In the final days before the presidential elections in America, terrorists are desperately trying to disrupt or influence them. Obviously, and for good reason, the world seems fixated by the actions of the terrorists in Iraq. Even the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that the stepped-up terrorist campaign in Iraq has one aim: the defeat of President Bush. But few people are paying attention to the terrorists who are closer to America, the ones in Haiti.

Make no mistake, the Haitian terrorists are intent on defeating Mr. Bush. They accuse him of forcing their idol, President Aristide, out of power February 29. And they put stock in Senator Kerry’s statement of last March. The New York Times reported on March 4 that Mr. Kerry said if he were president “I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period” to shore up Mr. Aristide, who had faced a popular uprising.

As the presidential election reaches the homestretch in America, Mr. Kerry’s statement is again making news and apparently causing havoc in Haiti. The Brazilian general who heads the United Nations force in Haiti, Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, said that the views expressed by Mr. Kerry have emboldened supporters of Mr. Aristide. They believe that a President Kerry would do for Mr. Aristide what President Clinton did for him in 1994.More than 20,000 American soldiers were dispatched to Haiti on September 19, 1994, to prepare for the return on October 15 of the president, who was then exiled in Washington.

Since September 30, when Mr. Aristide’s supporters started what they call “Operation Baghdad” in Port-au-Prince, they have killed about 50 people, including nine police officers, three of whom have been beheaded. The first coup d’etat that toppled the “democratically elected” Mr. Aristide occurred on September 30, 1991, and that date is usually commemorated angrily by Lavalassians, as the members of Mr. Aristide’s Lavalas, or ravaging flood, Party are called.

This year, September 30 took on a particular significance. The Lavalas strategists determined that they would launch a multi-pronged campaign of intimidation against the Alexandre-La tortue government to underscore what they want to project as Mr. Bush’s failure in Haiti. Wherever Mr. Bush attempts a regime change, as in Iraq and in Haiti, it leads to chaos, they say.(They prefer not to mention Afghanistan, where recent elections have proved the efficacy of defeating terrorists.)

The violent anti-government campaign has not been popular. In front of the Haitian Embassy in Washington on October 8, it drew a lone Caucasian woman in her 60’s with a placard calling for Mr. Aristide’s return to power. In New York, five Lavalas stalwarts answered the call to a “massive demonstration” October 18 in front of the Haitian Consulate on Madison Avenue. In Florida, a terrorist who telephoned threats to the prime minister’s home was arrested.

But in Port-au-Prince, the center of Lavalas violence, the situation is more troubling. A few thugs have gone on a rampage of murder and destruction, prompting the arrest of key leaders, including the former president of the Lavalas Senate and a Catholic priest, Gerard Jean-Juste, a well-known activist close to Mr. Aristide. These arrests and the seizure of $800,000 in $100 bills at the Port-au-Prince airport October 13 disrupted plans for the assassination of government officials on October 15. (Arnoux Laveau, the Canadian citizen of Haitian ancestry, said he stole the money-loaded suitcase from a passenger.)

The security measures undertaken by the Haitian authorities have sparked a letter-writing campaign by supporters of Mr. Aristide in this country. I have received more than 100 e-mails and telephone calls at the Embassy from individuals concerned about the welfare of Rev. Jean-Juste. But the same “human rights advocates” show no sympathy for the relatives of civilians killed and the law officers who have been beheaded to facilitate Mr. Aristide’s return.

The situation in Haiti is having international repercussions as Mr. Latortue accuses Thabo Mbeki’s South African government of allowing Mr. Aristide to use South African hospitality to create chaos in Haiti. In turn, South Africa blames Mr. Latortue for not being able to secure the peace in Haiti. And Mr. Aristide has weighed in by calling Mr. Latortue “a liar” and “murderer” who is looking for “a scapegoat” for his failure.

But would Mr. Kerry really embrace Mr. Aristide to the point of dispatching American troops to restore him to power in Port-au-Prince if he were president? The candidate recognized the character of the former Haitian president. “Look, Aristide was no picnic and did a lot of things wrong,” Mr. Kerry told the New York Times. But he went on to add that Washington “had understandings in the region about the right of a democratic regime to ask for help. And we contravened all of that. I think it’s a terrible message to the region’s democracies, and it’s short-sighted.” Meanwhile, the fallout from the violent campaign can be seen in certain actions of the international community. On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund postponed talks on financial aid to Haiti that were scheduled for next week in Port-au-Prince. It blamed the “renewed political unrest” in the country. America, Canada, and the U.N. approved the departure of their nonessential diplomatic personnel from Haiti. This can only be interpreted as preparation for a showdown. Certainly the kidnapping, and possibly beheading, of foreigners by the Haitian terrorists would bring home the inability or ineptness of the current administration in dealing with terrorists close to America’s shores.

Thus, attending to a seemingly insignificant threat in America’s backyard or belittling it could have profound effect this year, especially in Florida.

Mr. Joseph is Haiti’s envoy to Washington.