"Report of the Haiti Accompaniment Project"

From our discussions with human rights workers, there was widespread agreement that the repercussions from this coup are even worse than what took place after the brutal 1991-1994 coup. There are many similarities between the two periods. In both instances military force, backed by Haitian elites, overthrew a democratically elected government. In both cases, there were large-scale, politically-motivated murders and assassinations. In both cases, paramilitary groups allied with the de facto authorities controlled areas, exercised police, judicial and administrative powers, and brutally repressed dissent. In both periods, people associated with the overthrown government lost jobs, had their homes burned, and were forced to leave their communities and families. In both periods, the de facto government routinely arrested democracy activists and held them without charge and without respect for their legal rights. Yet there are some important differences.

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