1995, September – December 17: (The Final Succession: Lavalas Sweeps 71 of 83 Parliamentary Seats in September, the Operation Has Cost U.S.

1995, September – December 17: (The Final Succession: Lavalas Sweeps 71 of 83 Parliamentary Seats in September, the Operation Has Cost U.S. Taxpayers $600 Million with Troops Down to 2,000, Congress Holds Up Aid over the Durocher-Bertin Murder, Aristide Plays Avril’s Card and Sends His Foreign Minister to Taiwan, Al Gore Arrives October 15 to Remind Aristide of His Promise to Step Down, Prime Minister Michel Resigns over Privatization, Claudette Werleigh Approved as New PM, Huge Sentiment to Add the Three Exile Years to Aristide’s Term but 45% of His Budget Is Foreign Aid, Feuillé the President’s Cousin Assassinated After Leaving the Palace and Avril Dashes for the Colombian Embassy in the Company of a U.S. Embassy Official, Aristide Takes Off His Gloves at the Funeral — Go to the Neighborhoods Where There Are Big Houses and Heavy Weapons, There Are Not Two or Three Heads of State but Just One, Homes Burned and a Radio Station Attacked, the Gourde Drops 16%, Anthony Lake Dispatched as Riots Kill Four in Cité Soleil, Aristide Announces November 27 He Will Depart February 7 1996, Fourteen Candidates Including the Paradise Party and the Virgin Mary Party, Préval the Heavy Favorite at Fifty-Two — the Agronomist and Bakery Owner Educated in Belgium, Aristide Does Not Stump for His Alter Ego, Only 28% Turnout but 88% for Préval, Trouillot’s Verdict — Lavalas Remains a Loose Amalgam of Factions Unable to Mature into a Viable Political Party, and the Constitutional Prohibition on Duvalierist Candidates Will Expire in 1997): The Washington Office on Haiti concluded that the June contest was marred but free and democratic. Two more rounds of elections remained — the second, scheduled for December 1995, was for Aristide’s successor. There was huge sentiment in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere for the three years the president had spent in exile to be added to the end of his term; even some of his fiercest opponents, preferring the devil they knew, began to speculate along these lines. Such a move would, however, go directly against all promises Aristide had made to the international community and might cause political problems for President Clinton — also, with forty-five percent of his budget coming from foreign aid, Aristide could hardly afford to break his promises. He remained mum. At the end of September, Lavalas swept the parliamentary elections, taking seventy-one out of eighty-three seats. Marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. effort in Haiti, the operation had cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $600 million, with U.S. troops down to 2,000. In Washington, the restive Republican congress voted to hold up further aid until receiving a satisfactory explanation of the Durocher-Bertin murder. In frustration, Aristide played a card from Avril’s deck, sending his foreign minister off to Taiwan to pry open their coffers and lessen slightly his dependence on the U.S. A U.S. delegation led by Vice President Al Gore was on hand to help Aristide celebrate the October 15 anniversary of his return and to remind him of his promise to step down as scheduled. Gore’s visit was overshadowed by the resignation of Prime Minister Michel after the cabinet failed to approve steps needed to privatize state enterprises — Aristide had remained aloof from the debate, further fueling speculation about his intentions. After the swearing-in of the newly elected Lavalas-dominated parliament on October 16, the president submitted the name of his foreign minister, Claudette Werleigh, as the new Prime Minister. Aristide still had not tipped his hand. Leaving the palace after the installation of the new cabinet, two of the newly elected parliamentarians were shot after stopping at a bank — one, a cousin of the president, Jean-Hubert Feuillé, died of his wounds. Though the money disappeared, police suspected macoute involvement — a suspicion that grew when Prosper Avril, long back from Florida, made a dash for the Colombian embassy just before police arrived at his residence. The government grew furious when it learned that Avril had been in the company of a U.S. embassy official just before deciding to bolt. At Feuillé’s funeral, Aristide took off his gloves — in an impassioned eulogy delivered in front of a grimly attentive diplomatic corps, he urged followers to go to the neighborhoods where there were big houses and heavy weapons to disarm the occupants, not to sit idly by, not to wait. Gazing at the diplomats, he said he was reminding them that until further notice there were not two or three heads of state, but just one. Broadcast repeatedly over radio and television, the eulogy had a predictable effect — perceived opponents had their homes burned, a radio station found itself under attack, and foreigners in Gonaïves and Limbé were attacked. The gourde, already shaky, dropped a further sixteen percent. Aristide rattled the international community further still on November 24 when he told a national reconciliation meeting at the palace that he might consider staying on — National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, dispatched hurriedly by Washington, was in the palace when riots broke out in Cité Soleil, killing four. After conveying Washington’s displeasure, Lake flew north. The president broke his silence on November 27, announcing that he would indeed depart on February 7, 1996 — the elections would be held as scheduled on December 17. Fourteen candidates had registered with the CEP, representing Christian Democrats, KONAKOM, and a number of smaller groups including the Paradise party and the Virgin Mary party. The heavy favorite was René Préval, the agronomist and bakery owner who had served in Aristide’s pre-coup government — fifty-two, Préval had been educated in Belgium after his parents left Haiti in the early years of Papa Doc’s government. Curiously, the president did not stump for the man described as his alter ego but remained relatively aloof — finally, two days before the election, in Jacmel to dedicate a bridge replacing one washed away by Gordon, he urged people to vote. Whether three elections in one year were too much or whether people just assumed Lavalas would win, only twenty-eight percent of the electorate exercised its franchise. Préval got some eighty-eight percent of the votes cast — as a mandate it was less than overwhelming. The election proved yet again that Haitians place loyalty in people, not institutions. Lavalas today remained a loose amalgam of factions united around Aristide but unable to mature into a viable political party — the next president would also need to build support among all Haitians, not just a faction of fervent supporters, his legitimacy depending on his willingness to include people of all classes in a debate on the country’s problems. René Préval was scheduled to be inaugurated on February 7, 1996. Foreign troops would have left the country before the year was through. In 1997 the constitutional prohibition that barred Duvalierist candidates from running for office would expire.