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Interim Haitian leader proud of work

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Haitians voted in droves Tuesday during presidential and legislative elections amid little violence, a fact that elated Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

Tapped as Haiti's interim leader, Latortue, a Boca Raton retiree, came under tremendous pressure to organize free and fair elections after an insurgency led by criminal gangs and former soldiers ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide in March 2004.

Underlying the election's relative calm is the political stability Latortue said he worked to create as head of a transitional government. A newly elected government will assume power on March 29 while Latortue will return to suburban Boca Raton in April.

Critics say, however, under Latortue's watch, Haiti has plunged further into disarray, misery and division.

"His government has been a fiasco," said Jean Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition in Miami. "Under his leadership, there has been more kidnappings, rapes and violence against civilians as well as repression against the masses."

A Haitian history buff, Latortue said Wednesday during a phone interview he believes "history with a capital H" will ultimately determine his legacy in the years to come. Still, the prime minister's assessment of his time in office clashes with accounts by many people.

"Latortue was seen as being put in power by the United States, not by the people in general," said Robert Fatton Jr., a professor of political science at the University of Virginia.

The U.S. government, which backed the interim government, has always denied it forced Aristide from power.

Foremost among his accomplishments, Latortue said, was stanching the violence that historically erupts after changes in Haitian political power.

"I helped my country avoid civil war," he said.

When he arrived in Haiti, Latortue promised to end the violence. Security has improved in most parts of Haiti, according to the government, but civilians and human rights groups disagree. Illegal armed groups and former military officers are using 170,000 small arms "to kidnap, sexually abuse and kill Haitians with absolute impunity, "Amnesty International reported in July.

"There have been promises to disarm groups but nothing has been done," Fatton said. "If anything, there are more weapons now than there were before."

David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, disagreed, saying limited progress had been made.

"I'd say it's very difficult to offer people with guns an alternative, like a career or long-term job prospect where the economy is pretty tattered. It's a long-term program to disarm the civilian population."

The understaffed and badly equipped Haitian National Police still cannot provide security, human rights groups say. Amnesty International accuses the force of killing civilians and committing other human rights abuses.

A surge of recent kidnappings in the Cite Soleil slum and around other areas of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, has unsettled people like Alexandra Fevril, a university student living in the city.

"They kidnap whatever person," she said. "I take many precautions. There are certain barrios I must avoid because they are more dangerous than other barrios."

Good political governance, another accomplishment Latortue cited, is also in dispute.

"We have established the civil service," the prime minister said, noting he did not fire and replace government officials who had ties to Aristide's Lavalas Family Party. The decision enraged Haitians opposed to Aristide.

Lavalas accused Latortue of persecuting its members while ignoring the actions of criminal gangs and other groups. It said Latortue jailed former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste for political, not criminal reasons.

Arrested in June 2004, Neptune was later indicted for masterminding a massacre in the town of St. Marc. Jean-Juste was jailed in July on charges of murder and conspiracy against the state. A judge last month dropped the charges against Jean-Juste. Under pressure, the interim government last month allowed the priest, who suffers from leukemia, be treated in Miami.

Latortue replied his government is not holding political prisoners. He said Neptune was arrested on a judge's warrant. He said Jean-Juste was released because of his illness, not political pressure from Washington.

Lesly Jacques, a close friend of Latortue, called those cases "irregularities."

"When you arrest someone, you should go before a judge right away, but it didn't happen because the judicial system is not working. Latortue has tried to change it but you can't change something like that in two years."

One thing that did change is Haiti's finances, though the country continues to rank as the poorest in the western hemisphere. The interim government is collecting taxes while fighting against corruption and contraband.

"We have more money to do work in public health and education now. We don't misuse money," Latortue said.

The interim government built more new roads in the past two years than in the past 10 years, he said. Electricity is available as long as 12 hours a day now, up from just two hours in 2004.

Still, Elirend Jean Charles, a professor in Port-au-Prince, complains the price of beans, rice and corn has quadrupled since Aristide left.

Latortue replied his government cut a 40-percent inflation rate to 15 percent.

As for reconciling Haiti's divided society, Latortue said he has tried to bring people together but the process is incomplete.

"In Haiti, people always criticize those in power," he said. "How could you solve the divisions in two years?"

Others said the interim government has not even tried to unify the country.

"Haiti needs to be healed and repaired," said Wimhurst, the U.N. spokesman. "This government never pursued that seriously. We would have liked to have seen that effort."

Haiti's next leader faces many of the same problems Latortue encountered.

"He needs to form a government that is acceptable to everyone. After that, there needs to be a new political order, an end of violence and new legitimate institutions, like a functioning police force," Fatton said.

The prime minister offered no advice to his successor. He said he is looking forward to retirement, though he would work to change the Haitian Constitution, which prevents those living outside Haiti from voting or running for political office.

"We have the most talented people in the Haitian diaspora," Latortue said.

Critics say it is ironic Latortue would champion this cause now because he upheld a controversial decision to exclude Dumarsais Simeus, Haitian businessman from Texas and U.S. citizen, from running for president.

Fatton offered a possible legacy for the prime minister: Haitian leaders have historically clung to power. Latortue will teach Haitians about political transition because he will exit as promised.

Tania Valdemoro writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: tvaldemoro AT pbpost.com