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Exertp of the article; BATTLE LINES DRAWING UP



Meanwhile, dissension and recriminations wrack the Lavalas

alliance. A congress of the Mouvement Organization du Pays

(MOP) - which is part of the supposedly-ruling Lavalas Political

Platform coalition with the Parti Louvri Barye (PLB) and the

Organisation Politique Lavalas (OPL) - was the forum for an

acrimonious struggle between at least three vying opportunist

currents. On Sept. 3, Lavalas parliamentarians held an

extraordinary closed door meeting to try to establish some unity

among their ranks which have been badly split on questions of how

to implement neo-liberal economic reforms, how to control Macoute

violence, and how to control the National Police.



To their credit, the Haitian parliament did block the signing of

a $3 million loan contract this week between the Preval

government and the Inter-American development Bank (IDB) on the

grounds that conditions called for the executive to establish yet

another money-sucking sovereignty-subverting "independent" office

to administer the money and formulate a "decentralization plan"

(i.e. a plan to facilitate foreign political and economic

control) in a ridiculously short 30 months (i.e. before the end

of Preval's term).



However, with chaos mounting, Preval's presidency could be

shorter than the prescribed 5 years. Clinton administration

officials seem mainly concerned that things remain stable until

the November presidential elections. It is an open secret, both

in Haiti and the U.S., that Haiti will be a political football in

this year's campaign. Rather than denounce and reject the deadly

U.S. manipulation of the country's political life, Haitian

government officials and lawmakers have meekly complained to

Washington about the scrimmage trampling the country. As early as

last May, Haitian parliamentarians told U.S. congresspeople that

the U.S. election campaign could bring violence to Haiti.

"Democrats told us our fears might be justified, Republicans that

they were observing the situation," Haitian Sen. Jean-Robert

Martinez told the Associated Press. Martinez also said that

"certain political sectors may be interested in tarnishing

Clinton's image."



That threat brought a scurry of U.S. officials to Port-au-Prince

last week, starting with Gen. John Sheehan, commander-in-chief of

the U.S. Atlantic Command on Aug. 25. "The U.S. is solidly behind

President Preval and the Haitian government," he declared. Next,

the State Department's new special coordinator for Haiti Joseph

Sullivan travelled to Haiti on Aug. 28 to announce that the U.S.

government had "found" $10 million to buy equipment for the

Haitian National Police (HNP). "We are going to continue to give

all our assistance to achieve economic growth and social

pacification," U.S. Ambassador William L. Swing said on the

occasion, "in other words, we are going to continue to support

the National Police." It was perhaps Swing's most eloquent

summation of U.S. policy towards Haiti.



Two days later, Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and

National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, accompanied by Sheehan,

made an impromptu visit to Port-au-Prince to meet with Preval.

Neither the U.S. nor Haitian governments would comment on what

was discussed, but everyone could guess. The visit came one day

after the Aug. 29 assassination in Port-au-Prince of Yves Phanor,

a naturalized U.S. citizen and instructor employed by the U.S.

Justice Department to train the Haitian National Police (HNP).

Another attack against occupation forces occurred in Petit Gove

on Aug. 25, when a truck and two residences of U.N. soldiers were

fired on.





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