Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
because the army was still full of Duvalierists; and by dismantling
the VSN, the CNG restored the army to its dominant position
in Haiti.
Within months, the CNG embarked on a policy of repression.
On April 26, 1986, police shot into a peaceful crowd led
by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, gathered to commemorate prisoners
killed and incarcerated at Fort Dimanche, Haiti's most infamous
Duvalier prison. In November, police disrupted a demonstration
protesting the abduction and murder of two literacy
workers. By the end of its first year in office, the CNG was
responsible for the deaths of more civilians than in fifteen years
ofJean-Claude Duvalier's government.
Hopes for greater freedom revived briefly in March, when a
CNG working committee produced a new constitution that
Haitians readily approved by referendum on March 29, 1987. It
put planning and execution of presidential elections in the
hands of a Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire—CEP)
, to be composed of civilians. It reduced the powers
of the presidency, and Article 291 prohibited the
participation in government for ten years of anyone who had
been "an architect of dictatorship and its maintenance during
the past twenty-nine years."
However, the CNG, the military, and Duvalierists were not
happy with the new constitution and prospective presidential
elections, seeing them as a challenge to their continued political
dominance. Soon afterward the CNG announced that it
would dissolve the CEP and take over its functions. Although
Haitians were outraged, military strength triumphed.
The political environment was gloomy. However, on election
day, November 29, 1987, prospects of a new constitution and
president combined with a sense of security offered by the presence
of international observer teams and reporters, brought
people to the polls. When they opened that morning, Duvalierist
thugs and soldiers shot openly at the lines of waiting voters,
killing between 22 and 200 and seriously wounding many
others. The CNG immediately canceled the elections and disbanded
the CEP. According to Namphy, this action was to prevent
the CEP from handing the presidency to a leftist,
insinuating that Gourgue of the National Cooperative Front
(Front National de Concertation—FNC) was a leftist and
would have won, although an August opinion poll indicated
that World Bank (see Glossary) economist Marc Bazin was the
leading candidate.
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