Haiti's Choice, and Father Aristide's

Sunday's election in Haiti was a triple triumph: for Haiti's determined voters, for the winning candidate, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and for the international effort to guarantee a free, fair vote. After a bloody fiasco in 1987, and an unconvincing army-run vote in 1988, Haiti has at last chosen a democratic successor to the Duvalier dictatorship. Father Aristide has won a mandate for radical change. But he has also acquired a duty to respect the constitutional procedures that assured his victory.

Outsiders have always found it easy to write off Haiti. The hemisphere's poorest republic, they said, could not afford the luxury of political choice. Besides, Haiti lacks any history of democratic government. And, they dolefully predicted, the armed thugs of the old regime would surely veto all attempts at serious change. Perhaps there was also an element of racism in the wide refusal to acknowledge that black Haiti could become part of Latin America's democratic trend.

Haitians never succumbed to such reasoning. They braved intimidation from the army and the remnants of the Duvaliers' secret police, the Tontons Macoute, to approve a democratic electoral code, and then defend it in the streets against military encroachments. Neither failed elections nor military coups extinguished their faith that they were as entitled to democracy as anyone else.

Americans can be proud of the role played by their Ambassador, Alvin Adams, since his arrival a year ago. By making plain that American economic support depended on progress toward elections, he helped keep the electoral process on track. Last month Father Aristide's radical rhetoric began to draw not only wide support from the poor but also threats from panicked sections of the elite that threatened to derail the election. Ambassador Adams held firm for democratic principle.

Democracy's cause remains insecure. Father Aristide's promises to sweep away social inequality and political violence will be impossible to fulfill at once. The violent men of the old regime will be around to thwart the new government's initiatives long after international election observers have departed.

Father Aristide will need to be tough. But he will also need to be patient, and to preach patience to his followers. His is a truly historic challenge. He can now become either the father of Haitian democracy or just one more of its many betrayers.

Source: New York Times