Episcopal Press and News
Dialogue Is the Only Way to Peace for Haiti
Episcopal News Service. January 11, 1991 [91012]
Yvan Francois
On December 16, when our first free election made Jean Bertrand Aristide president, Haiti began living a period of hope. Aristide's election is the first sign of change, a victory for Haitian democracy.
Father Aristide is to be installed on February 7. On January 7, that installation and the constitution were threatened. January 7 started with the rumor of a coup by Roger Lafontant, former head of the Tonton Macoutes [a band of secret police under the Duvalier regime]. When the rumor was confirmed, the populace -- first in the capital, then in the provinces -- took to the streets in protest, demonstrating with energy, noise, and fire against such a coup.
The demonstrators were people of all ages, from youths to old men. We walked near the palace with the hope of getting inside, singing the slogan "liberte ou la mort" (liberty or death). If the army could not get Lafontant out, we would do it ourselves.
Between 11:00 and 12:00 that night the Champs de Mars in front of the palace was crowded with people asking two questions: "Where does the army stand in this coup? And who is behind it?"
A communique from the army officially confirmed a coup, asked the people's trust, and promised that the palace would soon be retaken. A second communique announced that Lafontant was in custody. Despite those assurances, people stayed all day in front of army headquarters waiting for proof.
Finally, the national television station broadcast pictures of Lafontant and 15 other collaborators in custody.
Now the people had another request: Lafontant's head. "We are not going to let him leave. No exile!"
At that moment began the great "dechoukaj" (uprooting, a word that came into vogue after Duvalier was uprooted in 1986). First the crowd went to Lafontant's headquarters east of Port-au-Prince. After fighting his supporters, they sacked the building and set it aflame, killing those who rushed out. The final tally: 30 dead.
Next the crowd turned its attention to the Roman Catholic archbishop, Monsignor Francois Ligonde, who on January 1, our Independence Day, had preached against the changes underway and warned against a "'red menace."' When the crowd didn't find Ligonde, it turned its fury against the historic colonial cathedral, a national landmark. It is now a ruin.
The search for Ligonde did not stop. The crowd climbed the hills behind Port-au-Prince to Petionville, stopping at the residence of the papal nuncio. When they didn't find Ligonde there, they burned that building, too, along with its tree-lined park. The search continued into the elite residential areas overlooking the capital and continues until this writing, now three days later.
Meanwhile the dechoukaj continued downtown as stores along the main streets were looted.
These last three days have been a vivid expression of radical determination. The people will never again submit to a regime of Macoutes, even if it means a tremendous loss of life. The people in the streets here are teaching their leaders a lesson, showing the powerful in politics and in the church what is their will. Some said that if the people had been heard when first they demanded Lafontant's expulsion or arrest, these bloody few days would never have happened.
As Father Aristide says: "We need to learn to walk behind the people. Only then can we truly lead." It is the people who should lead. Only the people can show the leaders where the needs are.
Those of us in the Episcopal Church who work to develop this country believe that people have learned much since February 1986, and have matured with their experience. Today, leaders unwilling to work with the people, who attempt to impose their own will, will find no cooperation. Those lessons have been learned. The reaction to the archbishop's sermon is evidence.
Now we must all recognize that the future of the country depends on real dialogue between the people and their church -- between the people and their political leaders. That is the only way to peace.