An internal Pentagon document confirmed that many Haitian army officers received training in the U.S. after the coup. President Clinton has carried out most of the policies of his predecessor, despite his attack on those policies as a candidate. Initial economic sanctions were, at best, porous and unenforced. U.S. corporations with assembly plants in Haiti were exempted from the sanctions and allowed to continue their shipments of goods to the U.S. duty-free. There is ample evidence that shipments of donated food, medicines and gas have been diverted and sold for profit by the military and business elite.
Oil tankers slip through the embargo by hugging the coast.
The Dominican border is virtually open at night. The modern, electronically-sophisticated U.S. surveillance system is seemingly paralyzed to stop the flow and enforce the embargo. One wonders if an embargo against Cuba would be as porous. The new Haitian embargo, even with its flaws, is beginning to hurt the wealthy in Haiti. Cracks have already begin to show within the military and business elite, some sectors of which have been pushing for the military high command to step down from power.