Jean-Bertrand Aristide (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃ aʁistid]; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who served as president of Haiti in 1991, from 1993 to 1994, from 1994 to 1996, and from 2001 to 2004. He lived in exile between the 1991 military coup and 1994, and again between the 2004 coup and 2011. Aristide was a member of the Lavalas Political Organization before he founded the party Fanmi Lavalas in 1996.
Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Catholic Church. As a priest, he taught liberation theology and, as president, he attempted to normalize Afro-Creole culture, including Vodou religion, in Haiti. 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. Aristide won the December 1990 presidential election, which was seen as the first free and fair election in Haitian history, with 67% of the vote, but was ousted just months later in the September 1991 military coup. His first presidency began political reforms and introduced a moderate economic program. Aristide went into exile because of the coup, and after negotiations with the military regime did not resolve the crisis, United States pressure and threat of force during Operation Uphold Democracy caused its removal.
During Aristide's return to power, he disbanded the Haitian military, which had a history of human rights abuses, and organized free elections during 1995. In 1996 he became the first elected Haitian leader to peacefully transfer power to an elected successor. He founded his own political party and returned to office after winning the November 2000 presidential election. In his economic policies, he tried to balance the interests of his populist supporters and foreign donors. He initially followed an austerity program that had been negotiated with the United States, the World Bank, and the IMF, but he later increased the minimum wage. His administration also built schools and hospitals, increased school enrollment, and established community stores to lower food costs. He faced increasing opposition during his second term, which coalesced as the Convergence Démocratique coalition, though he remained the most popular politician in Haiti. The United States paused foreign aid to Haiti due to a controversy related to the 2000 parliamentary election, which led to several years of negotiations by Aristide's government.
Economic conditions worsened in Haiti while foreign aid was cut off. Aristide was ousted again in a February 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitary members 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. 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. After the second coup against him, Aristide went into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa. He returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile. Since his return he has focused on the work of his foundation and university. Aristide remains popular among Haitians, though there is controversy over violence by his supporters and allegations of his involvement in corruption and drug trafficking.
Background and church vocation
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into poverty in Port-Salut, Sud on 15 July 1953. His father died three months after Aristide was born, and he later moved to Port-au-Prince with his mother. At age five, Aristide started school with priests of the Salesian order. He was educated at the Collège Notre-Dame in Cap-Haïtien, 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 Séminaire Notre Dame and psychology at the State University of Haiti.
After completing his post-graduate studies in 1979, Aristide travelled in Europe, studying in Italy, Greece, and at the Cremisan Monastery in the town of Beit Jala. He returned to Haiti in 1982 for his ordination as a Salesian priest, and was appointed curate of a small parish in Port-au-Prince.
Between 1957 and 1986, Haiti was ruled by the family dictatorships of François "Papa Doc" and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The misery endured by Haiti's poor made a deep impression on Aristide himself, and he became an outspoken critic of Duvalierism. Nor did he spare the hierarchy of the country's church, since a 1966 Vatican Concordat granted Duvalier one-time power to appoint Haiti's bishops. An exponent of liberation theology, Aristide denounced Duvalier's regime in one of his earliest sermons. This did not go unnoticed by the regime's top echelons. Under pressure, the provincial delegate of the Salesian Order sent Aristide into three years of exile in Montreal. By 1985, as popular opposition to Duvalier's regime grew, Aristide was back preaching in Haiti. His Easter Week sermon, "A call to holiness", delivered at the cathedral of Port-au-Prince and later broadcast throughout Haiti, proclaimed: "The path of those Haitians who reject the regime is the path of righteousness and love."
Aristide became a leading figure in the Ti Legliz movement, whose name means "little church" in Kreyòl. In September 1985, he was appointed to St. Jean Bosco church, in a poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. Struck by the absence of young people in the church, Aristide began to organize youth, sponsoring weekly youth Masses. He founded an orphanage for urban street children in 1986 called Lafanmi Selavi [Family is Life]. The program sought to be a model of participatory democracy for the children it served. As Aristide became a leading voice for the aspirations of Haiti's dispossessed, he inevitably became a target for attack. He survived at least four assassination attempts. The most widely publicized attempt, the St. Jean Bosco massacre, occurred on 11 September 1988, when over one hundred armed former Tontons Macoute wearing red armbands forced their way into St. Jean Bosco as Aristide began Sunday Mass. As army troops and police stood by, the men fired machine guns at the congregation and attacked fleeing parishioners with machetes. Aristide's church was burned to the ground. Thirteen people are reported to have been killed, and 77 wounded. Aristide survived and went into hiding.
Subsequently, Salesian officials ordered Aristide to leave Haiti, but tens of thousands of Haitians protested, blocking his access to the airport. In December 1988, Aristide was expelled from the Salesian order. A statement prepared by the Salesians called the priest's political activities an "incitement to hatred and violence", out of line with his role as a clergyman. Aristide appealed the decision, saying: "The crime of which I stand accused is the crime of preaching food for all men and women." In a January 1988 interview, he said "The solution is revolution, first in the spirit of the Gospel; Jesus could not accept people going hungry. It is a conflict between classes, rich and poor. My role is to preach and organize...." In 1994, Aristide left priesthood, ending years of tension with the church over his criticism of its hierarchy and his espousal of liberation theology. Aristide married Mildred Trouillot, on 20 January 1996, with whom he had two daughters.
Aristide emerged from his pastoral and social activities to run in the 1990 election, leading the Lavalas populist coalition of the impoverished majority and progressive parties opposed to the Duvalier dictatorship. Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency on 18 October 1990, and became the candidate from the National Front for Democracy and Change (FNCD). Following a six-week campaign, during which he called for changes to the economy to help the poor and pledged to fight against corruption, Aristide was elected president on 16 December 1990. He won 67% of the vote in what is generally recognized as the first free and fair election in Haitian history. He notably defeated Marc Bazin, the U.S.-favored conservative candidate, and Roger Lafontant, a Tonton Macoute leader under Duvalier.