Jean-Bertrand Aristide

From Wikispooks
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Person.png Jean-Bertrand Aristide  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(politician, priest)
Jean-Bertrand Aristide (cropped).jpg
Born15 July 1953)
NationalityHaitian
Alma materUniversity of Haiti, University of South Africa
ReligionRoman Catholic
Priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. Ousted twice in U.S.-supported coups.

Employment.png President of Haiti

In office
4 February 2001 - 29 February 2004

Employment.png President of Haiti

In office
12 October 1994 - 7 February 1996
Ousted in another U.S.-supported military coup

Employment.png President of Haiti

In office
15 June 1993 - 12 May 1994

Employment.png President of Haiti

In office
7 February 1991 - 29 September 1991
Ousted in U.S.-supported military coup

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president.[1][2] A proponent of liberation theology,[3][4] 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 general election, with 67% of the vote. As a priest, he taught liberation theology and, as a president, he attempted to normalize Afro-Creole culture, including Vodou religion, in Haiti.[5]

Aristide was briefly president of Haiti, until a September 1991 military coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under U.S. pressure and threat of force, and Aristide was allowed to return to Haiti to complete his term in office. He was president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was ousted in the U.S.-orchestrated 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitary units invaded the country from across the Dominican border.[6]

He was later put on a U.S. military plane and forced into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa. He finally returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile.[7]



Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References