Page 192 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

694 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

lier adversary, he opposed also the military. For his ideas and speeches he was spelled from
Salesian Order when he incited class struggle. In the mean time, René Preval returned of
exile from Belgium, approaching Aristide.
In 1988 the president elected Leslie Manigat was deposed by a military coup, in great vio-
lence. In two years three other presidents were violently deposed. The government was taken
by the Supreme Court judge Erth Pascal Trouilot who conducted elections when Aristide was
elected president of Haiti. Members of Duvalier faction invaded the Presidential Palace tak-
ing Erth as a hostage. Immediately the Army invaded the palace and freed the judge, taking
Duvalier faction members as prisoners. A hundred of them were burned down alive, some
were murdered by axes by an enraged population.
Aristide took over the power, being deposed and exiled to France seven months afterwards
by General Rauol Cedras. In reprisal , USA and France suspended all help to Haiti, demand-
ing the immediate return of Aristide. There followed a period of repression, arbitrary prisons
and indiscriminate killings of Aristide followers.
Under UN pressure Cedras allowed the presence of United Nations Military Mission in
Haiti with an objective to modernize the armed Forces and create a National Police. Without
any further understanding this mission left Haiti. In the mean time canadian and american
ships patrolled haitian territorial waters.
In 1994 Haiti suffered a total UN embargo and OEA (American States Organization) de-
manded its employees to leave the country. Washington, then, imagined that the same thing
that happened in 1915 could happen again. Brazil supported the american intervention under
UN flag. However the intervention did not occur because Cedras and Clinton did not get to an
understanding. After all they decided for a peaceful landing of American troops.
At the end of 1994, Cedras resigned and Aristide took over the government again, dis-
solving the Army and arming a militia, attributing the security to the National Police. Two
years elapsed and Aristide at the end of his term transmitted the government to a recently
elected Rene Preval. A new mission was sent to Haiti. The UN Support Mission in Haiti (UN-
SMIH) had the task to help Haiti economically and institutionally. Preval dissolved Congress
and a series of missions were sent to the country.
In 2001 Aristide returned to power through elections, however the political instability and
violence doubled in the country, affecting the Aristide situation at the end of 2003. Accusa-
tions of elector ubanda rally fraud, corruption and drug trafficking spread all over Haiti. This
strong reaction came from students, businessmen and conservative politicians, supported by
a group of former military who wanted to recreate the Army, abolished by Aristide in 1994.
At the beginning of 2004 the country became a chaos. Bloody fights erupted in many cit-
ies, with the insurgents taking the most important cities. Once again pressed by France and
USA Aristide resigned the government, transferring it to Boniface Alexandre, President of
Supreme Court. The diplomatic efforts and the militia support were not enough to protect
him. For the second time Artistide fled to exile, saying he was kidnapped by Americans and
taken to Africa.
As a request of Haiti to UN, in April, 30 , the US Mission for stabilization of Haiti (MI-
th
NUSTAH) was formed and in June, the first, 2004 the first Brazilian troops arrived in Porto
Principe.