DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN 20" today, we look back at the military coup in Haiti in 1988.</s>FRANCIS HARDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant general Henri Namphy has named himself head of a military junta now ruling Haiti, and he has also ruled out elections. Namphy seized power from Leslie Monogat (ph) early Monday morning. The Reagan administrations condemns the coup saying, "It is now clear that a military coup d'etat has taken place in Haiti. The United States strongly condemns this serious blow to hopes for democracy in that troubled land." An official at the Haitian Embassy in Washington wants the U.S. to help the ousted president who has fled to the Dominican Republic.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call on the United States to act immediately, with other democratic governments, to help Haiti, to protect Leslie Monogat, to protect the cabinet ministers, their associates and their families.</s>HARDEN: Few (ph) says the coup was a result of the constitutional struggle sparked when Monogat fired Namphy last week as head of the armed forces. Monogot was apparently angry over Namphy's attempt to remove Colonel Jean-Claude Paul, head of one of Haiti's most-feared battalions. Paul is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. Paul and men are widely believed to have been responsible for the violence at last fall's elections, in which dozens of people were killed. It now appears that Paul will be part of the military junta. Francis Harden, CNN, the State Department.
CNN 20: Haitian Military Ousts President, June 20, 1988