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Unrest Spreads Through Island Nation of Haiti |
Posted:
02.09.04 | |
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Pressure to oust Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide escalated over the
weekend as growing opposition turned to mass uprisings in the small, Caribbean
nation of 8 million. | |
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The unrest began Thursday, when armed anti-government protestors and some residents
took over several cities, setting police stations and government buildings on
fire and driving out police and elected officials with guns and machetes.  The
protestors, led by rebel groups, have been angry with Aristide since he was reelected
in 2000 in an election contested by his opponents. They say Aristide, who once
was expected to help Haiti move forward with its quest for democracy after decades
of dictatorial rule, rigged the elections and has become corrupt and brutal himself.
"We're
just waiting for Aristide to go," said one rebel leader. "Step by step,
town by town. When we have all the departments [districts], we'll go down to Port-au-Prince
[the capital]." | |
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nation in conflict | |
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 The
nation of Haiti, which shares an island landmass with the Dominican Republic,
has seen decades of violence and poverty since its independence from France in
1804, most notably during the reign of the infamous Francois "Papa Doc"
Duvalier.
Tensions between blacks and mulattos -- mixed race Haitians --
divided the nation starting in the early 1800s. Then, between 1915 and
1934 the United States invaded Haiti and maintained control of the island until
1956. Following a coup in 1956 and a year of political turmoil, Duvalier, a physician
and a practitioner of Voodoo -- a religion that is a mix of Roman Catholic ritual,
animism and magic recently made one of Haiti's official religions -- was elected
to office and declared himself "president for life." He used personal
bodyguards called Macoutes or bogeymen, as protection. When Duvalier died
in 1971, his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier took over as president
for life. Both Duvaliers were infamous for their brutality and between 1957 and
1986 when Baby Doc fled the country amidst protests thousands of Duvalier opponents
mysteriously disappeared or were murdered. | |
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| Aristide | |
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During the Duvalier rule, a young priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide became
a leading voice in the opposition. When the country finally held elections
in 1990, Aristide dubbed his campaign "Lavalas" or a cleansing flood,
and won 67 percent of the vote.  Although
many Haitians hoped his election would usher in peace and prosperity to the young
democracy, Aristide was ousted a year later in a military coup. The coup, led
by Brig. Gen. Raoul Cedras, led to economic sanctions against the country by both
the United States and the United Nations.
In 1994 U.S. forces arrived in
Haiti to oversee a peaceful transition from military rule to civilian rule. Aristide
returned to power for a short time, but it wasn't until 2000 that he was again
elected president. Today, the country of 8 million people is considered
the poorest in North, South and Latin America and has one of the highest rates
of AIDS in the world.  Since
contested legislative elections in 2000, Aristide's opponents have refused to
recognize his party's leadership and have held mass demonstrations in the country's
capital, Port-au-Prince.
In the last few months, the violence has escalated
and 69 people have died in clashes with the police since September. --
Kristina Nwazota, Online NewsHour | |
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Both performances were incredibly underwhelming, and offered no real reason for Americans to change their votes. Neither candidate seemed willing to go out on a limb to garner support.
