Three recent events in Haiti are having repercussions beyond its borders. The long-awaited friendly soccer match between a star-studded Brazilian selection and a Haitian national team occurred in Port-au-Prince to the delight of the Haitian fanatics of Brazilian soccer. Prominent African-Americans failed to “cruise into history” when they arrived at Labadie, a tourist calling port in northern Haiti. And the first major criminal trial to take place under the interim government drew sharp criticism from many quarters.

All activities stopped in the Haitian capital on August 18 as the Brazilian world soccer champions landed, accompanied by President da Silva. Most nationalist Haitians were relieved that the Brazilians beat their team 6-0.

The interim government has struck a responsive chord by giving sports, especially soccer, renewed importance. Young Haitian soccer enthusiasts have again vision of greatness dancing in their heads. With the help of Brazilian “football experts,” Haitians dream of their team again making it to the World Cup as in 1974 when Haiti scored a goal against Italy.

More important than the dream of future greatness is the soccer fever taking hold of Haitian youth. Their old dilapidated fields throughout the country are being spruced up for local and regional meets, preparing the way for a national team worth its name. Yves Jean-Bart, the physician who is the president of the Haitian Soccer Association, says, “We are about to know a renaissance in the sport that is so dear to Haitians.”

There is no doubt that the soccer diplomacy of Prime Minister Latortue is working. Consider the disappointment of those who were intent on spoiling the friendly Brazilian-Haitian soccer match. The remnants of the Lavalas regime of former President Aristide had vowed to disrupt the game. But the Brazilian general in charge of the United Nations forces in Haiti coordinated security so well that when a small band of tire-burning hooligans appeared at a street corner early on the morning of August 18, they were whisked off before they could go into action.

But some African-American supporters of Mr. Aristide have been successful as spoilers. On August 19, a cruise liner arrived at the northern Haitian resort of Labadie but the visitors didn’t make it to Milot, about 12 miles away. Milot is the seat of the royal capital of King Christophe, who had built his opulent palace there in the style of Versailles. On a mountaintop above Milot, the Citadelle Laferriere dominates the vast plain below and the sea lanes into Cap Haitien. King Christophe had prepared for a French comeback after Haiti declared its independence on January l, 1804. Over a 10-year period, he built an awesome fortress to resist any French expedition. It never came. But the Citadelle, renovated for tourism purposes, remains a symbol of black ingenuity.

For about two years, a group of prominent African-Americans, including Danny Glover and Ron Daniels of the Haiti Support Committee, were planning “Cruising Into History,” an experience that would have bolstered black pride, especially in this year marking 200 years of independence of the first black nation in the world and the second free state in the Americas. It wasn’t to be because their client, President Aristide, fled Haiti. Three days before the ship was to sail from Miami, Mr. Glover announced that his conscience couldn’t let him participate. When the travelers arrived at Labadie they couldn’t leave the beach because going to Milot would have been showing support for the interim government, according to Mr. Daniels. The organizers of “Cruising Into History” had turned the affair into political football. Through his surrogates, Mr. Aristide had won, to the displeasure of all the little folks at Milot who were awaiting the arrival of the tourists to sell their wares and rent their horses and mules for a day.

Last month, Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat of Queens, had invited me to his office in Washington to ask for help to prepare the road from Labadie to Milot for the visitors. The government of Haiti left other projects to concentrate its meager resources on preparing the road on time. Then Mr. Daniels says the government wanted to exploit the trip to bolster its image. Responding to my question, Mr. Meeks said, “It’s wrong what they did. I will talk to Ron Daniels about that and get back to you.”

The worst black eye for the government came from the retrial on August 17 of two former army officers who were tried in absentia by Mr. Aristide’s flawed justice system. They were first found guilty of murdering Antoine Izmery, a prominent businessman once close to Mr. Aristide. In the retrial, a jury found them not guilty. But Jackson Joanis and Louis Jodel Chamblain were returned to jail to await another trial on a separate charge.

The acquittals elicited scathing editorials in several American newspapers.

It’s unfortunate that the first criminal trial held under the interim government failed the test of transparency and full deliberations. But if we must break the vicious cycle of an overreaching executive branch dictating justice and everything else in Haiti, the mistakes must be rectified judicially, not politically. Hopefully, the independent group set up two weeks ago to monitor the judicial system will help in the reform of a justice system that needs total overhaul. For Haiti must divorce with a tradition of impunity and favoritism in the rendition of justice.