Hapless Haiti

...Haiti and Haitians, he says, "fall so far below the threshold of revolu- tion that it is reasonably safe to pre- sume that Duvalier will not be toppled by a revolt of the masses or—for reasons connected with the effective- ness of the apparatus of terror—an attack (or assassination) by the elite...

...Duvalier, on assuming power, ruled in much the same way as his predecessors...

...Reviewed by James Nelson Goodsell There is a timeliness about this book which adds to its usefulness in placing today's Haiti into the per- spective of yesterday's Haiti...

...Rotberg, al- though unwilling to concede that the situation is hopeless, paints a grim pic- ture...

...What lies ahead for the hapless nation in the Caribbean is anyone's guess, but the reader of Rot- berg's interesting and absorbing, but somewhat loosely written, account cannot help but come away with a sympathy for the Haitian people along with a feeling of hopelessness about their plight...

...Robert Rotberg, a professor of political sci- ence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, must be pleased that his study, sponsored by the Twentieth Century Fund, came out at such a crucial moment in contemporary Hai- tian history...

...One dictator after another came and went with little change except in name...

...From the time of independence from France—Haiti as a colony was known as Saint-Domingue—the island lived under one dictatorship after another...

...That history is replete with dictator- ship, as Rotberg makes patently clear...

...Even the naming by "Papa Doc" of his son, Jean-Claude, as heir apparent and President for Life suggests more of the same poverty and repression which the French and Creole-speaking nation has endured for so long...

...The death of Francois Duvalier, dic- tator-President for Life of the island republic, climaxed fourteen years of autocratic rule which in many re- spects left Haiti worse off than before "Papa Doc," as he was widely known, came to power...

...But there was a dif- ference: Duvalier knew better than most how to use terror to keep a populace under control...

...Voodoo mag- ic, fear of private police (Duvalier's dreaded tonton macoute), and the basic antagonisms of the Haitian peo- ple were part of his bag of terror...

...The son quickly assumed the presidency when his father died in late April...

...Although he does not carry his study beyond the death of "Papa Doc" in April, one suspects that this assessment holds true under Jean- Claude Duvalier, the twenty-year-old youth now at the helm...

...At least, it holds true for the moment...

...Haiti's political climate during the past fourteen years was one based on "paralytic fear of a capricious dicta- torial regime of unusual malevolence," Rotberg writes, adding that "none but the most secure Haitians are immune from the stabbing anxiety which af- flicts all days and nights...

...New squabbling between mulattoes and blacks erupted, beginning in the last century and continuing into the pres- ent one...

...But there is just the possibility that Jean-Claude Du- valier, given the vacuum in political opposition, could bring to Haiti a de- gree of responsible government that would create the climate for better- ment...

...The odds may be against it, but the hope remains...

...It had been a rich colony, the wealth- iest European outpost in the Carib- bean, but with independence and the internal squabbling between white and black, the French were wiped out and the countryside devastated...

...This is the grist of Rotberg's able study...

...The visitor to Haiti sees little change in the first months after the changeover...

...Hapless Haiti Haiti : The Politics of Squalor, by Robert I. Rotberg with Christopher K. Clague...

...It is too early to tell whether such assistance will be forthcoming...

...By naming his son as Haiti's next Pres- ident for Life, the ninth Haitian to hold the title, "Papa Doc" did what he could to perpetuate the Duvalier dynasty which by any standard must rank as one of the worst in Haitian history...

...There is little reason to contem- plate the short-run future of Haiti with any optimism," Rotberg con- cludes...

...But to be pessimistic is not to imply that some of the material improvements in the quality of eco- nomic and physical life . . . could not be realized . . . within a decade...

...Yet that will require "abundant outside financial and technical assistance and a responsible government...

...Can anything be done...

...No individual nor group has enough political clout or military mus- cle to challenge Jean-Claude...

...Papa Doc so effectively stilled and demoralized the opposition that there is little left to challenge the Duvalier dynasty at this time...

...Anyone who knows Haiti and the Haitian people can hope at least that sooner or later the island nation will have decent government...

...Economic stagnation, rule by terror, and virtual hopelessness were the ele- ments of the series of dictatorships...