(Below is the table of contents and lead story from the most
recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian
Information Bureau.  The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is
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                 *   *   *   HAITI INFO   *   *   *

            News direct from the people and organizations
              of Haiti's grassroots democratic movement

                    30 July 1995, Vol. 3, #21


  * * NOTE:  Next issue will be published in three weeks. * *

Contents:

Stories:   ELECTIONS IN TROUBLE
           80TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST U.S. INVASION
           CRIMINAL TARGETED
           D.R. EXPELS HAITIANS
           "10TH DEPT." WANTS TO VOTE
Close-Up:  PEASANT MOVEMENT COMMEMORATES VICTIMS
[box:]     Tet Kole Songs and Animation

Stories:

                      ELECTIONS IN TROUBLE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 29 - The last two weeks have been dominated
by a heightening battle over the elections.

All but two political parties say they will boycott the makeup
races scheduled for Aug. 6, and in the U.S., criticism has
continued to mount. A boycott would mean trouble for the
government and the Lavalas sector, and for their U.S. backers,
since no opposition would make the elections lose even more
credibility than they have already.

Mounting Criticism

For the past two weeks, parties have continued scathing criticism,
contesting the results and demanding the resignation of the
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). Some called for the
annulation of the June 25 races, but as many, including the
Lavalas platform ("Bo Tab La"), have remarked, those parties and
"particles" supported and played an active role in the 1991 coup
d'etat and won few or none of the 2,000 races for parliament,
mayor or communal council. (Bo Tab La won three-quarters of
communal races.)

Ironically, the Bo Tab La sweep makes it and President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide susceptible to criticism like that of KONAKOM's
Victor Benoit, who said Lavalas "took all the political space...
That is not democracy."

Criticism in the U.S. has also continued. On July 17 (three weeks
after the voting) The Carter Center, obviously annoyed and
irritated because the Aristide government did not invite it to be
part of the elections process, issued a 30-page report calling
them "disastrous" and recommending the replacement of half the
CEP, a new electoral law and "mediation between the parties." U.S.
Special Envoy Lawrence Pezzullo also reappeared suddenly and,
cross over his recent failure here, saw the opportunity to settle
a personal score by attacking the Clinton administration. The New
York Times also weighed in, supporting the Carter paper and
recommending, among other things, a rerun of the Port-au-Prince
race even though it does "not technically require it."

The criticism is embarrassing for the U.S. administration, which
wants the elections to succeed, but would find elections with only
Lavalas running too much to support.

Government Steps Back

To break the impasse, Aristide has attempted to pry loose some of
parties from the anti-CEP block. On Wednesday, after meeting with
a half-dozen representatives, he promised a solution "within 12
hours." Early the next day, a very high-level U.S. delegation flew
in: Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Director of the
U.S. AID Brian Atwood and Deputy National Security Advisor Sandy
Berger. While the content of the meeting is unknown, that same
day, CEP President Anselm Remy, considered a Lavalas sympathizer,
and Jean Francis Meriser, a member of the CEP which oversaw the
illegal Jan. 18, 1993, "elections," announced their
"resignations," obviously at the bidding of the National Palace.

"There were many forces, many sectors that came out to crush [the
elections]," Remy said in his address, and he denounced "sabotage"
and an attempt to force him to "merchandise" the parliament.
"Haitian people, prepare yourselves to fight for what is yours.
What those people could not accomplish with the coup d'etat, they
are doing with electoral machinations."

Remy was replaced by Dr. Pierre-Michel Sajous, a former member of
the Presidential Commission and a close friend of Aristide's.

Uncertain Future

One week before the makeup vote, the future is uncertain, and
dates have not even been set for the runoff and presidential
elections. Seeing the Lavalas government with its back to the
wall, the parties have remained intransigent, calling the changes
cosmetic. Yesterday, 23 "particles" called again for a total
annulation, while KONAKOM and PANPRA say they will boycott until
the entire CEP is dismantled. FNCD said it will talk on Monday.

In this context, Aristide made a whistle-stop tour of Port-de-Paix
and Cap-Haitien this week where he made promises totalling over 50
million gourdes (over US$3 million) and asked people in the crowds
- which appeared smaller than during his last visit - to work
together, even with those who supported the coup. Significantly,
he also hinted he is open-minded about an extension of his mandate
by three years, and in the days before his tour, the capital as
well as other cities were inundated with leaflets calling for
elections "in 3 years."

Coincidentally, against a backdrop of elections uncertainty and
the president's hints, yesterday U.N. Secretary General Boutros
Boutros Ghali asked the Security Council to approve the U.N. troop
presence here for the coming months, as planned, but the pullout
date appeared to have been left vague, perhaps anticipating a
prolongation due to instability or a need for control.

But one sector is more certain about the future and is certainly
clear about the past. The very day Boutros Ghali asked for
approval for the troops, the anti-occupation sector mobilized to
commemorate the invasion of Haiti 80 years ago and to call for an
end to the current occupation. [See page 1]

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** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **

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