Haiti’s high court voids the Washington accord meant to return Aristide

On 27 March 1992 the Cour de Cassation declared the Washington accord unconstitutional. The deal had been signed on 23 February in the American capital, under OAS auspices, between the exiled Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a delegation of Haitian parliamentarians. It promised a new prime minister, the president’s return, and amnesty for the soldiers who had overthrown him on 30 September 1991. The court ruled that parliamentarians cannot bind the Haitian state without an express mandate from the executive. Aristide stayed out of the country for two and a half more years.