There is a national tolerance in our country that allows every kind of abuse. As proof, we need only look at the desire of several of our former political figures to return to power. After allowing our institutions to descend into mismanagement, they are now attempting to modernize their image. We did not need the sanctions imposed by the United States and Canada to realize how some of them left the country drained and exposed to the beginnings of chaos. We know them without having to name them. Their outcries in response to this condemnation will draw them to the attention of all those who, being too young during their time in power, are unaware of their misdeeds. At a time when it is imperative to defend what remains of our values, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), if it confirms the candidacies for elected office of men who wrote the darkest chapters of the past three decades, would itself be writing the most complacent chapter of all.

Since gaining independence, Haiti has experienced several crises that have caused it to lose its bearings. The most revealing was brought to light at the beginning of the last century by the so-called Consolidation Trial. Yet the conviction of numerous politicians for corruption, subsequently labeled consolidaires, did not prevent one of them, Cincinnatus Leconte, from becoming president in 1911. Although he attempted to redeem himself through commendable actions, the fact remains that his installation in the National Palace marked the beginning of the moral collapse that would lead to the Occupation in 1915.