Funeral of Henri Bazin, Former Minister of Economy & Finance

On Tuesday, August 11th, the official funeral of Monsieur Henri Bazin, the former Haitian Minister of Economy and Finance, were sung at the church St-Pierre of Pétion-ville. His body was buried at Memorial Park.

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Henri Bazin was a university professor and former Haitian minister of finance and economy under the transitional government led by Gerard Latortue in 2004. He died of cancer on Tuesday, August 4th, at his home in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Turgeau. Bazin served as Latortue's finance minister and chief economist during the 2004-2006 at the U.S.-backed interim government that Latortue led when the then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been forced into exile (for the second time) by a bloody coup. He is also an author of several publications, notably in the area of international trade, economic cooperation and regional integration. His book "The Haitian private sector at the dawn of the third millennium: challenges and new roles" was published in 1999. The news of his death was confirmed by his friend and former boss, ex-Prime Minister Gerard Latortue of Boca Raton.

Before Bazin took charge, 73% of the sanctioned funds from the public treasury were basically sent out as blank checks and half of it used to go directly to the National Palace's account. Bazin reduced that practice by the end of 2004-05 financial year to 10% only. In a country plagued with corruption, Bazin was considered a rarity. He has lived a simple life of a 'stoic' who believed that his role is to mobilize every resource available to him for an optimal utilization for the betterment of his countrymen.

Bazin was born in St. Marc. After completing his university studies in Europe, he worked in several countries in Europe. He had a long career in Africa, mainly in Mali and Ethiopia through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Geneva and UNDP in New York before returning to Haiti in 1991. Bazin was admired for his sense of humanity and patience. One of Bazin's best kept secrets was his age. Born on October 6, 1933, Henri Bazin died on Tuesday night (August 4th, 2015) at the age of 82.

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