Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Jean-Bertrand Aristide , 1953-, president of Haiti (1991, 1994-96, 2001-4). A radical Catholic priest who defended liberation theology , he worked among Haiti's poor and was part of a group of progressive priests who opposed the Duvalier dictatorship. He studied theology and sociology in Canada, England, Italy, and Israel, and was ordained in 1982. Expelled from his order in 1988 because of his revolutionary teachings, he became the candidate of a coalition of leftist parties in the 1990 presidential elections and was elected with an overwhelming majority. He was overthrown in a bloody military coup seven months after taking office, and went into exile in Venezuela and later the United States. Aristide was returned to power in 1994 with the aid of the U.S. army. He formally resigned from the priesthood in 1994 and married in 1996. In 1995, René Préval was elected to succeed Aristide, who was barred from running. Aristide was again elected president in 2000, but political unrest resulting from contested parliamentary election results (also in 2000) led to political unrest and, in 2004, an armed uprising. Under pressure from the United States and France, Aristide resigned and went into exile; he subsequently accused U.S. and French officials of coercion and kidnapping.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1992).

Aristide, Jean Bertrand (b. 15 July 1953). President of Haiti 1991–6, 2001–  Born in Port Salut, he became a priest of the Salesian order. He was a committed preacher of liberation theology, but the more the political content of his sermons grew, the more he was opposed by the church hierarchy and his order, and the more venerated he was by the people. He was suspended from the priesthood in 1987 and, following the creation of his own popular Lavalas (‘landslide’) movement, was elected President with 67 per cent of the popular vote in 1990. Taking office on 7 February 1991, he was deposed by a military coup on 30 September 1991 and went to exile in the USA. There, his socialist leanings ensured that he was supported by US public opinion only with some ambiguity, but President Clinton none the less ordered a (peaceful) invasion to enable Aristide to return on 15 October 1994. On 21 December 1994 he established a ‘commission for truth and justice’ to investigate the crimes committed during the three years of military rule. On 7 February 1996, he was succeeded by René Prevál of his Lavalas movement, who had been elected with almost 90 per cent of the vote. Amidst general allegations of widespread corruption, Aristide was elected for a second non-consecutive term in 2001. The elections were boycotted by the opposition, and international aid was frozen. Aristide survived a domestic coup attempt, but sporadic violence against his rule continued.