1993, October – December: (Malval Labors in Isolation, Offices Stripped Down to the Toilet Bowls, the Grand Conference Vetoed by Aristide Who Fears a Repeat …

1993, October – December: (Malval Labors in Isolation, Offices Stripped Down to the Toilet Bowls, the Grand Conference Vetoed by Aristide Who Fears a Repeat of Governors Island, the Washington Post Chides Aristide’s Limited View of His Own Role, Malval Resigns on December 15 as Promised, Aristide Orders No New Initiatives, the Third Christmas of Embargo — Either Bring Our President Back or Have the Honesty to Say You Have Failed, Herbert Gold’s MREs — Morally Repugnant Elite, the Four Friends Threaten to Expand the Embargo If Cédras Does Not Step Down by January 15, Large Parts of Cité Soleil Torched, and Laënnec Hurbon — Staying Alive in Haiti Has Become a Favor Granted by the Whim of Men with Guns): Malval, officially Prime Minister, labored on in Port-au-Prince almost in isolation — he and his colleagues were in most cases unable to gain physical access to what were nominally their own offices. It would have availed them little: most of them had already been stripped of fixtures of all kinds, even down to the toilet bowls. Seeking to make yet another fresh start, Malval proposed at year’s end a grand conference in Port-au-Prince of all the parties to the conflict — received well in the international community, the idea was vetoed by Aristide, who feared a repeat of the Governors Island fiasco. In Port-au-Prince a frustrated Malval offered his resignation — he had promised to stay until December 15 and with the date upon him, was doing what he said he would do. Prevailed upon to stay on in caretaker status, Malval was sharply ordered by Aristide not to undertake any new initiatives. Haiti stumbled toward its third Christmas of embargo bloody but unbowed. One poor city dweller in Port-au-Prince told a reporter that they should either do what was needed to bring the president back, or have the honesty to say that they had failed and leave them alone. At the other end of the economic and political spectrum, a member of the elite echoed his sentiments: one was trying to coerce a bunch of people who had no sense of nation and no sense of patriotism, who did not care what happened to the ordinary Haitian, who did not even care what happened to Haiti — this was the group that held Haiti hostage, the group writer Herbert Gold came to dub the MREs — Morally Repugnant Elite. Delivering yet another fierce-sounding ultimatum, the four friends — the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, and France — closed 1993 by threatening to expand the embargo if Cédras did not step down by January 15. The junta’s reply was defiant: large parts of Cité Soleil were torched, nominally for the killing of FRAPH leader Issa Paul, but the officers knew all too well that Washington was watching their actions. The gangsterized society that the coup d’état of 1991 reimposed had dissolved virtually all social values — staying alive in Haiti had become a favor granted by the whim of men with guns.