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1990 Presidential elections in Haitiended with the victory of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftistcharismatic Roman Catholicpriest who won 67% of the vote
He took office on February 7,1991
He appointed as commander inchief of the Haitian armed forcesLt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, who onSeptember 30,1991 started amilitary coup
An unconstitutional regime wascreated Cedras acted as a mainleader
By the beginning of 1992,American Coast Guard pickedup around 14,000 Haitians at seaand the flow of refugees startedto cause a problem
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In 1993 Raoul Cedras, head of the Haitianarmed forces, signed the UN GovernorsIsland Agreementwhich promised
restoration of constitutional governmentand the return of President Aristide byOctober 1993
This agreement also said that Cedras and
other people involved in the coup will beretired
Cedras ignored the agreement and theflood of refugees started to increase
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The promise was not made and the UN decided to puteconomic sanctions on Haiti
The consequences were deterioration of human rights andpolitical situation in the country
American president, Bill Clinton, saw that the agreementwill not be followed so he sent a group of forces neededto help Haiti to accomplish the promise
The ship with those forces came to Haiti in October 1993and upon arrival was attacked by an armed crowd
Haiti leaders refused to assure security to American forces,
which made Clinton to order the ship not to do anythinguntil further notice
This was seen as a humiliating political decision forAmerican president Clinton
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Clinton was pushed to start theintervention because of the pressurecoming from his own voters (not onlybecause of the international community)
flow of illegal immigrants into the UnitedStates was seen as a threat that needs to
be stopped and also a big number ofAfrican-American voting populationwanted the US to intervene and bringthe dictatorship in Haiti to an end
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the U.S.-led Multinational Interventionfor Haiti began on September 19,1994
From the start, the plan went asscheduled and most of the operationwas staged fom Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba The Operation included a
peacekeeping force of more than20,000 military personnel of the U. S.armed forces
Their mission was to restore the
legitimate government and create asecure environment for the people ofHaiti
Over 5,000 non-U.S. forces from 24nations assisted in this peacekeepingmission
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Clinton provoked American Congressbecause he did not ask for a permissionto sent the troops to Haiti
His justification was that he has executivepowers to command the army
American Congress passed resolution
saying that the President should havesought congressional approval beforedeploying such forces1
1 http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=haiti+resolution (Accessed May9th2014)7
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UPHOLD DEMOCRACY was successful inrestoring democracy, bringing Aristide
back and in stopping the big number ofpeople emigrating from Haiti
General Cedras was forced to leave
Operation officially finished On March31, 1995 when the United States gavethe peacekeeping responsibilities toUnited Nations functions
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For the members of the Congress, action inHaiti represented a violation of the presidentsposition
This made the relations between legislativeand executive power more strained
This intervention can be seen both as asuccess and a failure
To some the US army was successful becausethe junta left and democracy was restored
Still, social and political situation didnt
significally change This can be seen on the contemporary Haiti
example where human rights are often beenneglected and corruption in politics isflourishing
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Allen, J. William, Crisis in Haiti: Operation Uphold Democracyhttp://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100125-093.pdf
Global Security, Operation Uphold Democracyhttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/uphold_democracy.htm
Kaufman, Joyce P. A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy, Banja Luka:
Centar za Meunarodneodnose, 2010
Kretchik, E. Walter, Baumann, F. Robert, Fishel, T. John Invasion, Intervention,Intervasion: A Concise History of the U.S. Army in the Operation UpholdDemocracy, Kansas: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Press, 2008
Library of Congress, H.J.Res.416 - 103rd Congress (1993-1994) - LimitedAuthorization for the United States-led Force in Haiti Resolutionhttp://www.loc.gov/search/?q=haiti+resolution
Wikipedia, Operation Uphold Democracy,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uphold_Democracy10
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