Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: National Security
ful prosecutions. Although 100 PNH officers were dismissed
for drug-related offenses and ten arrested as a preliminary to
prosecution, internal corruption persists. Seized cocaine is
believed to be marketed by the police. Poorly paid customs
agents and judges (whose salaries are often lower than those of
the police) contribute to the difficulty of preventing official
corruption.
Haiti's enforcement effort remains beyond the capacity of
the Haitian security forces alone to control. Haiti's laws are
strong, but the country's weak judicial system has brought few
traffickers to trial. The Office of the Special Adviser has drafted
new legislation to improve narcotics control and to introduce
the first law to combat money laundering, but the political
impasse of 1998-99 prevented enactment of these measures by
parliament.
As of 1999, the Haitian government was still struggling in its
attempts to establish functioning internal security and justice
administrations in place of systems that had never enjoyed any
credibility with the Haitian people. The police continued to be
prone to unwarranted abuses, and their inexperience in confronting
criminal behavior has led to numerous unjustified killings.
Nevertheless, hundreds of police have been cited for
misconduct, many have been discharged, and some even jailed.
Such efforts to impose a standard of behavior on the security
forces have been almost unknown in Haiti's history.
The new police force faces serious challenges in controlling
major crime, violence directed against the democratic government,
and international commerce in narcotics. It must also
build and uphold professional standards against the threats of
corruption and politicization. Although the Haitian army and
its affiliated organizations have all been dissolved, many of
their former members are armed and capable of creating chaotic
conditions endangering the regime. As the sole agency in
Haiti dedicated to the maintenance of law and order, the PNH
is essential to the preservation of a secure environment for
democratic government.
* * *
Among the considerable number of scholars who have
examined the collapse of the military regime in Haiti in 1994
and the resumption of civilian government, the reports by
Rachel M. Neild published by the Washington Office on Latin
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