HAITI: "If my resignation helps prevent bloodshed, then I will leave." With these words, former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide abandoned his country yesterday after a political crisis sparked a civil insurrection, leaving dozens of people dead and the country on the brink of disaster, writesMichael McCaughan.
The quiet-spoken former Catholic priest survived nine attempts on his life but failed to survive the temptation of power and privilege. The fall of Aristide is the latest chapter in a political career that saw him triumph in Haiti's first democratic elections in 1990, crushing US-backed candidate Marc Bazin.
Aristide, "the priest of the poor", had a modest proposal: to raise living standards from "extreme poverty" to mere "dignified poverty".
Aristide held discussions with neighbour Fidel Castro on the feasibility of adopting Cuba's successful literacy campaign. The exodus of Haitian boat people to Miami, Florida, dropped to zero as hope briefly blossomed.
On a visit to Haiti at that time, this reporter sensed an atmosphere of national liberation, as if a war had been won against a foreign occupier. The streets were alive with joy as pro-Aristide crowds camped outside the presidential palace each day, cheering wildly when their hero appeared.
Where death squads once roamed the streets, now there were clean-up squads as citizens took pride in their country and painted murals on the city walls.
US president George Bush snr viewed the Aristide administration with alarm and did nothing to prevent a tiny group of thugs, armed and financed by Haiti's wealthy elite, from ousting Aristide in 1991.
Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, harnessed Aristide's popularity by welcoming him to the US, where he was groomed for a return to power three years later, accompanied by 20,000 US Marines. US troops had previously occupied Haiti (1915-1934), installing a puppet government and a thuggish national guard which sustained the Papa Doc dynasty for 50 years.
The restored leader agreed to leave power at the end of his original term (1996) despite spending half his presidency in exile. More importantly, the reformed statesman agreed to implement IMF-inspired economic reforms, including a privatisation package and cutbacks in social spending.
In recent weeks, the ragtag rebel forces that occupied a dozen towns proved to be the same guns for hire who had terrorised pro-democracy activists in former times.
Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former Haitian soldier who headed army death squads in 1987, reappeared from exile. Chamblain organised the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, a militia that killed hundreds of people between 1991 and 1994, the period in which Aristide was in exile.
Aristide's flight from power may well prove to be vital in forestalling the paramilitary groups who gained legitimacy and support precisely because the government blocked all peaceful avenues of dissent.
The opposition Democratic Platform, many of whose members are former Aristide allies, has repeatedly distanced itself from the armed opposition and will co-ordinate a transition period under the leadership of Supreme Court president Boniface Alexandre.
The outcome to the conflict was inevitable once the US government disowned Aristide on Saturday, mindful perhaps of the 537 boat people en route to Florida.
"Aristide is a man who was seduced by the lure of absolute power," said Evans Paul, once a close ally of Aristide and now an opposition leader.
Observers noted an enormous change in Aristide's lifestyle once he married into the Haitian aristocracy, abandoning his former vow of poverty.
Aristide the democratic socialist became a leader without a political project and turned to fraud to shore up his dwindling support, becoming the very sort of leader he repeatedly risked his life to depose in happier times.
A secret government plan, drawn up in December 2003, revealed how Aristide planned to shut down critical media and put mobs on the street to stifle growing popular discontent.
It came as no surprise that this plan became the last refuge of the discredited leader as an increasingly-desperate Aristide refused to meet opponents, whom he dismissed as terrorists.
"The only solution for Haiti is a multinational force," said Louis Phillipe, a Haitian citizen. "No matter what new government we can have, it will be the same chaos in a few years. So we need a foreign country to come to Haiti and rebuild the country."
Such opinions are common in Haiti today.