Democracy Returns to Haiti

| By J. Robert Parks |

The country of Haiti has been independent for more than two centuries, but for much of that time its people have suffered tremendously. They have been victims of hurricanes, earthquakes, foreign occupiers, dictators, and possibly worst of all, political chaos. In 1994, Haiti was in the midst of such chaos, as a troika of two generals and a police chief had supplanted the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Thirty years ago this week, on September 19, 1994, however, the United States was able to use a combination of military threats and diplomacy to restore Haitian democracy and return Aristide to power. Educators and librarians wanting to help students understand the situation Haiti faces now and how it got there will find plenty of resources in Gale In Context: World History.

Haiti can trace much of its political troubles to the horrific slavery it endured under Spanish and then French colonization. The Haitian people, led by Toussaint Louverture, were able to overthrow the French at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the new country was hamstrung by what followed. France demanded crippling reparations that Haiti was not able to pay off until the mid-twentieth century, and the young United States, a potentially important trading partner, refused to recognize Haiti for fear it would encourage slave revolts on its own plantations.

The United States changed its policies in the early twentieth century, encouraging U.S. banks to invest in the Caribbean economies. The result in Haiti, however, was economic instability, and the U.S. military invaded the country in 1915 to secure the banks’ investment. The United States occupied Haiti until 1934 and exercised indirect fiscal control for another dozen years after that.

After more political and economic instability, François “Papa Doc” Duvalier was elected president in 1957, but he soon mobilized the military police, the dreaded Tontons Macoutes, to seize absolute power and then declared himself president for life in 1964. His son succeeded him after he died in 1971, and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier remained in power until popular demonstrations drove him into exile in 1986. The Duvaliers’ almost thirty-year reign enriched themselves and a very small elite, leaving the vast majority of Haitians in poverty and with little government support.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide was a Catholic priest who emerged as a political rival to Jean-Claude Duvalier. Aristide’s growing popularity and the support of the Church protected him despite the fact that his sermons became increasingly anti-government in nature, as Aristide called for justice and political action. When he ran for president in 1990, he won with 67 percent of the vote, but he was overthrown by the military in February 1991 and fled into exile.

Over the next three-and-a-half years, Haiti slipped into anarchy, and thousands of its people attempted to flee to other Caribbean countries and the United States. President Bill Clinton felt pressured to try to resolve the crisis. Although he faced domestic opposition from Republicans, many of the world’s leaders encouraged the United States to intervene in Haiti, even with a military invasion. In fact, the United Nations Security Council authorized the United States to invade if necessary.

The night before the U.S. military was set to invade, the Haitian junta agreed to step down and leave the country. Former president Jimmy Carter was key in negotiating a peaceful return of Aristide to power. U.S. soldiers still landed in Haiti on September 19, 1994, but there was no fighting involved. They were there simply to keep the peace, and they remained until March 1995 when they were replaced by a UN peacekeeping force.

It would be comforting but incorrect to report that the return of Aristide and democracy paved the way for better days in Haiti. Political instability and the enduring economic challenges proved overwhelming. Aristide could not run again for president in 1995 (the Haitian constitution forbade a president from serving consecutive terms), but he was elected again in 2000, only to be forced into exile again in 2004.

The years since have brought more misery to the Haitian people, especially a catastrophic earthquake in 2010 and then a cholera epidemic that lasted for much of the decade. Then in 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home. A power vacuum followed, and gangs and organized crime took control of more of the country and economy. In 2023, the UN authorized a multinational force to help stabilize the country, but the first soldiers, led by those from Kenya, did not arrive until late June 2024. It can only be hoped that they will bring some stability to the country, but Haiti’s history indicates that the country will need much more than military intervention if it’s to make progress on becoming a safe and prosperous independent nation.

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