The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

to reach the United States. In his final months in of-

fice, President George H. W. Bush ordered the U.S.

Coast Guard to turn all fleeing Haitians back to their

country, claiming that the United States was not pre-

pared to receive this great influx of refugees.

Though then presidential candidate Bill Clinton

had promised to allow fleeing Haitians asylum in

the United States, his policy changed when he took

office in 1993. Clinton tried to resolve the crisis

through diplomacy with the Haitian military junta,

with no success. Finally, after running out of options,

Clinton concluded that the only solution to this

problem would be a U.S. military intervention in

Haiti.

While the military intervention was not popular

with Congress and voters, Clinton saw the interven-

tion as imminent. The military operation was

planned as a forced intervention, but in a last at-

tempt to convince Cédras’s government to leave of-

fice peacefully, Clinton sent former president Jimmy

Carter in a high-level mission to negotiate with the

Haitian government. Carter’s offer was accepted by

Cédras and his military junta, but they decided to

step down from office mainly because U.S. troops

were en route to Haiti.

Because Cédras and his government had ac-

cepted to step down from power, the military cam-

paign changed from a forced invasion into a

semipermissive occupation in which twenty thou-

sand U.S. troops attempted to restore stability in the

country. The military intervention, called Opera-

tion Uphold Democracy, evolved into a humanitar-

ian effort led by the United States and was later

joined by other countries. The reinstatement of

Aristide and the consequent democratic elections

generated hope that Haiti was moving in the right di-

rection toward political, social, and economic devel-

opment. Unfortunately, the Haitian government

400 
 Haiti intervention The Nineties in America

Haitians cheer as U.S. helicopters escort Army Humvees through Port-au-Prince on September 20, 1994. Supporters of exiled Haitian
president Jean-Bertrand Aristide welcomed the intervention.(AP/Wide World Photos)