ABSTRACT
From the fall of the hereditary Duvalier regime in February 1986 until March 1990, Haiti experienced an unparalleled political crisis marked by the rise and fall of several military-dominated governments and an unrelenting popular struggle for a democratic alternative. Complex struggles during that period lay at the root of the general crisis and paralysis of the country. On the one hand, the Duvalierist forces attempted to retain and consolidate their control over the state apparatuses and the government. On the other hand, the broad-based popular movement fought to create a strong civil society and a democratic government that would give priority to the multiple needs and aspirations of the impoverished majority for a just, egalitarian, and participatory social order. The US Congress refused to renew economic and military aid to the Avril regime because it remained unsatisfied with the general's performance. The democratic opposition, temporarily unified under the umbrella of the Assemblee de Concertation, formed a transitional government.
