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Jean-Bertrand Aristide | |
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.jpg) Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns to the National Palace in Port au Prince, Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy in October 1994 | |
| President of Haiti | |
| In office 4 February 2001 – 29 February 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacques-Édouard Alexis Jean Marie Chérestal Yvon Neptune |
| Preceded by | René Préval |
| Succeeded by | Boniface Alexandre |
| In office 12 October 1994 – 7 February 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Smarck Michel Claudette Werleigh |
| Preceded by | Émile Jonassaint |
| Succeeded by | René Préval |
| In office 7 February 1991 – 29 September 1991 | |
| Prime Minister | René Préval |
| Preceded by | Ertha Pascal-Trouillot |
| Succeeded by | Raoul Cédras |
| Leader of Fanmi Lavalas | |
| Assumed office 30 October 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 July 1953 Port-Salut, Sud, Haiti |
| Political party | Lavalas Political Organization (1991–96) Fanmi Lavalas (1996–present) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Alma mater | Collège Notre-Dame State University of Haiti University of South Africa |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church (Salesians of Don Bosco) |
| Ordained | 1982 |
| Laicized | 1994 |
Congregations served | St. Jean Bosco Church, Port-au-Prince |
Jean-Bertrand Aristide (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃ aʁistid]; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état.[1][2] As a priest, he taught liberation theology and, as president, he attempted to normalize Afro-Creole culture, including Vodou religion, in Haiti.[3][4][5]
Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement, first under Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and then under the military transition regime which followed. He won the 1990–91 Haitian presidential election with 67% of the vote but was ousted just months later in the September 1991 military coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under U.S. pressure and threat of force (Operation Uphold Democracy), and Aristide was president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004.
Aristide was ousted again in a 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitary units invaded the country from across the Dominican border. Aristide and many others have alleged that the United States had a role in orchestrating the second coup against him.[6] In 2022, numerous Haitian and French officials told The New York Times that France and the United States had effectively overthrown Aristide by pressuring him to step down, though this was denied by James Foley, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti at the time of the coup.[7][8]
After the second coup against him, Aristide went into exile in the Central African Republic[6] and South Africa. He returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile.[9]
- ^ "Military ousts Haiti's leader, claims power President Aristide en route to France; fighting kills 26". The Boston Globe. 1 October 1991.
- ^ "Haiti: The impact of the 1991 coup". International Journal of Refugee Law. June 1992. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015.
- ^ Hari, Johann (17 September 2010). "How Our Governments Snuffed Out a Democracy And Kidnapped a President: A Modern Parable". The Huffington Post.
- ^ Damning the Flood Archived 25 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Richard Pithouse, Mute Magazine, 14 October 2008
- ^ McAlister, Elizabeth (June 2012). "From Slave Revolt to a Blood Pact with Satan: The Evangelical Rewriting of Haitian History". Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses. 41 (2). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications: 187–215. doi:10.1177/0008429812441310. S2CID 145382199. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Aristide says U.S. deposed him in 'coup d'etat'". CNN. 2 March 2004. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
nyt250522was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Foleywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Archibold, Randal C. (18 March 2011). "Just Days Before Election, Aristide Returns to Cheers and Uncertainty in Haiti". The New York Times.