From Dictatorship to Democracy Comparative Chart
"Building a state is a long process. Let us begin this task with courage, together, with unity in diversity. Those who have been excluded until now demand full participation. We must never move forward without them, or against them. They are present in everything we do. Our people have courage and a unique genius for survival. We must now move from survival to life." President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
ADULT LITERACY
Pre-Democracy
- Literacy movement repressed
- 85% illiteracy rate
Conditions Under Democracy
- Secretary of State for Literacy created
- Literacy materials produced & widely distributed. National Campaign trained thousands of literacy workers, literacy classes nationwide
- 55% illiteracy rate
AGRICULTURE & NATIONAL PRODUCTION
Pre-Democracy
- No government support for small scale agriculture
- Rural exodus to the cities
- State-assisted repression by large landowners
- Rice yield never more than 2.8 metric tons per hectare
- Eradication of Haiti's Creole pig valued at $600 million devastated rural economy. Unsuccessful pig replacement program
- Little public health and education services in rural areas
- Government sugar mill in Darbonne closed
- Agricultural production and exportation greatly reduced and strongly decapitilized during coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- National Institute of Agrarian Reform established
- Redistributed 2.47 acres each to over 1,500 families for cultivation
- Repairs permitted irrigation of more than 3,000 hectares of land for farming by 7,100 farmers in the Artibonite Valley alone
- The Office for the Development of the Artibonite Valley & INARA provided tools, credit, technical advisors, fertilizers & heavy equipment to farmers (i.e. 100 tractors)
- Increased rice yield from between 3 to 5.5 tons per hectare
- Livestock distributed & animal vaccination program pursued
- 400 kilometers of major & minor roads opened up previously inaccessible agricultural areas
- Sugar mill repaired & reopened
- Gourmet & fair trade coffee developed & marketed, much sold directly by peasant cooperatives. Haiti a major exporter of mangoes to the U.S.
- 30,000 fishermen assisted through technical training, 4 industrial boats for deep-sea fishing, construction of 100 motor boats for small fishermen & nets
- Construction of 50 artificial lakes begun & supplied with millions of fish revitalizing fish farming industry
CHILDREN
Pre-Democracy
- Children exploited. No government protections
Conditions Under Democracy
- Historic law in 2001 prohibits violence against children & provides for punishment against offenders
- Universal Schooling campaign to enroll all children in school. Additional 160,000 enrolled fall 2001
- Public information campaign against violence, humiliation and exploitation of all children, especially restaveks
- Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified (1994)
- Telephone hotline system receives complaints & intervenes
- National conference addressing all aspects of children's lives, responsive to plight of restaveks
- Juvenile court system and rehabilitation program. Services for street children
- Daycare center for children of factory workers at Industrial Park
- Scholarship fund for exceptionally talented youth
- Special fund to develop & reinforce artistic talents
CULTURE
Pre-Democracy
- Political climate halted promotion
Conditions Under Democracy
- MUPANAH, the government museum, renovated
- National Library renovated
- Museum on monetary system & its history
- National & international exhibits & performances, national fairs, music festivals, television shows & contests
- Education & events on Haiti's history (i.e. Route de l'Esclave, Toussaint L'Ouverture Constitution of 1801)
- ONART opened display store for artists wares
- Historic monuments built & restored
- Special fund to assist artistic youth
- Art & handicrafts strengthened by government support
DEMOCRACY & PARTICIPATION
Pre-Democracy
- Dictators and presidents for life, no free & fair elections
- No freedom of speech, expression or association. Democracy supporters tortured & killed under coup regime
- Voters massacred at polls in 1987
- Persecution of progressive Catholic churches, anti-vodou campaign, parishioners massacred at St. Jean-Bosco
- No election campaigns or public discussions
- Power consolidated in capital, peasants had little voice in political life
- Most radio stations shut down during coup regime
- Destruction of popular participation & emerging structures of civil society
Conditions Under Democracy
- First democratically elected president (President Jean-Bertrand Aristide) peacefully transferred power to next democratically elected president (President Rene Preval) who became first president to serve his whole legal term - no more, no less
- Freedom to organize, debate, associate and expression guaranteed. Constitution in Creole widely distributed
- Since 1994 oversaw several rounds of democratic elections that included parliamentary and local representatives & two presidential elections. The 2000 elections ran 29,500 candidates for 7,500 seats and registered 4 million people to vote
- Freedom of religion guaranteed
- Public debates, election debates, televised major trials, civic education
- Initiated decentralization process which produced local input in infrastructure projects
- Number of radio & television stations expanded: 44 FM stations in Port-au-Prince, approx.100 radio stations outside of capital, 16 registered television stations in Port-au-Prince, and 35 registered television stations outside capital
- Popular organizations & civil society flourished
DRUG TRAFFICKING
Pre-Democracy
- Use of Haiti as drug transshipment point started under Duvalier, exploded under coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- Decrease in drug transshipping from 13% to 8% in 2000 according to U.S. State Department
- Legislation passed: Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, Anti-Money Laundering & Maritime Counter Narcotics Agreement with the U.S.
- Set up Financial Intelligence Unit to combat money laundering. Banks already complying with new requirements to notify authorities of major cash deposits
- 2001: 412.9 kilos of cocaine and 392.57 pounds of marijuana seized so far. Since 1997: 4 tons of cocaine & 5 tons of marijuana seized, 2000 drug-related arrests. Participation on region-wide interdiction efforts. Collaboration with DEA on special missions such as recent "Operation Conquistador" and "Operation Hurricane."
- Civilian maritime police, anti-drug unit & border patrol
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Pre-Democracy
- Three years of coup regime left country depleted: Assembly industries were decimated causing loss of 60,000 jobs, global deficit of central administration worsened as state revenues dropped from 8% of the GDP in 1991 to 3% in 1994. Real GDP fell 30% and per capita GDP dropped from $320 to $260
- Mass transfer of capital. The coup regime's top officials regularly embezzled state funds and transferred these to their personal foreign bank accounts, control of monopolies, import privileges and special access to foreign exchange
- Fiscal impunity guaranteed by army. Less than 4% of personal income tax collected during coup regime
- Public enterprises neglected & during coup regime taxes not properly collected. Monies collected through customs, general sales tax, income tax, and taxes on goods and services fell from $86.6 million in 1991 to $52.9 million in 1994. The Haitian gourde declined against the U.S. dollar. The coup regime closed the cement company and flour mill and depended upon the water supply company to provide extra income. The electricity company steadily lost money and the Port Administration was inconsistent. Due to overall looting and embezzlement, the cement and flour mills were closed
- Poor people generally had no access to banks or credit. Handful of private banks outside Port-au-Prince & Cap Haitian
Conditions Under Democracy
- Net private transfers from Haitians abroad grew rapidly by 12% in fiscal year 2000 overtaking export earnings for first time. Higher private transfers contributed to narrowing in current account deficit of balance of payments (excluding public grants) from US $316 million for fiscal year 1991 to US $294 million in 2000
- Foreign & national investment advanced i.e. foreign partnerships & franchises (MCI, Dominos) & construction boom (shopping malls, apartment buildings, gas stations, convenience stores, department stores, expansion of major tourist/business hotels & the Hilton hotel plan to construct 165-bed hotel at airport
- Public Administration: In 1991 Aristide/Preval government roots out state corruption. In first three months the state-owned cement factory went from a 4.5 million gourde loss to a 100,000 gourde net profit. The flour mill went from a 2.76 million gourde loss to a 2.1 million gourde profit
- After severe negative growth during coup regime, economy slowly rebounded to a positive 4.5% real growth rate immediately after the return to democracy. Since then, record collection of taxes and port fees have been made. Income & profit taxes rose by 14 % while customs collections rose by 26%
- National & international competition challenges traditional monopoly system
- Customs code revised in 1995
- Tax collection increased immediately from 77 million gourdes for the 3 months proceeding December 1990 election of President Aristide to 100 million gourdes for the month of May 1991 alone. Customs receipts jumped from 16.4 million gourdes in February 1991 to 25.8 million the following May 1991. In 1991 Aristide's government's success in collecting tax and custom revenues gained the commitments of $511 million dollars in international aid
- Modernization/Privatization: Public debate and education campaign. Feasibility studies prepared for sale of public enterprises. Legislation enacted to modernize & privatize public enterprises. The cement and flour mills sold in a public/private partnership. Other public/private efforts include two major U.S. telecommunications companies (Western Wireless/MCI) involved in ownership of cellular & fixed telephone services & the port & airport project of St. Louis de Sud
- Creation of community restaurants and community stores providing low cost food
- Private banks outside of Port-au-Prince grew to 29 in last 5 years opening up the poor's access to banking & micro-credit
EDUCATION
Pre-Democracy
- Discriminated against children from the countryside. Rural education was under Ministry of Agriculture
- No assistance with uniforms, textbooks, transportation or tuition
Conditions Under Democracy
- Government Universal Schooling program seeks to enroll every child in school & build a school in each of Haiti's 565 rural sections. Provided for 160,000 more children to enter school fall 2001
- 20.8% of national budget (2001-2006) devoted to education
- Hot lunches served to 700,000 children per day
- Textbooks subsidized by 55%, 150,000 free school uniforms for fall 2001, first school bus system in capital and rural areas, 90,000 school scholarships in 1995, school crossing guards
- 200 primary & secondary schools constructed & renovated
- Doubled number of secondary schools in 1994 through construction & renovation
- Teachers' salaries increased
- Primary education standardized
ENVIRONMENT
Pre-Democracy
- Incinerator ash dumped in Haiti during military regime for individual profit
- Unregulated destruction of mountains for commercial use
- Ecological devastation, rapid deforestation & soil erosion
- Sanitation system progressively deteriorated with political climate
Conditions Under Democracy
- Ministry for the Environment created
- Succeeded in getting incinerator ash removed from Haiti after 14 year campaign
- Convention on Desertification ratified (1996)
- Reforestation programs & alternatives to charcoal pilot projects
- Convention on Biological Diversity ratified (1996)
- National Parks protected & park rangers trained
- Garbage system & collection upgraded. Training program for environmental monitors
- Increased regulations on emissions and overloaded trucks
GENDER EQUALITY
Pre-Democracy
- No government programs for women's rights or gender equity
- Absence of women in government posts
- Historic neglect of girls' education
- Discriminatory legislation against women
Conditions Under Democracy
- Ministry of Women's Affairs & Rights created
- Inter-American Convention for Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women ratified (1996)
- Record number of women elected to public office including 1/3 of the Senate
- Women appointed to high posts: Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, director of a national bank and Departmental Police Director
- Proposed legislation to strengthen rape laws, decriminalize abortion, include women domestic workers in Labor Code & equalize laws on adultery
- Central Office of Equipment trained women to operate heavy equipment for public works projects. Half of their 525 employees are women
- Midwife school to open at State University Hospital
- Hospital personnel & police started receiving training in handling of rape cases
HEALTH SERVICES
Pre-Democracy
- Healthcare not government priority
- Vaccination rates dropped from 40% to 24% during coup regime leading to pediatric measles epidemic in 1993
- 1 doctor to 10,000 people with most doctors concentrated in capital. Almost all medical care limited to large cities
Conditions Under Democracy
- 13.7% of budget (2001-2006) devoted to healthcare
- 2000 - 2001: Vaccination campaigns against polio (2 million doses) and Measles (600,000 doses)
- Increased number of doctors through partnership with foreign healthcare professionals
- 400 Haitian students studying in medical school abroad & medical school to open at new university in Haiti. Tuition free in exchange for public service
- Renovated and constructed more than 40 health clinics, hospitals, & dispensaries countrywide
- State University Hospital: Renovated labor & delivery/maternity section, built modern morgue, autopsy room, new emergency room & pharmacy, rehabilitated radiology department, put in a blood bank
- Midwifery school to open at State University Hospital
- Free diagnosis & treatment of tuberculosis
- Purchasing pharmaceuticals at lower cost to provide Haiti's poor with access to medicine
HIV/AIDS
Pre-Democracy
- No comprehensive government policy on combating AIDS. Sex tourism
- 24-hour commercial blood banks
- AIDS exacerbated by political rapes & population displacement
Conditions Under Democracy
- Strategic plan addressing the 260,000 people living with the disease in Haiti (4.5% - 6% depending on region)
- Objectives include reduction of STDs by 50%, reduction of mother to child transmission by 50% & increasing testing sites countrywide through aggressive education & prevention campaign, current trial vaccine program, limited anti-retroviral therapy
- Rise in male condom sales from 2 million in 1990 to 11.6 million in 2000, female condom sales doubled in last four years
- Traveling caravan of artists and speakers promoting prevention
HUMAN RIGHTS
Pre-Democracy
- Impunity for human rights violators
- 5,000 killed during coup regime, 300,000 forced into internal exile, 100,000 took to the high seas, thousands beaten, raped or otherwise tortured
- Long tradition of discrimination against peasants
- State sponsored persecution of journalists
Conditions Under Democracy
- Office of Citizen Protection created
- National Truth & Justice Commission created
- Use of peasant label on birth certificates eliminated
- Chapultepec Declaration supporting press freedoms
- 1996 UNESCO prize on human rights education awarded to Aristide
- Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified (1994)
- Inter-American Convention for Prevention, Punishment, & Eradication of Violence Against Women ratified (1996)
- Law prohibiting violence against children (2001)
INFRASTRUCTURE & ENERGY
Pre-Democracy
- Failed to keep pace with growing demand for services
- Infrastructure completely neglected during military regime and more so during coup regime
- Paramilitary terrorist group burned down more than 100 houses in Cite Soleil during coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- Bridges renovated, 319 kilometers of inter-urban roads & 78 kilometers of urban roads constructed or rehabilitated Infrastructure generated construction boom & rise in property values
- Port-au-Prince international airport & access roadways renovated
- Croix des Bossales, Port-au-Prince's main market area, renovated through a $5 million sanitation program. Public toilets constructed
- 8 parks built or renovated including Place des Nations Unies, La Fountaine des Nymphes d'Ebene & Champ-de-Mars, which include first public playgrounds. First major public beach opened
- Thousands of miles of canals constructed, repaired, dredged
- Thousands of miles of drains repaired or constructed, dozens of hydraulic units repaired, rehabilitated 12 irrigation systems, riverbeds reinforced
- Jacmel: Electrical plant provides 24-hour electricity, port & wharf renovated, paved road to beach area
- National Archives, National Library, & Sylvio Cator National Stadium renovated
- Extensive local public participation determined priority projects
- Central Office of Equipment created to manage heavy equipment for public works' projects. Currently has $40-45 million worth of equipment
- Built new housing for Cite Soleil arson victims
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Pre-Democracy
- CARICOM entry repeatedly rejected because of dictatorship status
- International isolation of coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- Accepted into CARICOM, integration process near completion
- Bilateral working group of Haitians and Dominicans on trade, migration, drug trafficking, agriculture, health, tourism
- Doubled number of countries with which Haiti has diplomatic relations
- Signed treaty creating International Criminal Court
JUSTICE
Pre-Democracy
- Corrupt judicial system
- No prosecution of coup regime's brutal repressors
- Courtroom proceedings conducted almost exclusively in French, which was understood by only 20% of citizens
Conditions Under Democracy
- Professionalized judicial system, passed law on Judicial Reform, built and renovated 38 courthouses, 17 police stations, prisons, & a juvenile court
- National Truth & Justice Commission investigated coup regime atrocities through 10,000 interviews resulting in 5,450 reports filed, which represented 8,650 victims & a total of 19,308 violations. Submitted comprehensive report
- Carrefour Feuilles trial in August 2000 successfully prosecuted police officers, including senior leadership, for executing civilians in a 1999 attack
- Raboteau trial successfully prosecuted 53 defendants, including coup regime's top military & paramilitary leadership, for a 1994 massacre
- School for Magistrates
- Graduated more than 100 new judges & prosecutors
- Juvenile court system and rehabilitation program
- Raised judges' salaries
- Specialized police units, records control, scientific investigations, forensic medicine & new autopsy department at State University Hospital
- Legal proceedings in Creole
LABOR RIGHTS & EMPLOYMENT
Pre-Democracy
- Government contracted to profit from each Haitian sugarcane cutter working in the Dominican Republic
- Union organizers & labor activists persecuted
- No enforcement of labor rights
Conditions Under Democracy
- Secretary of State on Labor created
- Raised daily minimum salary to 36 gourdes (1995)
- Law on reform of public administration (1991)
- Challenged exploitation of Haitian sugarcane cutters in the Dominican Republic
- Legislation on labor code to enforce rights proposed
- Workers' rights public information campaign
- Labor unions & collective bargaining respected
- Vocational training reinforced
- Labor court reinforced: Trained & equipped investigators
- Hospital for workers (OFATMA) renovated & services expanded
LEGISLATION
Pre-Democracy
- President & army dictated to legislators
- Legislators not conforming jailed or killed
- Historically weak. Rubber stamped Duvalier for life and the naming of his successor
Conditions Under Democracy
- Law on the reform of the Public Administration (1991)
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (1994)
- Creation of Police Academy (1995)
- Law raising daily minimum salary to 36 gourdes (1995)
- Law establishing Institute for Agricultural Reform (1995)
- Law on Judicial Reform (1995)
- Law re-organizing Judiciary (1995)
- Inter-American Convention for Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (1996)
- Law on decentralization (1996)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (1996)
- Convention on Desertification (1996)
- Annexation of National Penitentiary Administration to the National Police (1997)
- Law on Judicial Reform (1998)
- Ratification of 1997 Maritime Counter Narcotics Agreement with U.S. (2001)
- Anti-Money Laundering Law (2001)
- Law prohibiting violence against children (2001)
MIGRATION & POPULATION
Pre-Democracy
- Hundreds of thousands from both urban and rural areas fled Haiti as repression intensified under Duvalier
- During coup regime the Haitian military fingerprinted, criminalized, tortured and killed returning refugees who had fled from political persecution. Upwards of 100,000 took to the high seas. 300,000 forced into internal exile
Conditions Under Democracy
- National Office on Migration established
- Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad created
- Rural areas reinforced with social services & infrastructure
- Haitians abroad support democratic process
- Resettled over 100,000 returned refugees
- Trained 1,000 refugees from Guantanamo as police officers and integrated them into new police
- Haitians abroad send upwards of $500 million in remittances annually
- Haitians abroad participate in Haiti's politics & economy with large investments & development of businesses
PRISONS
Pre-Democracy
- Military run prisons, no professional training, easy escapes
- Brutality & torture routine
- Private prisons and torture chambers
- No separation of prisoners
- Prison records or files were shoddy or non-existent making it impossible for lawyers and human rights advocates to establish claims of illegal detention
Conditions Under Democracy
- Civilian correctional system
- Systematic brutality & torture eliminated
- Prisons constructed & renovated including large structure inside National Penitentiary
- Children and women separated from adult male prisoners. Literacy training & classes in the women's prison
- Record keeping, meals, & infirmary upgraded
SECURITY
Pre-Democracy
- State sponsored terrorism by military & paramilitary groups (Tonton Macoute, section chiefs & FRAPH) & politically motivated killings
- Army of 7,000 consumed 45% of national budget
- Military fulfilled police functions despite constitutional requirement of civilian police
- Overwhelmingly brutal and corrupt with no accountability
- Political insecurity & 5 coups & attempts against the state from 1986 to 1991
Conditions Under Democracy
- Army demobilized & replaced with civilian police force
- Set up interim police force while new police being trained. Former soldiers who served in interim police, and not implicated in human rights violations funneled into new police. Successfully moved all security forces under the Police
- National Police Academy created & trained first civilian police force
- Inspector General Office created. Investigates police misconduct
- Police posts in every municipality
- Civilian maritime police, anti-drug unit & border patrol
- Neighborhood watch groups
SPORTS
Pre-Democracy
- Lost FIFA recognition during coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- Secretary of State of Sports & Youth created
- FIFA recognition regained
- Neighborhood sports programs created & equipped
- Duvalier ranch transformed into sports training center
- National stadium renovated, soccer fields constructed
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Pre-Democracy
- State monopoly on telecommunications provided very limited service
- Few lines in rural areas
- Only 36,000 telephone lines in capital in 1990
- No cellular services
Conditions Under Democracy
- State monopoly on communications eliminated through competition
- Teleco lines outside capital: 6,970 in 1990, 8,257 in 1994, and 23,580 in 2001. Teleco recently installed 2,000 lines in Port-de-Paix
- Teleco lines in capital: 46,029 lines in 1994, 72,052 in 2001
- 150 Teleco telephone centers in rural areas
- Three cell phone companies provide service to 95,000 subscribers in capital as well as other urban areas
TOURISM
Pre-Democracy
- Tourism progressively deteriorated under coup regime
Conditions Under Democracy
- Ministry of Tourism created
- Jacmel: Installed electrical plant which provides 24-hour electricity, renovated port & wharf, paved road to beaches outside
- Labadie area developed. Receives two cruise ships per week generating funds which are shared between tourism efforts & local municipalities
- Renovated historic sites & monuments
- Renovation/creation of ports, airports, parks and playgrounds
- Secured commitment from Hilton hotel to build a 165-bed hotel at international airport in Port-au-Prince
- Secured commitment of two cruise ship lines to dock in Jacmel when town renovation is completed
- International promotion of tourism. Reintegrated Haiti in U.S. & European catalogs
- Art & handicrafts supported by government
- Tourism house opened on Champ-de-Mars & decorated airport
- Hotel and restaurant training school
WATER AND SANITATION
Pre-Democracy
- No cohesive sanitation or water plan or procedures
- Water delivery system originally built to serve 120,000 inadequate for growing capital
Conditions Under Democracy
- Oversight committee to coordinate work & water management policy created
- Peligre Lake renovated and new generator installed to facilitate electricity services, agriculture & flood control
- Large water tower & 70 water sources built in Cite Soleil
- Port-au-Prince water system expanded with 6 new wells & construction & rehabilitation of reservoirs
- 49 cisterns and public water sources built in popular areas & maintained by local neighborhood water committees
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