Mixed U.S. Signals Helped Tilt Haiti Toward Chaos |
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Scott Nelson/World Pictures News, for The
New York Times |
| Fear, fueled by a recent wave of violence, has left the central market
district in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, nearly empty at night. |
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Librado Romero, for The New York Times |
| On Sept. 20, 20, 1994, Haitian police and soldiers lashed out with clubs
at crowds who were greeting American troops. Largely as a result of those attacks, and the
graphic reports by journalists who witnessed them, President Bill Clinton announced that
1,000 military police officials would be sent to join the growing American contingent,
already nearing 10,000. |
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Scott Nelson/World Picture News, for The
New York Times |
| Haitians boarded a traditional "tap-tap" microbus in
Port-au-Prince. International aid - $1.08 billion has been pledged - has been slow to
arrive in the slums of Haiti where violence incubales. |
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Scott Nelson/World Picture News, for The
New York Times |
| Schoolchildren in the impoverished Cite Militaire Neighborhood of
Port-au-Prince. |
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Alex Quesada for The New York Times |
| Brazilian peace-keeping forces for The United Nations patrol the deserted
streets of Bel-Air, a slum in Port-au-Prince that earlier last year had been the site of
rampant kidnappings and gang violence. |
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Alex Quesada for The New York Times |
| IN THE EYE OF THE STORM Guy Philippe, a former police commander in Haiti, led an armed
rebelion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. He is now one of 35 candidates
running for president in an election that is scheduled for Feb. 7. |
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Jon Hrusa/European Pressphoto Agency |
| ONCE A PRESIDENT, NOW AN EXILE Mr. Aristide, who rose to power as the
champion of Haiti's, was forced out in 2004 amid civil unrest and the armed rebellion led
by Mr. Philippe. |
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Doug Mills for The New York Times |
| LOOKING BACK, WITH REGRETS Brian Dean Curran, the American ambassador to Haiti from
2001 to 2003, told the Bush administration during his tenure that a democracy-building
group close to the White House undercut and the official American policy in Haiti. |
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Scott Nelson/World News Picture News, for
The New York Times |
| On Jan. 24, a State Department spokesman, Sean McComack, said United
Nations force "are doing a good job." Yet the violence in Haiti is eating away
society and threatens the upcoming elections. |
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