There's no rest for the rested. Just back from his 12-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Bill Clinton did not even have time to unpack his golf clubs before heading into a high-level White House meeting to polish up plans to invade Haiti. "One way or the other, the de facto government is going to be leaving," Secretary of State Warren Christopher declared. "Their days are definitely numbered."
American diplomats continued their campaign to persuade other governments to provide forces to help police and rebuild Haiti in the aftermath of an invasion. Some 1,300 U.S. marines secured an island off Puerto Rico in a mock invasion. This week, as a final preparation, Army specialists will begin training forces from eight Caribbean nations slated for post-invasion police duties.
If the countdown is real, up to 20,000 U.S. troops could be landing in Haiti sometime near the three-year anniversary of the Sept. 30, 1991, coup that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Meantime, thousands of right-wing Haitians took to the streets to shout their defiance, and the Haitian army started barricading roads around police headquarters and the Presidential Palace with heavy concrete sewer pipes.
