Addressing the opening session of the three-day Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit being held in St. Kitts on Monday, Haiti's President Rene Preval expressed hope that at the end of his five-year term as president, Haiti "will have taken decisive steps on the long and difficult road of democratic stability and sustainable development."

Probably more so than any other member of CARICOM, The Bahamas is hoping that this optimistic expectation by the leader of one of the region's poorest countries turns out to be prophetic. Indeed, should Haiti succeed in establishing a sustained period of "democratic stability," such an accomplishment most certainly will have a positive impact on the very serious illegal Haitian immigrant problem that The Bahamas has had to grapple with for the past several decades.

Haiti's troubled history of endemic political instability, however, strongly suggests that Preval will have to do more than hope if he is to have a chance of seeing his wish come true. Preval's own history of political involvement in Haiti should serve as a reminder that being democratically elected in Haiti does not necessarily translate into the establishment of a sustained period of democracy. Indeed, he previously served as Haiti's Prime Minister from February 1991 to September 2, 1993 and president from February 7, 1996 to February 7, 2001.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, Haiti's president was Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was democratically elected in December of 1990 and took office on February 7, 1991. However, he was overthrown nine months later in a violent coup. When Aristide was elected president, there was universal hope that Haiti had been placed on the road to political stability and prosperity. His ouster in September of 1991, however, crushed that hope, but three years later it was reignited when Aristide was restored to power by an international force led by United States troops.

With Preval as his Prime Minister, Aristide once again was in the position to steer Haiti along the highway of progress and stability, but internal difference in his political party prevented him from making any meaningful strides in this direction before his presidential term expired. Barred by the constitution from succeeding himself, he supported the presidential bid by Preval, who received 88 percent of the vote and was sworn in as president in February of 1996. His five-year term as President was notable mostly for what was described as "total governmental gridlock."

A presidential election was held on November 26, 2000, with Aristide emerging as the victor, but the legitimacy of this election was called into question because all the major opposition parties boycotted it. Nonetheless, Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's new President on February 7, 2001. With opponents still claiming that the elections were unfair, political turmoil began to percolate, leading to protests that escalated into open violence, eventually resulting in Aristide leaving or being forced to leave Haiti. CARICOM's position at the time was that Aristide was still the democratically elected President of Haiti. Indeed, CARICOM refused to recognize the interim Government put in place in Haiti and subsequently suspended Haiti from CARICOM.

Preval's speech at the opening of the CARICOM meeting on Monday officially ended that suspension. Having welcomed Haiti back into the regional body, collectively CARICOM countries must now give Preval all the support that they can to ensure the success of this latest effort by Haiti to make democracy take permanent roots in that country.