Here's some very interesting info from "Populism, Conservatism and Civil Society in Haiti".

(Editor's Note: In the name of supporting democracy and freedom, U.S. political aid programs have routinely subverted democratic transitions and national sovereignty. In his January 2004 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush called for the doubling of the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to name just a few of the countries where NED and its associated organizations have been active, NED--together with the democratization program of the U.S. Agency for International Development--has subverted, not promoted, democracy. The IRC reproduces this report, which was written in 1992 about programs initiated during the Bush senior administration, as part of the IRC's effort to provide greater understanding about the way internal political processes in Haiti have long been tied to political, economic, and military aid programs of the U.S. government.)

Under the auspices of building democracy, the U.S. government is trying to organize, finance, and equip sectors of Haitian society that oppose the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in a coup last September. The democratically elected Aristide is a radical populist propelled into power by Haiti 's highly mobilized and politicized popular sector. Aristide's agenda was both pragmatic and idealistic: pull Haiti out of its economic slump, satisfy the desperate needs of the country's poor majority, build effective governing institutions, and dismantle the social and economic structures that have permitted the Haitian military and their elite allies to abuse power with impunity for the last three decades. To carry out this project, Aristide relied on the mass, sometimes violent pressure of his popular allies. By virtue of their numbers and passion, these forces in civil society were seen as a partial counterweight to the military and to legislative and judicial branches weighted with Aristide opponents.



But even before Aristide's election, the United States was funneling money to Haitian organizations that constituted a different, much smaller sector of civil society, one with a conservative political perspective. Trade unions, political parties, broadcast and print media, civic associations, and educational organizations were funded to promote a conservative form of electoral democracy. The “pro-democracy” funding has been channeled primarily through NED and the Agency for International Development (AID) and started following the collapse of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier in February 1986. Although maintained at modest levels after Duvalier's flight, funding for these programs increased dramatically when elections were scheduled for December 1990, climbing again after Aristide's victory. Cut off briefly after the coup, they are being reactivated as this Backgrounder goes to press.