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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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041789
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04178900.031
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 39World NotesHAITIMilitary Madness
After six days of intermittent violence and confusion, the
streets of the capital of Port-au-Prince were still tense late last
week. Rival military troops maintained an uneasy standoff after
nearly a week of exchanging shouted insults and machine-gun rounds.
As the country slid toward chaos, a state of emergency was
declared, independent radio stations were shut down and curfews
were imposed.
The precarious situation began on April 2, a few days after
four high-ranking military officers were sacked, allegedly as part
of a drug and corruption crackdown. That move sparked a simmering
revolt within the military. Under the leadership of Lieut. Colonel
Himmler Rebu, members of the army's elite Leopards corps took
President Lieut. General Prosper Avril and his family hostage in
a coup attempt. Loyalist troops rescued Avril at the airport as the
captors prepared to send him into exile. A second coup attempt was
put down by the Presidential Palace guards, who killed eight rebel
military soldiers. By week's end the real casualty looked to be
Haiti's hope for democracy.