Jean-Bertrand Aristide

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Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide with Bill Clinton in 1994.
39th & 41st President of Haiti
In office February 7, 1991 – September 30, 1991 October 12, 1994 – February 7, 1996 February 7, 2001 – February 29, 2004
Prime Minister	René Préval Smarck Michel Claudette Werleigh Jean Marie Chérestal Yvon Neptune
Preceded by	Ertha Pascal-Trouillot (provisional) Émile Jonassaint (provisional) René Préval
Succeeded by	Raoul Cédras (Leader of the Military Junta) René Préval Boniface Alexandre (provisional)
Born	July 15, 1953 (1953-07-15) Port-Salut, Haiti
Political party	Lavalas
Religion	Roman Catholic

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born July 15, 1953) is a Haitian politician and former Roman Catholic priest. He was briefly President of Haiti in 1991, prior to a September 1991 military coup, and was President again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was then ousted in a February 2004 rebellion in which former soldiers participated. He alleged that he was kidnapped by the United States military and forced into exile in South Africa.

Contents 1 Education and church career 2 Aristide as President 2.1 First presidency and coup 3 Second presidency 4 2004 Kidnapping 5 Potential return 6 Position on globalization 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Education and church career

Aristide was born in 1953 Port-Salut. He was educated at Salesian schools in Port-au-Prince and at the College Notre Dame, graduating with honors in 1974. He then took a course of novitiate studies in La Vega, Dominican Republic before returning to Haiti to study philosophy at the Grand Seminaire Notre Dame and psychology at the State University of Haiti. After completing his post-graduate studies in 1979, he traveled in Europe, studying in Italy and Israel. Aristide returned to Haiti in 1983 for his ordination as a Salesian priest.

He was appointed curate of a small parish in Port-au-Prince and then a larger one in the La Saline slums, gaining the affectionate Kréyòl nickname "Titide" or "Titid" . An exponent of liberation theology, he became a leading figure in the more radical wing of the Catholic faith in Haiti (the ti legliz — from the Kréyòl for "little church"), and broadcast his sermons on the national Catholic radio station. In a January 1988 interview with National Catholic Reporter, Aristide said,"The solution is revolution, first in the spirit of the Gospel; Jesus could not accept people going hungry. It is a conflict between classes, rich and poor. My role is to preach and organize...."^{[citation needed]} Father Aristide was expelled from his Salesian order in 1988.^{[citation needed]} At the time, the Salesians said the priest's political activities were an "incitement to hatred and violence" and out of line with his role as a clergyman. In 1995 Aristide left the priesthood. It enabled him the following year to marry Mildred Trouillot, a US citizen, with whom he now has two daughters.

[edit] Aristide as President

[edit] First presidency and coup

Following the violence at the abortive national elections of 1987, the 1990 elections were approached with caution. Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency and following a six-week campaign, during which he dubbed his followers "FNCD" — — the "little priest" was elected President with 67% of the vote. Aristide took office on February 7, 1991. He broke from FNCD and created the OPL (Organisation Politique "Lavalas" "the flood" or "torrent" in Kréyòl

On September 30, 1991; After his own government, led by Prime Minister Rene Preval, failed to suffer a non-confidence vote, by the controlled FNCD parliament, Aristide attempted to rule sole and the army performed a coup against him. He was deposed on September 29,1991 and,in accordance with the requirements of Article 149, of the Haitian Constitution, Superior Court Justice Joseph Nérette was installed as President Provisoire to serve until elections were held within 90 days of Aristide's resignation. These elections were scheduled, but were derailed by the US Government^{[citation needed]}; (as would the elections, mandated by the Constitution, after Aristide's second resignation in February, 2004.) However, real power was held by army commander Raoul Cédras.^[1]

Aristide spent his exile first in Venezuela and then in the United States, working hard to develop international support. A United Nations embargo during Aristide's exile was a strong blow to Haiti's already weak economy. Under U.S. and international pressure, the military regime backed down and U.S. troops were deployed in the country. On October 15, 1994, Aristide returned to Haiti to complete his term in office. Aristide disbanded the Haitian army, and established a civilian police force.

Aristide's first term ended in February 1996, and the constitution did not allow him to serve consecutive terms. There was some dispute over whether Aristide should serve the three years he had lost in exile prior to new elections, or whether his term in office should instead be counted strictly according to the date of his inauguration; it was decided that the latter should be the case. René Préval, a prominent ally of Aristide and Prime Minister in 1991 under Aristide, ran during the 1995 presidential election and took 88% of the vote. About 175,000 - 5% of the 3,500,000 electorate participated in these elections.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Second presidency

In late 1996, Aristide broke from the OPL (which had supported IMF privatization plans^{[citation needed]}) and created a new political party, the Fanmi Lavalas. The OPL, holding the majority in the Sénat and the Chambre des Députés, renamed itself the Organisation du Peuple en Lutte, maintaining the OPL acronym. The Fanmi Lavalas won the 2000 legislative election but the opposition leaders claimed that a number of the seats were invalid. Aristide then was elected later that year in an election which was boycotted by most opposition political parties. "In the 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas party claimed victory with a turnout that hardly rose above 10 per cent of the voters. The opposition, as well as members of the international community, contested the results and accused the Government of manipulating them."^[2]

[edit] 2004 Kidnapping

After a violent rebellion in 2004, Aristide was forced out of Haiti. France and the U.S. had a clear role in what Aristide calls a "kidnapping." ^[3]

[edit] Potential return

After René Préval, a former ally of Aristide, was elected as president of Haiti, he hinted that Aristide might return to Haiti.^[4][5] But since then he has not provided a time frame for him to come back and all indications show that he won't do so as not to jeopardize the stability of the country. He is blocked in South Africa by American threats to reveal evidence tying him to the cocaine traffic. Following Aristide's ousting in 2004 very few nations continued to recognize Aristide as the democratically elected president of Haiti.

In South Africa, Aristide became an honorary research fellow at the University of South Africa, learned Zulu, and on April 25, 2007 received a doctorate in African Languages.^[6] On December 21, 2007, a speech by Aristide marking the new year and Haiti's Independence Day was broadcast, the fourth such speech since his exile; in the speech he criticized the 2006 presidential election, in which Préval was elected, describing it as a "selection" in which "the knife of treason was planted" in the back of the Haitian people.^[7]

After the election some high ranking members of Lavalas have been targeted for violence.^{[8] [9]} Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a leading human rights organizer in Haiti and a member of Lavalas, disappeared in August 2007.^[10] His whereabouts remain unknown.^[11]

[edit] Position on globalization

In 2004 Aristide published a book, The Eyes of the Heart: Seeking a Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization, which used Haiti as a case study of globalization. Aristide specifically points out problems with the World Bank and the IMF in creating larger problems within Haitian society and the economy.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

1. Agence Haitienne de Presse (Independent Haitian News Service) Hidden From the Headlines: The U.S. War Against Haiti, by Laura Flynn, Robert Roth and Pierre Labossiere, published by the Haiti Action Committee, September 2003, available at www.haitisolidarity.net.
2. Interviews and site visits conducted by the authors in Port-au-Prince in January and July 2004. L’enfant en Domesticité en Haiti, Produit D’Un Fossé Historique, Mildred Aristide, March 2003. Address of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on the occasion of the Haitian Bicentennial, January 1, 2004.
3. Haiti Information Project (HIP)/Kevin Pina reports and eyewitness accounts available at www.haitiaction.net. “Option Zero in Haiti,” by Peter Hallward in the New Left Review, May–June 2004. “Haiti’s Wretched of the Earth,” Paul Farmer, Tikkun Magazine, May–June 2004. “Concretizing Democracy” (series of reports) by Michelle Karshan, Office of the Foreign Press Liaison.
4. Haitian Government Briefing Papers issued February 7, 2003. (February 7, 2003 “The Aids Crisis and Healthcare,” “Haiti’s Police Force,” “Promoting Investment and Raising the Minimum Wage,” “Battling Corruption and Drug Trafficking,” “Justice”). L’Union (Haitian government daily paper of record).
5. HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS Report of the Center for the Study of Human Rights, University of Miami Law School, January 18, 2005. The whole report, including photographs, is available at www.ijdh.org/CSHRhaitireport.pdf. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti has issued four reports documenting systematic, widespread attacks against Lavalas officials, grassroots activists and the press, and abuse of the judicial system for political reprisals. These reports are available www.ijdh.org. Haiti Accompaniment Project Reports, July 29, 2004, November, 2004, document human rights abuses and the reversal of Lavalas social and economic programs. (available at www.haitisolidarity.net)
6. Now unavailable news pieces by Yahoo News, Reuters et al.
7. Now available as well the film "Aristide and the Endless Revolution" by filmmaker Nicolas Rossier (www.aristidethefilm.com)

[edit] External links

• Google News Coverage — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
• Democracy Now! coverage of Aristide's ouster (text/audio/video)
• Naomi Klein, The Guardian, July 18, 2005, "6/7: the massacre of the poor that the world ignored: The US cannot accept that the Haitian president it ousted still has support"
• Paul Farmer, Who Removed Aristide? London Review of Books 15 April 2004
• Who Is Aristide? by Paul Farmer in The use of Haiti
• CommonDreams: the US and France denies Aristide's charges; but block UN probes
• Timeline of events relating to Jean-Bertrand Aristide
• Invisible Violence: Murder in Post-Coup Haiti by Jeb Sprague. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting.
• 'The Return': Aristide, Law and Democracy in Haiti, JURIST
• Why they had to Crush Aristide, The Guardian
• Aristide's Tinderbox: Haitian Militants Losing Faith in President’s Promise of Reform
• Operation Zero in Haiti, New Left Review
• Haitian Inspiration, Radical Philosophy
• Haiti 1804 as an Event - Fidelity to Freedom, Why has it been so difficult to achieve?
• Ghosts of Cité Soleil
• http://www.aristidethefilm.com . The film by filmmaker Nicolas Rossier investigates the events leading up to the 2004 coup against Aristide.

Preceded by Ertha Pascal-Trouillot	President of Haiti 1991	Succeeded by Raoul Cédras
Preceded by Marc Bazin	President of Haiti 1993–1994	Succeeded by Émile Jonassaint
Preceded by Émile Jonassaint	President of Haiti 1994–1996	Succeeded by René Préval
Preceded by René Préval	President of Haiti 2001–2004	Succeeded by Boniface Alexandre

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