1994, May – September: (Resolution 917 Toughens the Embargo, Gray Visits Balaguer Who Has Just Won an Irregular Reelection, the Dominicans Clamp Down on the …

1994, May – September: (Resolution 917 Toughens the Embargo, Gray Visits Balaguer Who Has Just Won an Irregular Reelection, the Dominicans Clamp Down on the Border, Remittances Capped at $50/Month and All Commercial Flights Banned on June 10, Jonassaint Named De Facto President and Declares a State of Emergency, Aristide Waffles on Endorsing Military Action — Asking First for a Surgical Strike Then Telling NPR He Would Never Allow Himself Returned by Force, Malval Says Even If We Found a Way Out Aristide Would Keep It from Happening, 104 UN Human Rights Monitors Expelled on July 11, Resolution 940 Authorizing U.S. Intervention Passes July 29, the Pentagon Finds Creole-Speaking Americans of Haitian Descent, the 82d Airborne Trains at Fort Bragg, Cédras on ABC — I Am the Pin in Haiti’s Hand Grenade, Jean-Marie Vincent Murdered August 28, Moonless Nights Consulted, and Fritz Mevs — It Is My Country That Is Dying but I Am Already Saved): At the UN, Ambassador Madeleine Albright had secured passage of Resolution 917 by the beginning of May. On the heels of that resolution, William Gray paid a visit to the Dominican Republic, where President Balaguer had averted his eyes from the booming border traffic in illicit goods — Balaguer had just won reelection in a somewhat irregular vote and was consequently more amenable to pressure from the U.S. In a flurry of well-publicized activity, the Dominicans clamped down on the bustling border trade. In companion moves, on June 10, 1994, the U.S. banned all remittances to Haiti of more than fifty dollars a month as well as all commercial airline flights — joined by Canada, the two countries accounted for three-quarters of the flights in and out of Haiti. U.S. embassy dependents and some one hundred employees were to be withdrawn before the flight ban went into effect on June 25, 1994. The tempo was beginning to quicken. Thumbing its nose, the junta named a new de facto president, octogenarian Émile Jonassaint, who on television declared a state of emergency, claiming that Haiti was in danger of invasion and occupation. Missing from the chorus was the endorsement of the object of all this international solicitude, Jean-Bertrand Aristide — fearing with considerable justification that his endorsement of military action would alienate many of his supporters, he waffled. At the beginning of June he had gone so far as to ask for a surgical strike emulating the operation that had deposed Manuel Noriega five years earlier; in the face of outcries he backed off, by the end of the month telling National Public Radio that he would never allow himself to be returned by force. Notwithstanding Aristide’s coyness, events began to take on a momentum of their own — on July 11 the Jonassaint government expelled 104 UN human rights monitors who had trickled back into Haiti over the previous few months. The UN reacted strongly: by July 29, 1994, even Aristide had signed on and Resolution 940, authorizing U.S. intervention on behalf of the UN, was passed. Anticipating passage, the U.S. had already begun to muster its forces — the Pentagon scanned its database to find Creole-speaking personnel and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a number of young Americans of Haitian descent. Paratroopers from the famed 82d Airborne at Fort Bragg began training exercises with Haiti in mind, while in the Bahamas the Marines rehearsed for forced evacuation of Americans from Port-au-Prince. While international and particularly regional opinion mitigated toward a military solution — Cuba’s Castro, for obvious reasons, was a loud exception — President Clinton had still, in an election year, to prepare American public opinion. Cédras gave no sign of playing ball — interviewed on ABC, he said he was the pin in Haiti’s hand grenade and that if pulled, an explosion would occur. As if to underscore this hard line, macoutes on August 28, 1994 murdered Jean-Marie Vincent, a fellow priest of père Aristide who had narrowly escaped assassination during the Jean-Rabel massacre of 1987. Speculation about possible invasion dates grew as Washington sent messages to the junta that they would be well advised to take this one last opportunity to get out — obdurate to the last, they refused. The MREs, one report noted, seemed resigned to an invasion — Fritz Mevs said that it was his country that was dying but that he was already saved.