Haiti intervention
The Haiti intervention refers to the U.S. military action taken in 1994 to address the severe political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti. Following a military coup in 1991 that ousted democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country experienced widespread violence and repression under General Raoul Cédras's junta. This regime was marked by human rights abuses, prompting a mass exodus of Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. In response to the influx of refugees and the failure of diplomatic efforts, President Bill Clinton authorized military intervention, which was initially intended as a forced operation. However, before the troops arrived, negotiations led to the junta's agreement to resign, transforming the intervention into a semi-permissive occupation.
Operation Uphold Democracy aimed to restore democratic governance and stability in Haiti, ultimately resulting in Aristide's reinstatement. While the intervention was initially seen as a potential turning point for Haiti's political future, the subsequent government struggled to address critical issues such as unemployment and foreign investment. The intervention had significant implications for U.S. foreign policy in Latin America during the 1990s and sparked discussions about immigration policy related to Central American countries. Overall, the Haiti intervention highlights the complexities of international involvement in domestic crises and the challenges of fostering sustainable political change.
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Subject Terms
Haiti intervention
The Event The United States intervenes in Haiti in order to remove the military junta and restore democratic institutions
Date U.S. troops arrived September 19, 1994
The military intervention led by the United States in Haiti was a response to the ongoing terror regime established by General Raoul Cédras and his military junta, which ousted democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September, 1991.
Between 1991 and 1994, General Raoul Cédras’s military junta conducted a campaign of killing and torture of people who were believed to be opposed to the government, leading to an exodus by Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. The overwhelming influx of Haitians into the United States, along with other strategic reasons, led U.S. president Bill Clinton to push for a forced military intervention in Haiti in 1994.
Haiti’s history is one of political instability and conflicts. The country was the second nation in the Americas to become independent, in 1804, and the only nation to be established by a successful slave rebellion. Since the country’s independence, the political struggles have led to a number of autocratic regimes, including the rule of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier (1957-1971) and his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1971-1986). In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected in Haiti’s first democratic elections, but his government lasted less than eight months. On September 30, 1991, a military junta overthrew Aristide, mainly because of his reform policies, which included the demilitarization of the country as well as a comprehensive redistribution of wealth plan. After the coup, Cédras’s junta started to persecute Aristide’s supporters, leading to the raping, torturing, and killing of thousands of Haitian citizens.
Haiti’s Problem Is a U.S. Problem
During the Cédras regime, thousands of Haitians fled their terror-ridden country in makeshift boats in an attempt to reach the United States. In his final months in office, President George H. W. Bush ordered the U.S. Coast Guard to turn all fleeing Haitians back to their country, claiming that the United States was not prepared to receive this great influx of refugees. Though then presidential candidate Bill Clinton had promised to allow fleeing Haitians asylum in the United States, his policy changed when he took office in 1993. Clinton tried to resolve the crisis through diplomacy with the Haitian military junta, with no success. Finally, after running out of options, Clinton concluded that the only solution to this problem would be a U.S. military intervention in Haiti.
While the military intervention was not popular with Congress and voters, Clinton saw the intervention as imminent. The military operation was planned as a forced intervention, but in a last attempt to convince Cédras’s government to leave office peacefully, Clinton sent former president Jimmy Carter in a high-level mission to negotiate with the Haitian government. Carter’s offer was accepted by Cédras and his military junta, but they decided to step down from office mainly because U.S. troops were en route to Haiti.
Because Cédras and his government had accepted to step down from power, the military campaign changed from a forced invasion into a semipermissive occupation in which twenty thousand U.S. troops attempted to restore stability in the country. The military intervention, called Operation Uphold Democracy, evolved into a humanitarian effort led by the United States and was later joined by other countries. The reinstatement of Aristide and the consequent democratic elections generated hope that Haiti was moving in the right direction toward political, social, and economic development. Unfortunately, the Haitian government proved ineffective at tackling the country’s most important issues—namely, unemployment and the lack of foreign investment.
Impact
The 1994 intervention was a last resort by the Clinton administration to curb Haitian immigration into the United States as well as an attempt to reestablish democratic rule in the country. This intervention had a great impact on the politics of Haiti and subsequently led to the development of a U.N. humanitarian mission in the country. The intervention and the policies enacted before the intervention also set the tone of American foreign policy in Latin America in the 1990’s and generated heated debates regarding immigration from Latin American countries into the United States.
Bibliography
Ballard, John R. Upholding Democracy: The United States Military Campaign in Haiti, 1994-1997. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998. Focuses on the other agencies responsible for the planning and implementation of the intervention, including nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental agencies, private volunteer organizations, and other actors.
Girard, Philippe R. Clinton in Haiti: The 1994 U.S. Invasion of Haiti. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. Focuses on the political career of Aristide and the foreign policy dynamics between Haiti and the United States.
Perusse, Roland I. Haitian Democracy Restored, 1991-1995. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1995. Focuses on Aristide and his presidency before the military junta overthrow. Also looks at the role of the United States, the United Nations, and other organizations in the intervention.
Pezzullo, Ralph. Plunging into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. Provides an insider’s look at the negotiations between the United States and Haiti before, during, and after the intervention.