Council of Hemispheric affairs.Haïti,la menace des paramilitaires

Haiti’s Paramilitary Threat

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June 29, 2012

This analysis was prepared by Carla Hinson, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

A rogue paramilitary group has established a presence in Haiti by parading around both Haiti’s capital and the countryside dressed in mismatched military uniforms and carrying assorted weapons. This group of veterans and new recruits has begun to threaten the sensitive security situation in Haiti, demanding the reinstatement of the country’s armed forces, which was summarily disbanded in 1995 due to its violent record of abusing civilians during the constitutional government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Source: Isabeau Doucet

Current President Michel Martelly promised during his successful 2010 campaign that he would reinstate the country’s armed forces if he were elected. Since then, Martelly has set up a commission to begin the process of re-establishing the military, justifying the reinstatement under several rationales. He claims that the new military could “fill the security vacuum” when MINUSTAH, the U.N. stabilization mission in the country that currently provides 10,000 police forces to Haiti, eventually leaves the country.(1) In Martelly’s words, “We’re talking about a modern army. We’re talking about an army that can intervene in case of an emergency like the earthquake with the medical corps, an engineering corps—an army that protects our borders, fights narco traffic and maintains peace.” However, considering that 66 percent of Haiti’s operating budget is internationally funded, lack of international support will likely hinder Martelly’s plan.(2)

Martelly met with members of the paramilitary group during his campaign to discuss the future of the military, and they were initially optimistic about Martelly’s proposed military strategy. Original members of the group quietly began to train unofficially upon Martelly’s inauguration.(3) Martelly’s present design will continue to delay the re-establishment of the armed forces for at least a few more years, and the proposed military will widely exclude members of the rogue group. The Haitian government’s estimated 2011-2012 budget of 119.8 billion gourds ($3 billion USD) does not have room for military funding.(4) “Haiti doesn’t have the money, and the international community has no appetite for funding something like this,” said Mark Schneider, vice president of the International Crisis Group.(5) Even if Martelly does secure international approval and funding for the reconstitution of such a historically controversial body, these members will be dissatisfied with their exclusion from the legal military.

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