HAITI: OPPOSITION PARTIES REACT TO MANIGATS INAUGURATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: February 9, 1988
• Content Type: CABLE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
(AMEMBASSY ROME: PLEASE PASS TO VATICAN) OCA 88-0406
r
r &MONO
REF FL102158 PORT-AU-PRINCE RAIDO METROPOLE FRENCH-
091700--HAITI: OPPOSITION PARTIES REACT TO MANIGAT'S
INAUGURATION
{hl)Take 1 of 3--Haiti: Marc Bazin on Manigat
Inauguration
{sl)FL102245 Port-au-Prince Radio Metropole in Creole
1700 GMT 9 Feb 88
{txt)[Text] Marc Bazin, another leader of the CED,
..-Committeefor Democratic Agreement, has spoken to us on.
Mr Manigat's inaugural speech.
[Reporter] Mr Bazin, I have two questions for you
this.1orning. First, we would like to have your reaction
to Leslie Manigat's inaugural speech. How do you feel
about it? What do think it means? What; if anything,
struck you about it? What positive and what negative
aspects do you see in it?
[Bazin) OK, well, the message is full of good ideas,
good intentions. The message speaks of social justice,
national unity, human rights, social reparation, and
equality of opportunity. Thus, there are lots of good
things in the speech. Nevertheless, a speech is only a
speech. What we need now is for Mr Manigat to begin
taking action, so we can see what he is really going to
do.
So my first reaction is that the speech is very nice,
with lots of good things in it. Now we are waiting for
him-to go into action, to see if he really means it, to
see what things are really going to be like.
Secondly, there are three or four things in Mr
Manigat's speech that I do not think I'agree with.
The first thing is this matter of the.Constitution..
I did not hear a single allusion to the Constitution in
the speech. Now, the Constitution is the nation's
pillar, its highest law. It is what some 99 percent of
the-Haitian people voted for in March 1987.. So if you
are going to take over the government and you say that
you are going to effect democracy and justice, I would
expect the Constitution'to be your guideline.
.One of the things wrong with the speech, for example,,
is that Mr Manigat often referred to the government as
his.- He kept saying: my government; whereas under the.
Constitution, Mr Manigat is the head of state and not
the head of the government. It is the prime minister
who is the head of the government.
.So if you are the head of state and you confuse your
role with that of the head of the government, who is the
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
prime minister, I think this constitutes a first
ambiguity that needs to be clarified. I think it needs
to be stated that this was just a matter of style, and
does not at all constitute a true intention on Mr
,Manigat's part to mix the state and the government.
A second thing that I am not too sure is clear in my
mind is this business of the churches. Mr Manigat
insisted a lot on the fact that the church should
concern itself with things of the spirit. Now, I
personally feel that in Haiti, the church has a role
that is of capital importance--to guide, enlighten, care
for, bring together, and pray for the liberation of
Haiti and the people. So if you want social justice,
but you don't think the church should do anything other
than pray, then there is an ambiguity in that too, which
I would like to have clarified. Because I, Marc Bazin,
personally think that it is not only the church's right
but its duty, to work to emancipate, to liberate the
Haitian people. The church is involved in action that
is both pastoral and social. And the social aspect of
the-church's work is an aspect that I consider extremely
important and something that I would on the contrary
like to see expanded and strengthened instead of
curtailed.
(more) 091700 mci/lopez de pugh disk/lb 10/2325z feb
BT
#0053
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
UNCLAS 6B
(AMEMBASSY ROME: PLEASE PASS TO VATICAN)
SUBJ
REF FL102245 PORT-AU-PRINCE RADIO METROPOLE CREOLE
091700///INSTEAD OF CURTAILED.
(hl)Take 2 of 3--Haiti: Marc Bazin on Manigat
Inauguration
f1102313
(txt)[Text) The third thing that struck me in the part
of thespeech that deals with economics, is that Mr
Manigat has come up with a notion that is'new to me. it
is something with which I am not at all familiar. He
.calls it an austerity which is progressive.. I don't
know-what that is. He also speaks of the workers'
buying power, which is going to increase but I don't see
any measures either to increase wages or to lower
prices. So I would like to know if Mr Manigat is going
to institute price controls in order to.increase buying
power, or what?
These are mechanisms that they should. clarify,
because this is important, if they are going to control
prices in the country.
The second thing in connection with economics in Mr
Manigat's speech that interested me greatly, just like
it interests all Haitians, is that he said that the
people with money should pay. He said: Of him to whom
much has been given, much will be asked. [preceding
quote in French--FBIS]
I agree. I like that statement. I think it's great.
Now, the question is who, exactly, are they going to ask
to pay? And as of when are they going to ask him to
pay?
The CNG [National Government Council], for reasons
that no one has ever understood, decreed a fiscal
amnesty law under which everyone with debts no longer
owes money. So I am wondering if those taxes that Mr
Manigat is going to make everyone pay are going to begin.-
as of now. If the answer is yes, they are not going to
bring in very much; whereas the people need... [changes
thought] If you talk about social reparation, you have
to make these guys pay taxes for all the years they
accumulated illegal profits at the expense of. the .
people. But if you tell me that you are starting from
this day forward, the little amount of money that is
going to start coming in will not be enough and you will
have even lost the moral aspect of the social
reparation.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
Thus I would like to have this spelled out clearly,
so we will know what kind of taxes there are in Haiti
now, so that the rich can pay.
And there is a third thing I would like to say in
connection with social reparation.
Traditionally in Haiti, when people speak of social
justice and of social reparation, what they mean is
allowing middle class people who can read and write to
come to power so that they can make money, forming
alliances with those who already have money. Instead of
those who already have money becoming poorer, those who
are already poor are going to contribute to enriching
the newcomers.
So when anyone speaks to me of social reparation and
social justice, I need to know if you are going to put
in a new group of profiteers who are going to come hit
the already-wealthy for bucks or form alliances with the
already-wealthy so they can continue sucking out the
people's lifeblood in order to make money. I want to
know if you are really going to take money from those
who currently have it and send it back to the Haitian
people; if you are going to prevent those-who are out to
get the Haitian people to sell themselves. I need to
know if you will prevent the same old things from
starting all over again; the selling of blood, bodies,
children, boat people [previous two words rendered in
English--FBIS], the selling of laborers to the Dominican
sugar industry, and so forth.
That is what social justice entails. It is not
enough just to talk to me about social justice and
social reparation. It is not a matter of putting a few
more men before a plate of food. It is taking from
those who eat too much in order to give to those who
have no food at all. That is what social reparation is.
(more) 091700 mcl/lopez de pugh disk/lb 10/2330z feb
BT
#0054
NNNN
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 . Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
UNCLAS 6B
(AMEMBASSY ROME: PLEASE PASS TO VATICAN).
SUBJ
REF FL102245 PORT-AU-PRINCE RADIO METROPOLE CREOLE
091700%//SOCIAL REPARATION IS.
(hl)Take.3 of 3--Haiti: Marc Bazin on Manigat
Inauguration
f1102315
{txt)[Text] [Reporter] Mr Bazin, how do you feel about
MrManigat's call to the opposition to come and
participate in, to collaborate with his government? The
second part of my question is: What is the opposition
going to do next? What means are you going to use to
.continue the struggle for democracy?
[Bazin] I approve of the appeal to the opposition,
and I salute it as a good initiative. To have called
upon the opposition is good. Now what must be defined
is:, On what basis?
For example, I myself think that in order for Mr
Manigat's call to be valid, he should take a certain
number of measures. For example, I need to know who
killed Athis, who killed Volel, who gave.the order for
the toxic waste ship in Gonaives to leave port, who did
the killing on 29 November. I need to know if men like
Sansaricq and people like that will be freed--if they
will be given political amnesty. In short, this is the
kind of thing I need to know to begin with.
.Secondly, in the short run, I would like to know what
practical measures Mr Manigat is going to take to
.provide us with a calendar to implement the measures
stipulated in the Constitution, for example,
administrative decentralization, the formation of
departmental assemblies, a court of accounts. Mr
Manigat has talked about transparency and integrity, but
until he has created a court of accounts made up of
sober, credible people who will really go in and find
out who stole money and where that money-is, we cannot-
really feel that an order to be open suffices.
Thus, since we are democrats, we have no objections.,
in principle. On the contrary, I myself would like to
contribute to the installation of democracy in Haiti by
showing the Haitian people that there is room in a
country for both a government and an opposition. I agree
that the opposition should be a constructive opposition;
that it should be a sober, responsible, opposition. It
shouldn't be a totally negative opposition, which
constantly criticizes everything and never approves of
anything. That is the kind of action that I myself
would like to take at this point; but with the
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
understanding that the, fundamental premise must be that
everyone respects the Constitution, that everyone
respects the rules of the game and that there be a
condition providing for political space in which
everyone can operate in the best interests of
establishing a true democracy in Haiti.
[Announcer] That was the position of MIDH [Movement
for the Implementation of Democracy in Haiti] leader
Marc Bazin.
(endall) 091700 mcl/lopez de pugh disk/lb 10/2335z feb
BT
#0055
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
(hl)Theologian Wary of New Government
(sl)FL110211 Port-au-Prince Radio Soleil Network in
.Creole 1200 GMT 10 Feb 88
(txt)[Text) Father ('Massac), a teacher of. moral theology
who has on several occasions protested the immoral.
nature of the 17 January elections, is once again going
to tell us how he sees things, since a new president
came to power on 7 February.
[Reporter] Father (Massac), a new government was
installed in Haiti on Sunday, 7 February-1988. We
suppose you saw the inauguration. What are your
thoughts on the 7 February 1988 event?
[(Massac)] (Eddy) my friend, you know that our Jesus
Christ-is a God of truth and justice. He must be very
sad about this event and must greatly disapprove of what
happened in Haiti on 7 February 1988. What happened on
that date has thrown the Haitian people into deep
sorrow. It constitutes a great disappointment. It's as.
if the weak are fated to always be on the bottom.
You saw, (Eddy),. that the people expressed its sorrow
and disappointment by exhibiting total indifference to
an event over which it should have been extremely
enthusiastic, as it was over 7 February 1986. But
then, how could the people be happy, after seeing the
democracy that they have been demanding for 2 years
receive a stab in the back, after having-their desire to
participate massively in electing leaders of their own
choice drowned in blood?
They gave the people a guided election that goes
against the country's Constitution and against all
honesty. They forced them to accept a leader the people
themselves did not choose.
.[(Eddy)] The people will get to know that leader--
whom they did not choose--better after they hear him or
rather, as they continue to hear him, because this is
not the first time the people have listened to him. He
made 'a big speech upon taking office. Have you yourself.
analyzed that speech? Can you give us your opinion of
the speech?
[(Massac)] (Eddy) my friend, I do not want to talk
too long. I can say the people heard a series of pretty.
words; but those words contradict the way that
government came to power, with the way it sees the
tragic events that the people have been living since 7
February 1986 and especially since 29 November 1987.
Everyone who does not voluntarily wear blinkers over'
his eyes--because he is expecting to obtain some kind of
.advantage from the government that has just come to
power--is asking himself the following question: Can a
government that comes to power by scorning all the
people's aspirations give us the democracy it has
promised?
Can a president who can compliment a.group of
military who put him into power through the force of
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
.weapons, with nary a thought for the many dead bodies
buttressing his presidential chair, be counted on to
seek the happiness of the Haitians who are left, of
those who escaped the bullets?
Can a president who appears to be thanking those
,,military for placing his presidential chair in the midst
..of toxic waste that Is threatening the lives of the
population be counted on to respect the dignity of the
Haitian people and lead-the battle against drugs as he.
promised he would do?,.
Can a government that is going to be working with a
parliament and an administration more than 60 percent of
which is made up of people implicated in the
dictatorship that the Haitian people overthrew because
of corruption--and which has not promised any cleanup,
.despite Article 291 of the Constitution--eliminate
corruption in Haiti? Humph!
(more) 101200 ilp/lopez de pugh disk/lb-l1/0221z feb
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2
REF FL110211 PORT-AU-PRINCE RADIO SOLEIL NETWORK CREOLE
101200///IN HAITI? HUMPH!
{hi)Take 2 of 2--Haitian Theologian Wary-of New
Government
f1110214
[(Eddy)] Well, Father (Massac), under these
circumstances, do you think there can be any
collaboration with the new government? Imean, won't
people have trouble cooperating with the new government?
[(Massac)] (Eddy) my friend, as a teacher of
morality, I can tell you there is too much immorality in
the foundations of this government for an honest citizen
to rush to associate himself with a regime that does not
offer any guarantees for its good will and honesty other
than pretty words from a man with a silver tongue, words
which contradict what he did to come to power.
The big problem is how is the new president going to
go about obtaining the well-being of all of Haiti's
citizens as he has promised? How will he re-establish
respect for human rights? How will he safeguard and
show-respect for democracy, eliminate corruption in the
public administration,. and respect the oath he took to
apply-the Constitution?
More than ever, (Eddy), I think.that Christians and
true patriots should keep their distance from that
illegitimate government, to see how he is going to make
all those pretty words a reality, to continue combatting
abuses and violations of human rights, and to unite all
patriots. A formula for a democratic government for
Haiti will sooner or later have to be installed in
compliance with the will of God and of a majority of the'
citizens.
[(Eddy)] Thank you very much, Father (Massac).
(endall) 021200 mci/lopez de pugh disk/lb 11/0224z feb
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/05: CIA-RDP90M00005R000400160040-2