|
Coup in Haiti
In 2000, Jean-Bertrand Aristide won a second term as the President of Haiti. Multiple opposition parties contested the election, claiming the Aristide loyalist controlled the polling places and had stuffed the ballot boxes with thousands of fraudulent ballots. They also cited a surprisingly high number of ballot returns (nearly 100% of the registered voters, up from a mere 10% at the previous election) and several incidences of pre-election violence directed at opposition party members and holdings. Europe and the United States reacted by suspending aid to the Haitian government and publicly condemning the election as fraudulent.
Aristide had been a popular ruler, but domestic and international concerns about his legitimacy grew for the next few years. On February 4, 2004, the “National Revolutionary Front of Liberation of Haiti” seized control of the city of Gonaïves in an act of open rebellion; three weeks later, they laid siege to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. By the end of February, President Aristide had resigned his position and fled the country.
Neither Aristide’s questionable victory in 2000 nor the 2004 revolt was a bloodless palace coup. Before the 2000 election, several waves of violence burned homes and businesses, and killed nearly a dozen opposing politicians. The 2004 rebellion was no gentler, causing widespread riots and looting; the situation continued to deteriorate for months, even after the United Nations sent thousands of peacekeeping troops to the country.
The Haitian election fraud and subsequent revolution are an excellent example of the dangerous, mercurial politics common in some areas of the world. An apparently stable situation can turn to chaos and riots nearly overnight, and swearing allegiance to the current ruler may mean a death sentence when he is replaced. On the other hand, brave (or reckless) characters may be able to change the course of a country’s history if they happen to be in the wrong place at the right time.
|
