U.S. policy on Haiti

I have been quite distraught with the unilateral actions of Washington regarding Haiti. Haiti has been an independent nation since 1804, and I cannot condone the threats and actions of a "neighbor" in an effort to mold the politics of a sovereign nation.

In recent weeks we have been exposed to a plethora of reporting on Haiti. However, the two op-ed articles in The Jakarta Post of Sept. 19 were pure propaganda of the "virtues" of Aristide and the "evils" of Cedras.

After his inauguration in February 1991, Aristide violated Haiti's 1987 Constitution by first promoting Cedras from colonel to brigadier general and then appointing him commander-in-chief over the head of the incumbent Gen. Herard Abraham.

Again in violation of the constitution, Aristide began posting officers loyal to him to the Presidential Guard and the Security Office of the Presidency.

On Aug. 13, 1991 the American ambassador called Cedras, alerting him of trouble outside the parliament building. While Cedras was assured by Aristide's police chief, Col. Pierre Cherubin, that all was well, Cedras sent an army officer who reported a different story.

On Sept. 28, 1991 Aristide phoned Cedras stating that a coup was in progress. Cedras checked with his officers and received negative replies. Aristide called again on Sept. 29 with the same story. Cedras went to military headquarters to determine the situation firsthand. While en route, he heard the government radio station announcing that a coup was in progress, and the radio was telling people to go into the streets. Cedras encountered many Haitians, armed with machetes, in the streets. When Cedras and his officers contacted other military installations, they learned that they were surrounded by mobs.

The officers knew nothing of what was going on. Cedras phoned Aristide, asking him to call off his mobs because there was no coup. Aristide refused, saying that "the people knew what they had to do." Soldiers pleaded with Cedras to tell Aristide that they had nothing against him, other than that they wanted him to condemn the practice of necklacing people, and they wanted his private militia dissolved. Only then did the army mobilize, attack the palace, arrest Aristide and take him to Cedras' office.

The American administration's blind devotion to Aristide in the name of "democracy" is a travesty to the use of that ideal for which so many have given their lives over the years.

JOHN R. SPROAT JR.

Semarang,

Central Java