The origins of the current Haitian crisis are intimately linked to the revolutionary past. The insurrectional stage of the Haitian Revolution was crowned with success, conquering nothing more and nothing less than the Napoleonic armada. However, the process of political and social institutionality was prematurely interrupted by internal battles and the authoritarian legacy of colonialism.

The revolutionary process disintegrated into internal battles that pitted the interests of strongmen and power groups against each other, going as far as causing the division of the Haitian nation into two republics, with the South being led by Alexandre Petion and the North by Henry Christophe. When national unity was achieved under the leadership of Jean Pierre Boyer placed at the helm of a liberal movement, this leader became a dictator, overthrown in 1843, twenty years after assuming power. Since then, the country went from crisis to crisis until the first North American military occupation in the early twentieth century (1915-1934). The dependent political system implanted by the occupants failed to go beyond the tradition of strong governments and weak State. That political tradition continued in the Duvalier dictatorship (1957-1986), which implemented what is referred to by Claude Moise as "dictatorial normalisation".

During that long period of political struggles, governance of the Haitian nation drew from traditional sources based on obscurantism, continued colonialist racism, denial of political and civic rights, abuse of military power, obstruction of parliamentarianism, manipulation of electoral processes, denial of the freedom of expression and the non-existence of a political party system. For two centuries, Haiti did not have, as can be seen, any stage of democratic consolidation that would provide the masses with mechanisms for political participation, as was the case during the insurrectional period of the 1804 Revolution.

The Duvalier dictatorship was overthrown through the creation of a broad popular movement of the masses that culminated with the election of Jean Bertrand Aristide. With Aristide's presidency, this movement became the only popular movement within this hemisphere that attained power without armed confrontation.

The popular movement that toppled the Duvalier dictatorship was unable to establish a political system that would overcome the evils of the past, as it was interrupted by the military coup d'etat against Aristide. The constitutional system was re-established by way of a second North American military occupation, which, although it placed the overthrown President in power once again, did not foment a social and political pact that would strengthen the political institutionality of that nation.

This Caribbean nation, historically plagued by authoritarianism, has had no respite during which to establish a stable political system. The ongoing challenge for Haiti is to fight against the past to consolidate political institutionality through a democratic consensus, with participation from all forces and social sectors of the nation.

Dr Rubén Silié is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

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March 10, 2004