THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410150232
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
For three years, from 1,200 miles away, deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has called for peace, love and understanding as the cornerstones of a new democratic Haiti.
Now, as Aristide's exile winds down to its final hours, Haitians in the United States say he will need building blocks more concrete than that to forge an enduring democracy.
``For the last 26 months, this return has symbolized a change in people's lives,'' said Marc Christophe, professor of Caribbean literature at the University of the District of Columbia. ``People are going to want to see the change immediately, and the government has to respond to their needs or there could be backlash.''
Food, roads, jobs, hospitals, literacy efforts, vaccination campaigns, industry, a courts system, potable water, small business opportunities and a welfare system are just some of the needs awaiting Aristide when he returns to office today.
Underlying the infrastructure requirements is a need to balance Haiti's destructive extremes - the country's wealthy few and its poverty-stricken masses, redressing past horrors and healing with forgiveness, the need for outside aid and the certainty that only Haitians can solve Haiti's problems.
``Aristide has to find a means to reconcile these social groups, instead of pitting the needs of masses against the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie,'' said Francois Domond, a Haitian psychologist living in Queens. ``He has to push through and give people on both sides a reason to have a common goal.''
Bridging 200 years of class antagonism, Domond said, will be the test of political survival for Aristide, who resumes the presidency after three years of relative obscurity conducting a government-in-exile from Washington.
Those whom the president has hand-picked for the task say Haitians across the political spectrum will have to be willing to put aside their distrust in order to hear his message.
``Finally, we see this (his return), and it's right in front of our eyes,'' said Guy G. Victor, executive director of Miami's Haitian Refugee Center.
Victor learned Friday he would be flying to Haiti today with Aristide's delegation.
``Aristide is a man who can touch everybody,'' Victor said, ``but if they don't respond to the message, it will be very hard for him to achieve anything.''
Haiti's upper class, apprehensive about the populist priest's return, will be listening closely for one element of that message: a pledge of immunity for political opponents that he gave after a United States invasion to restore him was averted at the last minute.
``How do you balance immunity and justice?'' asked Christophe. ``So many atrocities have been committed, you have to have justice.''
One Aristide supporter in Boston said justice will work only if it is part of a plan, not a movement rooted in personal or political vengeance.
``We need a judicial system,'' said Phillipe Geneus. ``It's not just remove corrupt judges. It's creating a school so judges can be trained and formed on how to be lawful and fair.''
At the same time, others say, Aristide will have to look toward long-term changes that will lift Haiti from of its status as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
``He is not promising the moon,'' Victor said, ``but he has said all along he wants to change the condition of Haiti's people from misery to poverty with dignity.''
Some say that in the year he has remaining as president - he promised not to seek another term - Aristide will make only a start at that overriding goal. At the very least, achieving it will mean a massive food and jobs program.
``Right now, people need to eat,'' Victor said. ``They need to be fed as much as they need security from the gun.''
In addition to the millions of aid dollars promised by the United States and other world organizations, Victor said, money will have to come from taxes on income and trade.
Assuring continuity in Aristide's program may require a shift in the concept of ``lavalas,'' the name that his political movement has come to be known by. Literally, the word means ``avalanche.'' Politically, it calls for a redistribution of wealth and political power.
``There needs to be a structured lavalas political party rather than a political movement,'' said Christophe.
Once Aristide's goals become integrated into the political culture in Haiti, others will be able to build on that base in future elections, his supporters say.
But with much of the professional class - doctors, lawyers and engineers - living outside Haiti, the nation may find it cannot tap its most important resource in the recovery effort. Still, many are making plans to do their part.
``The expatriate community is the spare tire of Haiti,'' said Farah Juste, a Haitian singer living in Miami. ``We have been supporting Haiti for a long time and the country could even be worse off right now if we weren't here on the outside.''
One plan being considered by Aristide's administration would grant Haitians living abroad automatic dual citizenship.
That option, Victor said, would enable up to a million more Haitians to vote in elections and make it easier for them to invest in property.
It could also facilitate the creation of a foreign bank, where expatriates could pool their resources for grants, investments or loans.
According to Juste, who returned to Haiti during Aristide's presidency with $330,000 from Miami, plans were already under way to buy shares in Haiti's telephone company and some flour mills.
Still, Juste said, the central challenge is nurturing freedom and stifling a tendency toward repression that dates to Haiti's infancy as a republic in the early 1800s.
``When I say freedom - '' Juste said. ``Two of my records never got to Haiti because they were banned for politics.''
``But I sent a load of them yesterday and, by noon today, I got a call from the radio saying they were already playing them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press color photo
A U.S. soldier, flanked by the Haitian flag and a portrait of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, patrols Port-au-Prince on Friday.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB