobs blocked off routes leading to the capital of Port-au-Prince and erected barricades of burning garbage and tires. The government quickly imposed a curfew and canceled all commercial airline flights.

As the labor disputes and riots spread, the National Council, which took power after Duvalier fled last Feb. 7, was forced to recognize that it had failed to win popular support. The credibility of the joint military-civilian junta was shattered on Thursday by the resignation of Justice Minister Gerard Gourgue, an anti-Duvalierist and the only member of the junta trusted by the public.

Next day the Haitian military, which had tried to keep a low profile, began cracking down in the capital. Lieut. General Henri Namphy, the council president and commander of the armed forces who succeeded Duvalier, announced that two more council members, Colonel Max Valles and Alix Cineas, and the government's military adviser, Colonel Prosper Avris, had stepped down. All three men were closely associated with the Duvalier dictatorship, and their appointment had stirred considerable bitterness.

The armed forces, said Namphy, had named him, along with Colonel Williams Regala and Jacques Francois, a lawyer who had been the acting Foreign Minister, to form a new three-member ruling council. Said Namphy: "The lack of understanding of some, together with the blind ambition of others, has hampered the accomplishments that the council had started."

Many Haitians contended, however, that the disbanded junta had delivered nothing but promises. The government has yet to suggest a plan to create new jobs or to improve living conditions in the country. The task of feeding, housing and educating millions of malnourished and underprivileged Haitians has been left in large part to the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, no date for the democratic elections promised by Namphy has been set. The U.S., which helped persuade Duvalier to leave Haiti, made available $26 million in economic aid that it had previously withheld from Duvalier, but Washington has exerted little pressure on the new government.

Disgusted by official inertia and determined to see everyone associated with Duvalier brought to justice, Haitians took matters into their own hands. Hundreds of students joined together to march on the National Palace late last week. Even after the new government was announced, angry crowds confronted military patrols. One sergeant was reportedly dragged from his automobile on Friday and killed. Said Gesner Armand, director of an art museum in the Haitian capital: "The people made the revolution. Now they have immediate needs that this government can't satisfy. They want work, and the government has no jobs to give them."

Most of the blame for Haiti's economic straits can be placed directly on Duvalier. Finance Minister Marcel Leger disclosed earlier this month that the ex-President-for-Life had skimmed off $1 from the price of every sack of flour that was milled in Haiti. Annual average production amounted to 2.5 million sacks. The Duvalier family had also demanded a 50 cents "tithe" on every sack of cement that was sold. Managers of state monopolies in the sugar and cooking-oil industries have admitted to kicking back money over the years, resulting in higher prices for staple commodities in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

The government of the neighboring Dominican Republic paid the President $2 million a year to provide Haitian laborers for the annual sugarcane harvest. The first post-Duvalier government vowed to confiscate the dictator's fortune, but did nothing. It also promised to return the $2 million kickback received this year to Santo Domingo.

The Catholic Church was busy concentrating its efforts on improving the lot of Haitians, 85% of whom are illiterate. Addressing 30,000 listeners at a Mass on March 7, Monsignor Francois Gayot, the head of the Haitian Bishops' Conference, announced a crash literacy program. Declared Gayot: "If these people could read and write, they could make everyone on earth share in the way they made this model revolution."

If the Namphy government decides to hold elections, there will be no dearth of potential leaders. Ex-President Daniel Fignole has returned to Haiti, after living for almost 29 years in New York City, as have leaders of the hitherto outlawed Communist and Socialist parties. Colonel Octave Cayard, who in 1970 led a failed coast guard mutiny against the Duvaliers, also arrived earlier this month. The church-run Radio Soleil has counseled Haitians to be patient. One of its oft-aired Creole adages: "Being in a hurry doesn't make the day break." That may be true, but the Haitian people are not likely to wait much longer for meaningful signs of change.

With reporting by Bernard Diederich/Port-au-Prince