Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 18, 1990                   TAG: 9003222326
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEMOCRACY'S ROAD CAN BE ILL-MARKED

No longer, for example, does it seem safe to generalize that right-wing authoritarianism can be a road to democracy but left-wing totalitarianism cannot. Too much is happening in the erstwhile communist world to use that road map as a guide.

But nobody has been able to draw a revised, more accurate map. In Czechoslovakia, the move for democracy came from the bottom up; in Hungary, from the top down. Yet both nations seem well en route to democratic forms of government.

By contrast, the somber light of Tiananmen Square has made China's economic reforms in the '80s, embraced both from the top and from the bottom, seem false mileposts on a road to nowhere.

In this hemisphere, perhaps Nicaragua is on the right path: A closely monitored election has led to defeat of the Marxist-leaning Sandinista government. Or perhaps not: Sandinista bureaucrats are trying to entrench themselves, election or no, particularly where control of armed forces is at stake.

And then there's Haiti, poor Haiti, the Caribbean nation that seems as impoverished in spirit as it is in material goods. For nearly three decades, the Duvalier family ruled Haiti with its own bizarre brand of totalitarianism. Four years after the flight of "Baby Doc" Duvalier, son of "Papa Doc," Haiti continues to struggle.

With the overthrow of Duvalier in 1986 came . . . another dictatorship, its rule enforced by the same violence and thuggery against the Haitian people that the Duvaliers relied on. An "election" in November 1987 ended in a massacre, with 34 dead.

In September 1988, Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy was ousted by Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril. Again, there were vague promises of honest elections whose results would be honored, and some hopes for democratization. Again, they came to naught.

Last weekend, after several days of popular demonstrations against his regime, Avril agree to yield power to Maj. Gen. Herard Abraham. On Monday, Avril left the country for exile in the United States. Abraham promised to turn over power to civilian leadership, which could then prepare for elections.

Abraham kept promise No. 1: On Tuesday, Supreme Court Judge Ertha Pascal-Trouillot was inaugurated president. Not only is she a civilian, but she is also Haiti's first woman president and was the choice of the opposition coalition comprising all political affiliations.

Pascal-Trouillot's job now, shared by a 19-member advisory council, is to keep the nation going until promise No. 2 can be fulfilled: a free election within the next three to six months.

This time, it just might work. Impoverished though they are, too many Haitians have risked their lives, and too many have lost them, for anyone to believe they are uninterested in democracy. Perhaps Pascal-Trouillot's inauguration is a sign that the various political factions now understand that the first rule if democracy is to survive, particularly where democracy is not well-rooted, is for democracy's players to agree to disagree.

Let's hope, anyway, that the nation now is on the right road. The route so far has been bumpy, and has meandered down several dead ends. If anyone deserves better than what they've had, it is the long-suffering Haitians.