Hti: GOP-linked group tried to promote democracy in Haiti

On the other side of the political fence, the GOP-linked International Republican Institute used $1.2 million it received from the U.S. Agency for International Development to arrange "party building'' seminars for members of the Haitian opposition in the Dominican Republic and Miami.

Like its Democratic counterpart, the IRI is a nonprofit group that tries to promote democracy with training sessions for political parties, labor unions and civic groups. It has programs in more than 50 nations.

But Democratic critics, led by Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, have complained that IRI staffers with ties to Haiti's former military rulers worked with the opposition to undermine the Aristide government.

Maguire and Alex Dupuy, a Haiti expert at Wesleyan University, said the close relationship between U.S. officials and the opposition's umbrella Democratic Convergence emboldened it to refuse to share power with Aristide as a bloody revolt in February spread through Haiti.

"In a sense, the U.S. bought their allegiance by pampering them,'' Maguire said. He added that the opposition may have received messages from friends in Washington to hold out and not negotiate with Aristide.

IRI officials say their efforts in Haiti mirrored work in other countries, have been above-board and will stand up to any congressional scrutiny.

"In all our work with the opposition we've always emphasized in sessions that you can't just be anti-Aristide,'' said IRI spokesman Thayer Scott ``The whole idea is to build democratic institutions.''