1987, April – July 31: (Rache Manyòk Bay Tè a Blanchi: HASCO Closes and 3,500 Lose Their Jobs, Namphy Tries to Grab Back the Parenthèse on June 22, Scores of…

1987, April – July 31: (Rache Manyòk Bay Tè a Blanchi: HASCO Closes and 3,500 Lose Their Jobs, Namphy Tries to Grab Back the Parenthèse on June 22, Scores of Demonstrators Perish Before He Backs Down on June 30, the Peuple Souverain Keeps Demonstrating, the Committee of 57 and Aristide Calls Capitalism a Mortal Sin and Says Elections Are in the Hands of the Oligarchy, Nighttime Terror Squads of Léopards and Macoutes, the Oloffson Surrenders Its Lease and the Rickety Piano on Which Mick Jagger Banged Out Tunes, and the Jean-Rabel Massacre — 300 Killed by Machete-Wielding Paysans and Macoutes, the Wounded Abducted from Medical Facilities Never to Be Seen Again, and the Bishop’s Conference Warns of Civil War): Euphoria over the constitution’s passage was quickly dissipated. In April, HASCO closed its doors, laying off more than 3,500 workers — the smuggling ruining Artibonite rice farmers was having a like effect on sugar, as Haiti, the world’s leading eighteenth-century sugar producer, found itself unable to compete with an avalanche of imported sugar. The Reagan administration submitted a draft budget cutting Haiti aid by $20 million. Regala spent two weeks abroad shopping for new army toys in Venezuela and ultimately Israel. Prodded by an alliance of elite and surviving Duvalierist elements who stood to lose everything if the populism embodied in the constitution swept a candidate of the peuple souverain into office, Namphy on June 22 challenged the authority of the CEP called for in the constitution to run elections, saying the army would play its accustomed role. Demonstrators poured into the streets to protect the constitution; the CNG shed blood in June as it had in March, and scores perished. When the fallen were replaced by others, Namphy finally backed down, giving a televised pledge on June 30 that elections would be held as scheduled — having noted a Foggy Bottom statement the day before that U.S. aid depended on continuing transition to democracy. Buoyed by its success, the peuple souverain kept demonstrating, taking as its war cry the theme of Bishop Romelus’s sermon: Rache manyòk, bay tè a blanchi — pull up the roots, sweep the fields clean — demanding the CNG’s resignation. The opposition coalesced around the Committee of 57, an outgrowth of KONAKOM led by activist priest Jean-Claude Bajeux, with Sylvio Claude and PUCH head René Théodore. Aristide, who had dubbed capitalism a mortal sin, minced no words: we won’t solve the country’s problems by voting — the elections are in the hands of the oligarchy who use them to undermine popular demands. Under cover of darkness, squads of Léopards and macoutes began nighttime raids on the poorer quarters, terrorizing inhabitants and killing a select few. Suzanne Seitz finally surrendered the Oloffson’s lease, scattering veteran correspondents — selling even the rickety piano on which Mick Jagger had banged out tunes in better days. Near Jean-Rabel on July 23, a peaceful march of the left-wing peasant cooperative Tèt Ansanm was set upon by machete-wielding paysans and macoutes — more than three hundred were killed and many more wounded; those who sought medical care were in many cases abducted, never to be seen again. Access was blocked for days as macoutes covered up the evidence; by July 31 the Haitian Red Cross confirmed the scope and intensity of the massacre. The Bishop’s conference warned of the specter of civil war as Haiti was at daggers drawn in the struggle over who shall have it.