August to 29 November 1987 · Haitianspan
Candidates are shot, ballot presses smashed, radios silenced
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Haiti spent the autumn of 1987 preparing for a presidential election and watching the preparation being destroyed. Yves Volel, a lawyer who had come home from exile to run, was shot dead in front of camera crews whose film was then confiscated. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ambushed on the road near Pont Sonde in August, and days later his parishioners found a stranger carrying a concealed pistol at mass. Hardline Duvalierists entered the race despite a constitutional ban, one of them telling American television that no piece of paper could take away his rights. On 2 November the electoral council approved twenty three candidates and excluded twelve Duvalierists. That night its headquarters burned. The offices of two front runners were shot up from cars. The ballot printer's presses were smashed, so the papers had to be produced in Venezuela. Namphy made himself army commander for three years. On the eve of the vote the army broke into television to remind the country who was responsible for public order.
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