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I dimly remember the first time round, "Operation Restore Democracy" I think it was called. There were IIRC quite a few odd details to do with the reconstruction - while it was a military coup, quite a lot of the military were kept in positions of power by the US.
There are lots of little details. The apparent coup leader has links to the old Duvalier regime and also seems to have been US-trained. Indeed, Human Rights Watch says many of the current coup leaders have dodgy backgrounds, and have been planning this for some time...
As the backgrounder explains, former members of the disbanded Haitian Armed Forces (Forces Armées d’Haiti, FAd’H) have been mobilizing for about three years near the border of the Dominican Republic in central Haiti. In that region, over the past year, bands of 30 to 100 men have been harassing police, killing government supporters, taking over towns temporarily, and recruiting supporters.
The US backed Duvalier but more importantly pretty much created the Haitian army. Here's a 1962 quote from Col. Robert D. Heinl, head of the US Naval Mission to Haiti, explaining the tactic:
"Our policy of 1959, of trying to sustain and build up the Haitian Armed Forces while Duvalier distrusts and downgrades them, is highly realistic and is premised on the sound, long-term considerations that, however troublesome Duvalier may be, he is mortal and therefore a short-term problem, while the Haitian Armed Forces will remain as a central focus of internal power in Haiti as long as the country exists.... They will dominate the selection of the junta or provisional president that succeeds Duvalier"
And how prescient he was. |
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