Let Haitian revolution run its course

On Sunday, Jean Bertrand Aristide, then president of Haiti, left his country for parts… On Sunday, Jean Bertrand Aristide, then president of Haiti, left his country for parts unknown after resigning under pressure from a chaotic uprising and foreign governments. The United States dispatched Marines to the embattled capital, Port-au-Prince, as the first wave of an expected multinational and United Nations-backed peacekeeping force.

Aristide and the United States have a history together, and not a glowing one. We’ve supported him, and Haiti has plunged into extreme poverty, and corruption has marked many aspects of the government.

Now he’s been ousted again, and the country is in chaos.

The United States has historically seen such conditions as an invitation to come in and establish what it sees as the best possible government for the country in question and for its U.S. relations, seldom to good effect.

Elected in 1990 in Haiti’s first free elections since 1804, Aristide was ousted after eight months in office via a military coup led by Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras. Aristide went into a three-year exile in the United States. After U.N. sanctions and the threat of a U.S. military invasion, Aristide was re-installed with the help of 20,000 U.S. troops in 1994.

During that presidency, the United States suspended $4.5 million in aid because Aristide’s government delayed economic reforms.

In 1996, Aristide stepped down in accordance with term limits in the Haitian constitution, but was re-elected in 2000, in an election that his opposition boycotted and many in the international community consider illegitimate.

There is no compelling reason for us to see to it that a U.S.-friendly government is installed. The Cold War is over. It’s not as if, by failing to “sanitize” Haiti in accordance with American ideology, Russia is going to sweep in and establish a Communist stronghold on our doorstep.

The United States has a dismal record as far as political involvement in Latin America goes. Our previous attempts to install governments, regardless of our motives, have ended in disaster, leaving a legacy of chaos and bloodshed.

We should learn from the mistakes of the past. As an international superpower, the United States owes it to the civilians of Haiti to offer humanitarian involvement, and then leave. This is a revolution that must run its course, because, as Haiti has proved, until the government represents the wishes of the people, revolution will continue.