Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: The Economy
Shortly before his death in April 1971, Duvalier bequeathed
power to his nineteen-year-old son, Jean-Claude, also making
him president for life. "Baby Doc" continued many of his
father's economic development policies. Although these
projects were intended in most instances to contribute to his
personal enrichment, the country experienced a brief period
of economic recovery. But Jean-Claude ultimately failed to provide
the leadership necessary for Haiti's sustained development.
The country was precipitously plunged into economic
stagnation, with famine spreading in rural areas and thousands
of "boat people" fleeing to the United States. As popular
demands for reform aimed at alleviating the suffering of the
vast majority of the population living in poverty were ignored
by the government, public discontent kept mounting until the
first antigovernment riots in twenty years broke out, and food
warehouses were looted. The ensuing and heightened civil disorder,
which lasted for months without letup, finally forced
Jean-Claude Duvalier into exile in France (arranged by the
United States) on February 7, 1986.
Political turmoil following the demise of the twenty-nineyear
dictatorship of the Duvaliers caused the economy to
decline sharply, with devastating effects on the poorest segments
of the population. A constitution providing for an
elected two-chamber parliament, as well as an elected president
and prime minister, was adopted in 1987. But when Duvalierist
gangs attacked polling stations on election day,
November 29, the election was canceled. Most major aid
donors, including France, Canada, and the United States, suspended
their assistance and investment programs in protest.
The United States and the Organization of American States
(OAS) brought pressure for another election, which occurred
in 1988, and resulted in the election of Leslie Manigat, a professor.
Manigat, who had been elected in a low turnout, was
overthrown four months later, and during the next two years, a
series of military leaders played musical chairs.
In elections held in December 1990, a Roman Catholic
priest and long-time opponent of the Duvalier regimes, Jean-
Bertrand Aristide, won 67 percent of the vote (see Aristide
Presidency, February 7, 1991-September 30, 1991, ch. 6). The
installation of Haiti's first freely elected president on February
7, 1991, prompted a group of Western countries to promise
more than US$400 million in aid. Aristide responded by initiating
a reform program aimed at collecting more taxes and
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