He was first elected in December 1990. Several months later, on the night of September 29, 1991, and following a bloody putsch, he was sent into exile by Lieutenant-General Raoul Cédras and his mercenary soldiers, headed by Brigadier-General Philippe Biamby. It must be said, however, that in Haiti, this is not an unusual scenario.

Street demonstrations before Jean-Bertrand Aristide was exhiled from Haiti

With the backing of an international military force headed by the United States, and a seal of approval from the United Nations, both Cédras and Biamby were ousted from the country. Aristide, the only democratically-elected president in the history of Haiti returned to power, after 1,111 days in exile on Oct. 15, 1994 to govern the western area of the small Caribbean Island of Hispaniola - an island which Haiti shares with neighboring Dominican Republic. Aristide is next ousted from his Silesian Order for his extreme left-wing outlook. He marries a Haitian-American mulatto lawyer, Mildred Trouillot, and the couple has two daughters. The former priest who preached in the poorer slums of Haiti was an exponent of the theory of liberation, as the locals would say, the “ti legliz,” or the populist church. The pulpit, however, led the way to a president that increasingly used a dictatorial manner. He shamelessly enriched himself, while talking to the citizens the same way he would his religious followers, emotionally preaching to impoverished crowds in a way they could only answer affirmatively. All this while he far too easily flouted words like “democracy,” “liberty,” “equality” and “fraternity”- nation-building terminology borrowed from France. At the same time, Aristide became relegated to listlessly re-reading the same text on television day after day, like broken record player.

The former messenger of God within the Roman Catholic Church seemed to change from the one-time messiah to a man in service with the devil. His embellished and colorful speeches embraced few, all save a group of illiterate bandits who remained at his service, called the “chimeres” (armed partisans of Aristide), whose principal task was to keep discipline among their ranks - and to kill.

This kind of leadership was nothing new to Haitians. Under former leaders “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son “Baby Doc,” the country was terrorized for almost 30 years from 1957 to 1986, with the “chimeres,” or at the time called the “tontons macoutes,” the national guard of some 40,000 men who bore machetes and rudimentary muskets whose triggers were used liberally.

A sad-fated country...
Haiti is a country with approximately 8.3 million inhabitants, of which most speak Haitian Creole, a language with French origins. Some 13 percent of the population speaks French.

Haiti’s educational system has evolved slowly since the country’s independence from France on Jan. 1, 1804. It was the religious establishment who was responsible for public and private education, a power granted by public authorities.

In 1950, the percentage of illiteracy was pegged at a staggering 90 percent. Experts estimate today, that while that number has decreased, it remains high at some 47 percent.

Haiti’s average revenue is approximately USD 250 per year, per person. The country is afflicted by extreme poverty, and a cycle of perpetual violence. Unemploymentstands at around 70 percent. In 2002, the United Nations human development indicator ranked Haiti 146th out of 173 countries!

Aristide has been a perfect master of evasive language, saying without naming, and the art of answering without giving an answer. As a pragmatic thinker once said, “We cannot promise, and keep ones promises at the same time: this would be too much to ask!”

The mountainous country, situated some 80 kilometers from Cuba bears a tropical climate, with a density of 280 habitants per square kilometer, remains rural for the large part. The country’s gross national product is one of the lowest on the planet, a fact that has resulted in millions of Haitians fleeing primarily to Florida or Canada.

A low rate of consumer wealth, a lack of proper alimentation and deficiencies in the country’s medical and educational systems constitutes a hefty handicap for Haiti. Most of the Haitian population lives in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and many find themselves in the most disparagingly poor shanty town, the most appalling being Cité-Soleil. The average life expectancy for Haitian women is 53 years, while for men it is 47.

Agriculture remains an essential economic and social activity, occupying a whopping 60 percent of Haiti’s economic activity. Those who toil the land do so on relatively poor soils, a result of erosion on a land barren of trees. Many residents resort to contraband, a field more lucrative than even tourism, which plays a relatively small part of the economy.

At the end of Aristide’s first mandate, René Préval, an agronomer took over the presidency until Artistide was swept to power again in November 2000, after a set of elections were boycotted by the opposition and tainted with irregularities.

Haiti today...
Aristide held a mandate to govern Haiti until 2006, which was outlined in Haiti’s 1987 Constitution. An international mission of diplomats composed of French, American and Canadian, representatives of Caribbean states and the Organization of American States (OAS), arrived in Port-au-Prince to meet Aristide Feb. 21, 2004.

Aristide accepted a proposed peace plan (one that allowed him to remain in power), but the opposition would stop at nothing short of the departure of the president.

Aristide fled Haiti as an international contingent of troops arrived to keep the peace

The press was muted. Communication rested largely on rumors, and as Reporteurs sans frontiers evaluated the situation in 2003, Haiti ranked No. 100 out of 166 countries in terms of freedom of the press.

The City of Gonaives, symbolic of the independence of 1804, Cap-Haitien (the second largest city in the country) and other villages fell to rebels. This year was supposed to celebrate the bicentenary of Haiti’s independence – while the country was on the verge of civil war. The perspectives for any festivities were grim.

Aristide, left without credibility, and was increasingly deemed the architect of violence in his country. A precious few believed promises would lead to a brighter future. Would he name a neutral prime minister? Would he form a new government? And above all, when? The president, who was a master of words without real measures behind them, stagnated.

Some 23,000 foreigners were formerly based in Haiti, but more and more began to flee the former French-coined “Pearl of the West Indies” as violence escalated.

An estimated 100 people have been killed since the beginning of the rebellion, of which some 45 were police officers in a country that no longer possesses a mandated army. In this barren land, bathed in sun and misery, it is said that he who thinks he understands the situation in fact understands nothing at all.

On Sunday morning, February 29th, an American military airplane took off from the airport at Port-au-Prince. On board was Aristide, exiled once again. Prime Minister Yvon Neptune declared that Aristide had resigned his presidential functions in order to avoid a bloodbath.

On March 9th, 69-year-old lawyer from the US Gérard Latortue was named the temporary head of Haiti’s government by a US-backed council of “eminent Haitians,” amidst intermittent calls by some factions for the return of exiled leader Aristide. Faced with stabilizing the country, an estimated 2,700 soldiers from the United States, Chile, France and Canada have formed a peacekeeping force to restore order.

Haiti is the first independent black republic in the world. And what of it? What this fragile state will require are civil institutions, a legitimate and stable legislature and political process.

Haiti’s volatile history
Since independence from France on Jan. 1, 1804, 36 heads of state succeeded the presidency until the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In what are rather shocking statistics, 20 of these heads were either deposed, exiled or simply liquidated - meeting their fate at the hands of vulgar bandits. The proportion of those excluded from power is 68 percent. Emperor Jacques I Dessalines was assassinated; King Henri I Christophe committed suicide; President Syvain Salvane was shot by a firing squad; President Florvil Hyppolite succumbed to a heart attack while trying to put down an insurrection; President Cincinnatus Lecompte Sam was lynched and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was exiled.