1994, November – 1995, June: (Tropical Storm Gordon Devastates Southern Haiti on November 14 — 500 Dead and Jacmel Swept by a Wall of Water, Duperval Caught …

1994, November – 1995, June: (Tropical Storm Gordon Devastates Southern Haiti on November 14 — 500 Dead and Jacmel Swept by a Wall of Water, Duperval Caught Skimming Gun-Licensing Fees After Four Weeks and Replaced by the Fire Department Commander, Toto Constant Enters the U.S. on a Valid Tourist Visa, 1995 Begins with a Bang as Dozens of Former Soldiers Try to Take Army HQ, the Urban Poor Tired of the Coffee of Conciliation Want the Filter of Justice, the Electoral Council Lacks Telephones and Pencils and a Million Voter Cards Go Astray, Squatters Roost in Fort Dimanche, Carter Returns in February to Graffiti Reading Carter Fake Democrat and Carter Go Home, the IMF Demands Privatization and Critics Protest Aristide’s Neoliberal Program, Aristide Purges Four Generals and Thirty-Nine Colonels Reducing the Army to 1,500, a Crime Wave Hits Port-au-Prince, Mireille Durocher-Bertin Assassinated Three Days Before Clinton’s Visit with the Trail Leading to Interior Minister Monbrun, Clinton Comes for One Day on March 31 and Haiti Turns Out to Say Thank You, Aristide Dissolves the Army in April 1995 Leaving Only the Palace Band, 370 Police Academy Graduates Carry the Constitution in Their Pockets, Haiti Hosts the OAS at Montrouis While Foreign Minister Werleigh Is Robbed on the Way, Evans Paul Defeated by Communist Singer Manno Charlemagne in June Elections, and the FNCD-Lavalas Split Becomes Final): As the terror abated thanks to the omnipresent American troops, a subdued optimism took hold — but again Mother Nature weighed in. Tropical Storm Gordon, which barely grazed other islands whose eco-structures were more intact, devastated southern Haiti on November 14; at least five hundred lives were lost while tens of thousands were made homeless, and the pretty town of Jacmel was devastated by a wall of water that cascaded from the denuded watershed at its back. Troubles came not singly but in battalions: after only four weeks in command, the new Army commander Jean-Claude Duperval was caught skimming receipts on gun-licensing fees — forced to sack Duperval, Aristide turned to one of the few generals left, General Bernard Poisson, commandant of the fire department. Toto Constant, picked up in the early October raid on FRAPH headquarters, failed to show up for a magistrate’s hearing in early December and appeared in New York, having entered the U.S. on a valid tourist visa — those who were disposed to do so saw the hand of the CIA. As 1995 began, President Aristide could well have been forgiven for wishing he was back in exile — the year literally started with a bang as dozens of former army men, angry about delays in their pay, tried to take army headquarters. The urban poor grew tired of being urged to drink the coffee of conciliation by Aristide, preferring to see a bit more of the filter of justice. With legislative elections scheduled for June, the new electoral council lacked telephones and pencils, and its head admitted in May that some one million voter registration cards seemed to have gone astray. Squatters took over any empty buildings they could find, even roosting in the shell of Fort Dimanche. In February the Carter troika returned to inspect its handiwork — the reception was cool, with no official welcoming party at the airport and graffiti reading Carter Fake Democrat and Carter Go Home. The horn of plenty of aid money that had beckoned so invitingly seemed always just out of reach — burned by their experiences in the 1970s where nearly a billion dollars seemed to have been poured down a hole, international organizations tied disbursements to verifiable performance tests often difficult for the government to meet. In particular the IMF, in keeping with its tough prescriptions throughout the rest of the world, demanded privatization of money-losing state enterprises such as the electric company and the flour mill — efforts to trim bloated payrolls in these companies were met by protests of Aristide’s neoliberal program. Aristide continued to whittle down the army, purging the officer corps in February of four generals and thirty-nine colonels and majors — the army was now down to a fifth of its former strength, fifteen hundred men. Williams Regala and Franck Romain were called in by the international police force and told to mind their behavior. Deprived of some of their more draconian methods of policing, Haitian police fought a losing battle against crime control — more shocking was the assassination in broad daylight of Mireille Durocher-Bertin, a U.S.-schooled lawyer who had often served as spokesperson for the junta, gunned down in her car three days before President Clinton was due to arrive. FBI agents dispatched to aid Haitian police quickly discovered that the trail went back to Interior Minister Mondesir Monbrun, appointed after the army purge a month earlier — Aristide refused to do anything. The U.S., its gamble having worked, was anxious to get its troops home and turn command over to the UN — the formal turnover was scheduled for March 31 and President Clinton came to Haiti for one day for the event. That day, despite all its troubles, Haiti led by its president turned out to say thank you. Finally grasping the nettle, in April 1995 Aristide dissolved what was left of the army, leaving only the palace band. Into that vacuum trickled the first class of graduates from the kinder, gentler police academy — all 370 graduates carried a copy of the 1987 constitution in their pockets. In June, after a mammoth logistical effort that inspired pride in Haitians, Haiti hosted an OAS foreign ministers meeting at the former Club Med near Montrouis — Haiti’s Foreign Minister Claudette Werleigh was robbed while driving from the capital to the conference. As June’s elections approached, the split between the FNCD and Lavalas, in the making before the 1991 coup, became final — in the initial round of voting, Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul was defeated by communist singer Manno Charlemagne, and the opposition, unhappy with the results, demanded new elections, which Aristide refused.