Global Policy Forum

By Rubén Silié

Speaking with President René Garcí­a Preval during my recent visit to Haiti, I had the opportunity to converse with a political leader whose leadership demonstrates great wisdom. This wisdom is made evident in many ways, such as the profoundness with which he refers to the Haitian reality; the great prudence exercised in the presentation of his proposals; and consideration toward his political adversaries, whom he does not perceive as enemies, but instead as compatriots with different points of view.

Proof of this lies in the composition of his Government, which comprises professionals from various parties that participated in recent elections. For Preval, this configuration is the basis upon which the democratic objective of re-establishing an ongoing dialogue that would facilitate policies of integration and reconciliation is constructed.

In this respect, the number one priority is that of regaining a climate of peace and stability, which would allow the merging of the internal forces that are necessary to achieve harmony among the nation's different social and political players, and in that way, involve all those who could make a contribution in the application of a development plan,. As a result, in his declaration, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis speaks of "permanent and structured concerted action."

In order to fight against the sources of insecurity in which Haitians have been living for more than a decade, and in working to re-establish peace, the Government has proposed an open fight against any type of criminality. In order to accomplish this objective, the Government Program is proposing, in response to the call of the population and the nation's needs, that the Haitian state be responsible for heading the police forces and apply a plan for general disarmament of the civil population that abuses the use of weapons to the detriment of its fellow citizens.

This proposal is closely linked to the interest in the Haitian State fully assuming sovereignty over its national territory, since for the time being, there are areas in the country where the State's presence is extremely precarious and others where it is non-existent. That is why the Government Plan includes the provision of work spaces and equipment for all territorial groups that are, according to the Constitution, the foundation of that country's social and political power. This is one way to recognize each of these bodies' realms of power and to also give them the necessary formality to carry out the role that they are constitutionally called to play.

There is also talk of the need to rebuild the State and strengthen democratic institutions. To do so, the first step is to re-establish the authorities through which they, the institutions and the State, make themselves felt in the society, placing emphasis on strengthening justice, as a point of departure to guarantee the social arbitration necessary. A novel element of this restructuring proposal is the creation of a ministry that would be responsible for relations between the Parliament and the Executive Power. Given the fact that Haiti has undergone several crises between those two bodies of political power, this initiative becomes important and is destined to play a relevant role.

Based on the foregoing, it can be said that the new Haitian Government is striving to respond to the aspirations of a population, which, two hundred years after its emancipation, has been unable to secure an enduring democratic system. Instead, it has lived under the fears of authoritarianism, against which the Haitians have protested time and time again. Therefore, what they are living now is not an illusion, but rather a concrete utopia, based on the experiences of both a distant and recent past that have led them to value the meaning of democratic governance.

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