Churches hoping to bolster Haiti's prospects for healing - U.S. activists

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 8, 1993 by Tim McCarthy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As the date for the return to Haiti of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide nears, church and peace groups are moving the bolster his chances for survival in a place where some of his supporters have been systematically murdered in recent weeks.

After meeting with Aristide Sept. 21 at the National Council of Churches headquarters in New York, representatives from various Prostestant church groups, including the World Council of Churches, said they would send delegates to Haiti in an attempt to "complicate" any assassination plot against Haiti's first democratically elected president.

A military coup ousted Aristide two years ago. Under a U.N.-brokered agreement, he is scheduled to return to Haiti Oct. 30.

The Rev. Oscar Bolioli, director of the Latin American and Caribbean arm of the National Council of Churches, said the church leaders had no illusions about being able to protect Aristide, but their presence could complicate matters for any potential assassins. They also hope to help heal and unify the country.

Delegates from the world and national councils of churches will be joined by representatives from the Caribbean Council of Churches, the Canadian Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Observers noted how ironic it was that Aristide, a Catholic priest, turned to world Protestant leaders for moral support. The Vatican is the only state that recognizes Haiti's de facto military-backed government and most of the Haitian bishops have opposed Aristide's return.

But the Vatican did announce Sept. 23 that it was stengthening the church's network of social services in Haiti in an effort to ease the country's political transition. Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, head of the pontifical council Cor Unum, also called on the international community to lighten Haiti's burden of debt and "show trust in the Haitian people and its right to take control of its own destiny."

Commenting on the Vatican announcement, Washington Office on Haiti director Sr. Mary Healy said "massive humanitarian support is urgently needed in Haiti, but the tragic history of that country speaks dramatically of the danger of such assistance being purloined by corrupt government. It is absolutely crucial that the restoration of legitimate government be the cornerstone of all international assistance."

The Vatican statement did not offer that direct support to the Aristide government, Healy said, but "it is still possible for the Vatican to unequivocally endorse the democratic choice of the Hatian people."

In a related development, Pax Christi USA has implemented its Cry for Justice project, which aims to maintain a nonviolent presence in Haiti through early December. The first delegation left for Haiti Sept. 27.

Benedictine Sr. Anne McCarthy, Pax Christi USA national coordinator, compared the project to last summer's Mir Sada peace convoy in Bosnia (NCR, Aug. 27). In a letter to Pax Christi members, she said Cry for Justice was yet another attempt to realize the notion of a global presence for peace.

Project volunteers will be present in areas of severe human rights abuses for stints ranging from two to eight weeks. According to Irene Lucas at Pax Christi's Erie, Pa., headquarters, there were seven members in the first delegation. So far, about 55 have signed up to go, she said.

McCarthy's letter quoted Pax Christi member Margaret Wehrer, who had recently returned from Haiti where she found the military repression even more intense than she observed on earlier visits. "It is hard to imagine (the military) accepting the return of President Aristide and democracy in a few short months," Wehrer said.

Perhaps with that in mind, the U.N. Security Council voted last month to send a peacekeeping force of about 1,200 soldiers and police to Haiti during the transition period. The peacekeepers will also work with the Haitian military in an effort to "professionalize" the army and police so they will stop murdering civilians.

Some Haitian professional soldiers have trained in the United States. Port-au-Prince Police Chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois, widely believed to be behind the recent murders of Aristide supporters, is a graduate of the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Ga.