Martial Lavaud Célestin, First Haiti Prime Minister

Célestin was born in Ganthier on October 4, 1913. He studied economics and the law at the Paris Faculty of Law and began his profession, as a lawyer at the ripe old age of 23. He would take his considerable learning into the diplomatic field by 1950, when he was given the post of assistant to the Foreign Affairs Department and, six years later, to the Secretary General.

By the late 1970's he was made a professor at Haiti's State University, after having been made president of the Bar Society in Port-au-Prince the year before. But his greatest claim to Haitian political fame was when, in February 1988, the controversially elected President Leslie Manigat appointed Martial Lavaud Célestin the first Prime Minister of Haiti following a provision to the Constitution made in the previous year. It was the first of many a short-lived appointment to the post as, during a coup staged later that year, the President was ousted and the post of prime minister abolished.

Martial Lavaud Célestin continued teaching until 2005 at many institutions throughout Haiti. Highly decorated at the time of his death, at 97, in 2011, Célestin will always be known as one of Haiti's great 'firsts'.

Reply to this article

Read more: Prime Minister, Leslie Manigat, Ganthier, Martial Lavaud Celestin, People

« Jean Marie Cherestal, Haiti Prime Minister | Main | Claudette Werleigh, Prime Minister of Haiti »

Return to Articles List

Our objective is to share with you news and information about Haiti and the people of Haiti. Traditions, habits and the way we were  or  grew are alive in this site. We highly recommend that you Subscribe to our Newsletter and also share with us some of the things that are memorable and made us unique people.