Letter From Haiti

Post script: The Duvalierists did not wait for Aristide to confront Haiti's problems. The night of January 6 Roger Lafontant seized control of the provisional government. But within hours, the commander of the armed forces, General Herard Abraham, crushed the coup d'etat and arrested Lafontant. The fact that the coup failed is tremendously helpful because it means that those who oppose democracy will no longer regard a coup as the simplest of remedies. But does this establish democracy, or does it merely put my acquaintance's prediction on track: democracy for at least one year?

Even though Abraham arrested Lafontant, that is not to say the general hasn't had ample legal grounds for such an arrest ever since Lafontant returned to Haiti last summer. Why did he wait for the coup and what will he now do with Lafontant? Ton-Ton Macoutes, after all, have been arrested before. Will Lafontant ever be brought to trial? Will the trial be fair, and will a just sentence ever be carried out?

The situation really has not changed. Haiti's fate is still in the hands of the army, and the army and the Macoutes have always been rivals. There are still armed and determined Haitians, no doubt from both factions, plotting against democracy. If there is a lesson to be drawn from this week's events, it is this: These men will not simply give up and go away; it will take more than a botched coup to neutralize them. I think the Haitians who voted on December 16 understood that. I remember them dressing in their best clothes to vote, as though they were going to church. And that is understandable. In Haiti voting is not just an exercise in democracy, it is an act of faith. Once again, the morning after the coup, there were joyous demonstrations in the streets. By Haitian logic, today they were avenged. Tomorrow will belong to God.