Service d'Intelligence National (''National Intelligence Service'', SIN) was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy obj ...

created by the US

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

after the 1986 overthrow of

Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" (, ), was a Haitian dictator who held the presidency of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François ...

, at the height of the

Anti-Duvalier protest movement The Anti-Duvalier protest movement was a series of demonstrations in Haiti from 23 May 1984 to 7 February 1986 that led to the overthrow of President Jean-Claude Duvalier and the Duvalier dynasty regime and the readoption of the original flag a ...

.Whitney, Kathleen Marie (1996), "Sin, Fraph, and the CIA: U.S. Covert Action in Haiti", ''Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas'', Vol. 3, Issue 2 (1996), pp. 303-332 The unit, staffed by officers of the

Armed Forces of Haiti The Armed Forces of Haiti (, ) are the military forces of the Haiti, Republic of Haiti, is composed of the Haitian Army, the Haitian Navy, the Haitian Aviation Corps and also the BSAP. The Force has about 2000 active personnel as of 2023, with t ...

, "engaged in drug trafficking and political violence". The CIA provided half a million to a million dollars per year to train SIN in counter-narcotics, but the group produced no intelligence and instead used their training against political opponents. The

1987 Haitian general election General elections were held in Haiti on 29 November 1987, with a second round planned for 29 December. Voters were to elect the President, 77 deputies and 27 senators. However, the elections were suspended due to a massacre of voters. Candidates ...

was cancelled after troops led by SIN member Col Jean Claude Paul massacred 30 – 300 voters on election day.Whitney, Kathleen Marie (1996), "Sin, Fraph, and the CIA: U.S. Covert Action in Haiti", ''Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas'', Vol. 3, Issue 2 (1996), pp. 303-332. p319

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

later wrote that

"Citizens who lined up to vote were mowed down by fusillades of terrorists' bullets. Military leaders, who had either orchestrated or condoned the murders, moved in to cancel the election and retain control of the Government."

Despite this the CIA continued to give the SIN up to $1m per year, even as the SIN continued to target political opponents. Between 1986 and 1991 SIN murdered up to 5000 members of democratic movements. The CIA only cut its ties to SIN after the

1991 Haitian coup d'état The 1991 Haitian coup d'état took place on 29 September 1991, when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected eight months earlier in the 1990–91 Haitian general election, was deposed by the Armed Forces of Haiti. Haitian military officers, p ...

which ended

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theo ...

's 8-month Presidency, following the

1990–91 Haitian general election Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno ...

. Its support for SIN, and SIN's involvement in drug trafficking, became public in 1993.

Emmanuel Constant Emmanuel Constant (nicknamed "Toto", born on October 27, 1956) is the founder of FRAPH, a Haitian death squad that terrorized supporters of exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 2001, a Haitian court convicted him ''in absentia'' and sen ...

has said that he helped found SIN.Whitney (1996:324)

References

{{National intelligence agencies Haitian intelligence agencies 1986 establishments in Haiti Defunct law enforcement agencies of Haiti