Haitians face gov't terror in fight for land, bread, freedom

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Haitian army and government supported thugs terrorizd elections while...

.. poor and hungry flock to the cities to escape hunger and poverty.

Against a background of terror, new elections are scheduled in Haiti on Jan. 17. Last month, Haitian strongman Lt. General Henri Namphy proclaimed new election rules that will make secret balloting almost impossible. Soldiers will be posted at polling stations. Anyone urging a boycott of the election may be jailed.

The election-day massacre on Nov. 29 shocked a world that had become almost jaded by world-wide reports of assassinations and death-squad executions by regimes trying to hold on to power.

But the unprovoked slaughter of innocents in Haiti was conducted so openly, with such cruelty, by gunmen with unlimited license to kill, that the world was horrified anew.

The Haitian massacre was unique. Never before have citizens, lined up to vote, been shot down. Never before have murderers invaded a polling place, chopped down election clerks with machetes, set fire to the ballots, and thrown the living wounded onto the fire. Never before has an official election been halted by such terror and death while it was actually in progress.

believed they would end the nightmare of Duvalierism forever. For the first time in 29 years, they thought, they would have a say in their government.

But Duvalierists sit in the national palace supported by arms supplied by the United States. In the last year, Washington has donated over $400,000-worth of ammunition, tear gas, and crowd control equipment. These were the arms that were used to shoot down the voters on election day.

"Uprooting" the old order Lt. Gen. Namphy, chief of staff under the dictator Francois Duvalier, was personally selected by the fleeing Baby Doc-with the approval of the American ambassador—to head an interim government.

In the euphoria of the first months after Duvalier's downfall, the key slogan was "Dechoukaj," a Creole word meaning "uprooting"-uprooting every vestige of the old order, both political repression and economic exploitation.

Feeling their power and freedom after generations of oppression, the masses in town and country leaned heavily on the National Provisional Government (CNG).

Yielding to this pressure, Namphy reluctantly gave concessions. An assembly was convoked to write a new constitution providing for an independent election commission, and a ban on Duvalierists running for office. This clause, however, 16 SOCIALIST ACTION did not deal with the Duvalierists holding the levers of power in Port au Prince.

The CNG had to officially disband the Tonton Macoute (Duavlier's para-military force), but they covered the tracks of many of the murderous thugs who went into hiding. A number of the Macoute have been recruited into the army, which is being doubled in size.

For the last 22 months, tests of strength between the CNG and the people have been taking place in the city streets and on the country roads. Peasants refused to pay taxes, rejected appointed officials, and kept the Tonton Macoute on the run.

They formed collectives to take back the land stolen from them. Slum dwellers formed committees to run their communities, joined labor unions, and set up committees of vigilance to defend themselves.

"Duvalierism without Duvalier"

In the national palace, plans to restore the weakened power of Duvalierism were set afoot. Namphy permitted former Macoute leaders to form a political party. But strikes and demonstrations forced Namphy to back down. The Macoute party was dissolved.

Later, Namphy outlawed the major union movement, CATH. Again the masses responded and he was forced to back down.

When the independent electoral commission ruled that 12 former Duvalierists were not eligible to run for office, Namphy reacted by abolishing the commission. He declared that the CNG would run the election.

This aroused broad opposition, including 23 anti-Duvalierist candidates who were running for president. Again, mass pressure forced Namphy to turn the election machinery back to the electoral commission.

With his Duvalierist candidates ruled off the ballot, Namphy realized the new president would not be subservient to him. He turned to the tactic of sabotage.

The commission needed government helicopters to fly election materials to remote districts. The army said no. The commission rented their own aircraft. The CNG would not allow them to fly.

An atmosphere of terror was created. Two presidential candidates were assassinated. The office of the electoral commission was trashed. A plant printing the ballots was burned down. Namphy and the CNG maintained a stony-faced silence while these atrocities were being perpetrated. No arsonists or murderers were arrested.

Washington stands by The U.S. government, so ready to criticize the Nicaraguan elections, has JANUARY 1988 expressed little concern about the human rights of Haitians. The election-day massacre was the culmination of 30 years of murder and torture, tolerated—if not condoned-by Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington.

After the massacre, U.S. officials would only say that Namphy "deceived and disappointed them." The American ambassador could not have been blind to Namphy's sabotage. Two hundred foreign observers were on the scene.

Liberal members of Congress, led by Rep. Walter Fauntroy (D-D.C.), have called on the administration to organize a "multinational" military intervention into Haiti to ensure a "fair" election. This threat is a club Namphy uses against the opposition. Haitians recall the 19-year U.S. occupation of their country with horror.

Actually, a U.S. invasion at this juncture is unlikely. If Namphy manages a rigged election that results in a stooge civilian president subservient to the army, it would be OK with Washington. The U.S. government has never opposed dictatorship that is pro-American, pro-capitalist, and stable.

American intervention is almost certain, however, if the aroused Haitian people threaten the rights of private property and American influence. Working people in this country must be vigilant. It must be made clear that no foreign intervention can ensure democracy in Haiti.

Return to "the dark night?"

The four leading candidates have joined forces and agreed not to run in Namphy's rigged election. They have called for a boycott of elections "until the government is replaced." But the workers have little faith in middle-class candidates who made Andy Freeberg brief visits to the slums and offered no solutions to their problems.

When the opposition candidates called a general strike on Nov. 30, the workers responded only partially. They are paid by the day, and face starvation if they lose wages. In their desperate poverty, elections seem less relative.

The ferocious assault of the Macoute and the army has also had a chilling effect. Members of the former electoral commission have gone into hiding. The committees of vigilance have disappeared. Knives and clubs are no defense against machin guns.

A sense of pessimism prevails in Portau-Prince. There is talk of "returning to the dark night." But the fight is not over.

Much depends on the mood in the provinces. It was the country people who forced Baby Doc to flee. They are 85 percent of the people. They are no longer so isolated as they were when the Duvaliers seized power.

Transistor radios bring news and opinion to the most remote valleys, partially overcoming the 80-percent illiteracy rate. Creole, spoken by 90 percent of the people, is now an official language. It was not incidental that the army burned down four of the five radio stations.

Haitians have come back from exile and joined the struggle for democracy. They are building trade unions, peasants' collectives, and organs of workers' and peasants' defense.

Rather than depending on liberal pro-capitalist politicians in Port-au-Prince, the workers must build their own party. United with the country people, they represent the only force that can defeat Duvalierism and begin to meet the demands for land, bread, and freedom.

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In the crowds flocking to polling stations all over Haiti that Sunday morning, many