JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE

'Jean-Bertrand Aristide' (born July 15, 1953) is a Haitian politician and former Roman Catholic priest who was President of Haiti in 1991, again from 1994 to 1996, and then from 2001 to 2004. Aristide was the second elected leader of Haiti and was popular among its poor inhabitants. He was overthrown twice, both times with assistance from the United States Government and military; first in a military coup d'état in September, 1991, and subsequently in a coup d'état in 2004 in which former soldiers prominently participated (February 2004). After being deposed a second time he maintained that he was still the legal and legitimate president and that United States forces had kidnapped him.^[1]

Contents

Education and church career

Aristide as President

First presidency and coup

Second presidency

2004 rebellion

Later career

Position on Globalization

Quotes

Notes

References

External links

Education and church career

Aristide was born in 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" (little priest). 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 1995 Aristide left the priesthood and the following year to marry Mildred Trouillot, a US citizen, with whom he now has two daughters.
Brian Moore's novel NO OTHER LIFE has a prominent character based on Aristide; however, his eventual fate differs from that of the real-life Aristide.

Aristide as President

First presidency and coup

Following the violence at the abortive national elections of 1987, the 1990 elections' polls were approached with caution. Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency and following a six-week campaign, during which he dubbed his followers "Lavalas" — "the flood" or "torrent" in Kréyòl — the "little priest" was elected President with 67.5% of the vote.
Aristide took office on February 7, 1991, becoming Haiti's first democratically elected leader. The previous election held by the military dictatorship of Leslie Manigat was not democratic.
Raoul Cédras seized power in a coup September 30, 1991. Leader Of Haiti Ousted Military Takes Over After Seizing Aristide, , , , St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1991 There was a large-scale exodus of boat people after Aristide was overthrown. Tens of thousands attempted to flee the Cedras regime, the United States denied refugee status to these boat people.
Aristide spent his exile first in Venezuela and then in the United States, working hard to develop international support. 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. The nearly ten thousand killed under the Cedras Coup Regime and the resulting embargo during Aristide's exile was a strong blow to Haiti's already weak economy. 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; under U.S. pressure, 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. This marked the first time in Haitian history that there was a peaceful and democratic transition of power.

Second presidency

In late 1996, Aristide broke from the OPL (which had supported IMF privatization plans) 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 opposition in Haiti accused the government party of widescale election fraud in the 2000 elections.[1] as did the United States.[2]
U.S. Congressman Conyers wrote:
:"Unfortunately, there were irregularities that occurred in the election and there is a post-election problem of the vote count that is threatening to undo the democratic work of the citizens of Haïti. Without doubt there were irregularities that occurred in the election which have been conceded by the CEP."^[2]
The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) says that there were delays in the distribution of voter identification cards.^[3]
Aristide's supporters claim that an opposition boycott of the election was used as a ploy in order to discredit it and that they did not have anywhere near majority support.^[4]
European nations suspended government-to-government assistance to Haiti. Haiti had received no help from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank for years. The US Congress banned any U.S. assistance from being channeled through the Haitian government, codifying an existing situation.[3]
Aristide's detractors accused him of ruling dictatorially, encouraging the drug trade, corruption. One example was the state bank cooperatives, where he encouraged people to make deposits in return for high rates of interest. The scheme collapsed and wiped out their savings, though it is unclear if the state played any role.[4]

2004 rebellion

Main articles: 2004 Haitian coup d'état

In February, after a 3-week rebellion by the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front, Aristide left Haiti as the rebels approached the capital. There is controversy surrounding the departure, with Aristide stating he didn't leave Haiti willingly and that the United States kidnapped him in a coup.^[5] This is denied by the US.

Later career

On May 31, 2004, Aristide and his family flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, along with US Congressmen from the Congressional Black Caucus. South Africa characterized his stay as "temporary".
After René Préval, a former ally of Aristide, was elected as president of Haiti in 2006, Préval stated that he would consider allowing Aristide to return home to Haiti.

Position on Globalization

In 2000, Aristide's book, , which used Haiti as a case study of globalization, was published. Aristide specifically points out problems with the World Bank, and the IMF in creating larger problems within Haitian society and economy. Fanmi Lavalas was founded to oppose privatization of Haiti's public enterprises.

Quotes

[Stanley] Lucas was also simultaneously running IRI's Haiti program, which had been financing activities to seek removal of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. USAID funded IRI to the tune of more than $3 million from 1998-2003 to destabilize Haiti under the guise of 'promoting democracy', the usual term put forth by such programs. Lucas, wealthy and Haitian-born, was hired by IRI in 1992 to run their Haiti sessions for Aristide's most virulent opponents. IRI's millions and Lucas's genius applied the US intervention model formerly used in Nicaragua: unification of opposition parties.

In Haiti, IRI crafted and built the 'Democratic Convergence', a group of disparate opposition parties, social organizations, and groups in the country. The Democratic Convergence was elemental in provoking the ongoing tension and violence in the nation, eventually leading to the illegal and violent overthrow of President Aristide. IRI's role was beyond pivotal.

Eva Golinger. ''The Chávez Code - Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela'', chapter 4.

Notes

★ 2006 Interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide by Peter Hallward, Professor at Middlesex University''
1. Aristide: US forced me to leave
2. Major Issues — Haiti Congressmen John Conyers, Jr.
3. As Haiti Stumbles Toward Elections, NCHR Urges Extension of Voter Registration Period
4. Background on Haiti: Some Questions and Answers Mary Turck
5. Ex-Haiti rebel again in spotlight

References

#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.haitiaction.net.
#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.
#Haiti Information Project—reports and eyewitness accounts available at www.haitiaction.net. “Option Zero in Haiti,” by Peter Hallard 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.
#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).
#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.haitiaction.net)
#Now unavailable news pieces by Yahoo News, Reuters et al.
#Now available as well the film "Aristide and the Endless Revolution" by filmmaker Nicolas Rossier (www.aristidethefilm.com)

External links

★ Google News Coverage — ''Jean-Bertrand Aristide''

★ Democracy Now! coverage of Aristide's ouster (text/audio/video)

★ CommonDreams: the US and France denies Aristide's charges; but block UN probes

★ 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''

★ Timeline of events relating to Jean-Bertrand Aristide

★ 'The Return': Aristide, Law and Democracy in Haiti, JURIST

★ Why they had to Crush Aristide, The Guardian

★ 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?

★ . The film by filmmaker Nicolas Rossier investigates the events leading up to the 2004 coup against Aristide.

★ HAITI: Poor Residents of Capital Describe a State of Siege

★ The Fire Next Time