Edrys Erisnor, Political Scientist

We don’t need to go too far back in history to figure out the answer.  There are two great events in our recent history that show where we failed Haiti.  Both the overthrowing of Jean Claude Duvalier in 1986 and Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004 are key factors in Haiti’s troubles. 

On one hand, after the fall of Duvalier in 1986, we failed Haiti by advocating a purge of the macoutes and we thereby introduced a politics of exclusion; and on the other hand, we continue to make the same foolish mistake by calling for the heads of the Lavalassiens.  It would be foolish to think that Haiti will move forward without the participation of President Aristide, just as it was foolish to think that Haiti was ready to move forward without the participation of the remnants of the Duvaliers. 

We failed Haiti by not adopting a policy of collective amnesia after the fall of Jean Claude Duvalier.  First and foremost, the idea of amnesia, asking people to forget and let bygone be bygone should have been seriously considered after the fall of the Duvalier regime.  The idea of amnesia is very well challenged but it can be fruitful as in the case of Spain following the death of the dictator, Francisco Franco.  Spaniards have come to realize that advocating for or pursuing a collective amnesia policy would benefit the political transition process greatly, and so they have adapted, in collaboration with the elites, a measure that would pave the way for a safe and stabilized future.  In this milieu, the Spaniards believed that leaving the past in the past was the appropriate measure to deal with the inevitable problems should they have chosen otherwise.  

The benefit of a politically stabilized Haiti outweighs the risk of going into a massive violence of Haitians on Haitians; so was not the plan in Haiti after the fall of Duvalier.  We should have had pursued a collective amnesia policy because of the apparent power and presence of the Haitian military and even the macoutes.  Though Jean Claude Duvalier was no longer in power, his senior Army officers and associates were still in charge of running the military, the economy and the country as a whole.  Advocating a purge of the macoutes and some members of the military was seen as scattering oil on fire.  Therefore, it was not wise of the new (1987) constitution to adopt a policy of exclusion, that is, macoutes pa la dan’n.  A constitution, which is the law of the land, cannot be written by emotions and revenge and I believe that we must revisit our current constitution as part of our effort in moving the country forward.

Furthermore, with the overthrowing of a popular government in 2004, we continue to fail Haiti for we must know by now that we will never witness a better Haiti unless we stop this sort of politics of exclusion.  Now that we have failed Haiti, how do we proceed in safeguarding it?

Let’s assume that an Engineer is building a skyscraper and later he finds out that he had made a mistake on the calculation of the weight of the edifice.  Should he go back and fix the problem which may not be apparent but will definitely affect the building for ever?  Or should he ignore the problem and leave it for the next owner to deal with a major catastrophe in the future?  Conventional wisdom tells us that he would go back and fix the problem.

This is a way out in safeguarding Haiti.  We must use the past to enhance the future; and for that, I will call for a National Reconciliation campaign in Haiti.  At this point in our history, I believe that we have a Haitian problem that deserves a Haitian solution.  It is imperative that Haitians be united in order to move forward because a reconciled Haiti is in the best interest of every living Haitian

We need to build a genuine democracy in Haiti, and to make it feasible, a National Reconciliation ought to be addressed.  We should consider a tradeoff where the stability of Haiti outweighs justice which we are not ready to render.  To exemplify such a bold and challenging task (e.g a National Reconciliation), I will suggest a joint return of both Ex-Presidents to Haiti, his Excellency Jean Claude Duvalier and his Excellency Jean Bertrand Aristide.  This is not a blanket amnesty but a sacrifice in the process of moving forward and let bygone be bygone.  This will be a conditional amnesty based on the willingness of both “leaders” to work jointly in the name of a National Reconciliation.  Failure to participate in the process, both leaders would risk the chance of ever step foot back in Haiti. 

Haitians must seek and support a Presidential or Parliamentary amnesty for both Ex-Presidents.  I envision both presidents returning home in the same flight with the sole purpose of reaching out to our Haitian counterparts in the spirit of peace, in uniting the country and in the spirit of promoting a true National Reconciliation; and the return cannot be used for any other purposes but that. 

Others may see this as wishful thinking, but unless we come out of the box and seek solutions to our problems, Haiti will only go through crisis after crisis.  I will conclude by saying that it is far better not to be living in the past, but to use the past as it leads the way to a better and brighter future.  To forgive is not forgotten.

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