A September 1991 military coup, led by Lieutenant General Raoul Cédras, had ousted the country’s elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide escaped to the United States. In 1993 thousands of Haitians tried to flee to the United States as well, but more than half were sent back to Haiti by the United States Coast Guard. Although Clinton had criticized former president George Bush for returning Haitian refugees to their country, he continued part of Bush’s policy because he feared that accepting refugees might encourage many more to flee to the United States and slow the formation of a democratic
government in the country.
In 1994 Clinton publicly demanded that the Haitian
government step aside and restore democratic rule, despite the fact that before the coup, Washington had repeatedly been undermining it. Congress was united in opposition to
American intervention. However, Clinton deployed a large military force to the country in September 1994. Just before the troops reached Haiti, Clinton sent a delegation led by former President Jimmy Carter to urge Cédras to step down and leave the country. Cédras agreed and surrendered the
government to Aristide. Cédras and his top lieutenants left the country in October, and just days later,
American forces escorted Aristide into the capital. The democratic
government of Aristride was restored, but only on the condition that it adopt the economic programme of the defeated US-backed candidate in the 1990 elections. This programme undermined what was left of Haiti's sovereignty and helped
drive the country into chaos and violence.