Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: National Security
pling with problems of attrition, corruption, incompetence,
narcotics trafficking, and human rights abuses within its ranks.
Respect for Human Rights
State violence and terror have been features of Haitian life
since the nation broke away from colonial rule in 1804, and
even before. Between Aristide's overthrow in 1991 and his restoration
in 1994, the use of paramilitary groups against individuals
thought to be opposed to the regime became common.
Control of the populace was enforced by acts of kidnapping,
extrajudicial killings, rape, and "disappearances." Mutilated
bodies were left in the streets as warnings against disobedience.
A pattern of judicial corruption, arbitrary arrest, and prolonged
detentions was inherited from the previous Duvalier era
as a method of governance. The FAd'H and its various affiliates
used their monopoly to subjugate and abuse the Haitian citizenry.
Their abuses escalated in the final months of the military
regime's existence.
The arrival in 1994 of the international military and police
missions and the return of President Aristide brought a dramatic
reduction in the level of institutional violence. The shift
in responsibility for law enforcement from the FAd'H to a new
police organization and the subsequent disbanding of the
FAd'H introduced fundamental changes to the human rights
landscape. The transformation has by no means been complete,
however. Continuing political feuds and bitter hatreds,
combined with the inexperience of the new police force, have
accounted for many brutal criminal acts, but far beneath the
scale of the past. In the first three years following the entry of
the international forces in September 1994, about two dozen
executions were recorded that may have been politically motivated.
The most notorious cases in which a government role
was suspected were those of Mireille Bertin, the spokeswoman
for an opposition party, in 1995, and two right-wing extremist
leaders the following year. In October 1999, Jean Lamy, a
former army colonel who was slated to become secretary of
state for justice (public security), was assassinated by unknown
gunmen.
There were sixty-six cases of extrajudicial killings by the
police in 1999, according to the Organization of American
States (OAS) /UN International Civilian Mission (ICM).
Although a continuing problem, these killings were not political
but resulted from excessive use of force and lack of profes-
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