Coup D'Etat - Haiti Observer Blog

Franck Sylvain, Haiti's 37th president, began life in his birthplace of Grand-Goâve. He earned a law degree, practicing as an attorney after graduation. He later was appointed to the bench as a Civil-Law Court judge, rendering a decision in favor of one of President Paul Magloire's intimate friends. For that political favor he was retained by President Magloire for further government legal matters.

Sylvain began his political career when he established The Crusade, a pro-active publication that raised the consciousness of the Haitian people about Communism's imminent threat to Haiti's struggle for democracy. He also headed a political party, Rally for the Haitian People, an underground organization.

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Daniel Fignole, born in 1913 in Pestel and raised in grinding poverty, suffered from childhood malnutrition. To escape the poverty of his birthplace, Daniel re-settled in Port-au-Prince and sought an education. He proved to be an excellent student, winning acceptance to a top-tier university in the capital.

During the early 1940s, Daniel Fignole published the leftist, Chantiers, in which he harshly criticized the mulatto elite of Haiti. President Elié Lescot, provoked by Fignolé's attacks, stopped the publication, axed him from his government job, and spied on him.

Indifferent to government actions, Daniel Fignole kept organizing the working-class of Port-au-Prince. They became aware of him as an electrifying orator, motivational writer, and powerful labor leader. It was rumored he could rally mass demonstrations at a moment's notice. In 1947, he headed the Peasant Worker Movement, a tight-knit union comprised of every labor sector.

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Leslie Francois Saint Roc Manigat was the full name of Leslie Manigat and he was born on August 16th 1930 in Port-au-Prince. He was an educator and a professor of world history and worked at the I'Universite' de Paris- VIII Vincennes.

An Academician

Leslie Manigat published articles in many Haitian newspapers. Even though his interest was in the field of education, he had a stint in the political stage of Haiti. He contested for the post of the President along with ten other candidates.

This election which was held on January 17th 1988 was a military held election and it was completely under their control. Leslie Manigat won with 50.29% of votes but the voter turnout was very poor, less than 10%. The military controlled election must have been the reason for the poor turnout.

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Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's presidency has been surrounded in the deaths of thousands Haitians, several of them well-known political figures and activists. Famous assassinations in the country during the 1990s can be classified into two: Aristide's supporters or the former president's critics.

Antoine Izméry was well-known businessman and a strong supporter of Aristide as a pro-democracy activist. He belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Haiti and was a large financier of the former president's campaign in 1990. When Aristide was ousted and exiled by a successful coup d'état in 1991, Izméry remained loyal and formed the Komite Mete men pou Verite Blayi (KOMEVEB), an organization that was aimed at exposing and publicizing the events that transpired during the coup and at bringing back Haiti's democratic form of government under Aristide. Along with this cause came the assassination of his brother, Georges, by the new military regime in power.

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During an interview with Valery Numa at Radio Vision 2000 this week, former Haitian president, Ertha Pascal Trouillot, was showed little reserve. She managed to give us some important facts during her government.

She was very hard on another former Haitian president. Ertha denounced a conspiracy created by former President Jean Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas group in the objective of murdering her.

She went into some details on the Coup D'etat orchestrated by the late Roger Lafontant one January 6, 1991.

Ertha Pascal Trouillot also blamed Jean Bertrand Aristide for not taking the opportunity he had at the time to reconcile the nation with itself and at the same time bring Haiti on the path of development.

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Duvalierist - Henri Namphy - 1986 - 1988 - Manigat - Coup D'Detat - Prosper Avril - General -

The 42nd and 44th president of Haiti, Henri Namphy, who reigned over Haiti for the period between 1986 to 1988 and June 1988 to September 1988, is one of the remarkable figures in Haiti's presidency. During his first reign, he got himself on the throne through National Council of Government that kicked Duvalier out power.

Henri Namphy was not at peace immediately after taking over from Duvalier who had declared himself as the president for life. Strikes and riots were the order of the day and he reacted harshly through sucking top government officials who were diehard royals of his predecessor. His reign was unanimously referred to as the "Duvalierism rule without Duvalier" as he was no better than his predecessor. After a while, however, he was able to put everything under control and secured a two year reign to the beginning of 1988.

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Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was born on 4th March 1859. He was a cousin of Tiresias Simon Sam. Being the commander of Haiti's North Division gave him a lot of power that he led a rebellion against Francois C. Antoine Simon and Cincinnatus Leconte took over the presidency. He also headed the rebellion that overthrew Oreste Zamor. Sam became the president after president Joseph Davilmar Theodore resigned in February 1915.

Since Haiti had been faced with five unruly years, Sam was forced by Dr Rosalvo Bobo to campaign with rebels against his own government. Dr Rosalvo Bobo was against the financial assistance from U.S government.
Sam refused to act upon the command and instead treated his political opponent badly. He even ordered that 167 political prisoners be killed including the former president Zamor. This annoyed Haitians forcing them to rebel against him. When Sam realized the reactions of Haitians, he decided to hide from them.

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Despite the changing gender roles and the growing feminist movement, female presidents or heads of state are quite rare in Haiti. One of these very few powerful women in history is former Haitian president Ertha Pascal-Trouillot. Politics has always been said to be meant for males as power and control are often associated with being a man. But as time went by, women began competing with this notion and have been made leaders and politicians along with men.

Pascal-Trouillot was born in a suburb of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince in 1943. Her father was an iron worker while her mother was a seamstress and was the ninth child of their ten children. The future president acquired a law degree from the prestigious École de Droit des Gonaives and was a judge for federal courts for more than ten years. She then became the first woman justice of the country's Supreme Court. And in 1990, Pascal-Trouillot was proclaimed as Haiti's temporary president after the successful revolt against former president Prosper Avril which put him out of office.

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Roger Lafontant (1931-1991), known as the former leader of Tonton Macoutes, a death squad he founded. While at medical school, attempted a 1991 coup d'etat to oust Ertha Pascal-Trouillot's provisional government that later led to his death in prison.

A loyalist supporter of President François Duvalier, a despot whose family ruled Haiti for three decades, Roger Lafontant was appointed Minister of Interior and National Defense in 1972, under Jean-Claude Duvalier, the son of the elder Duvalier. But his personal ambitions caused Duvalier to re-assign him as consul in Montreal, Canada. However, hereturned to Haiti in 1983, and was promoted to higher office as Minister of State for the Interior and National Defense. Apparently, he had learned his lesson.

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The overthrowing of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 paved way to the gradual transition of Haitian politics to democracy and Henri Namphy was supposed to lead that transition. But before democracy reached the country, there was chaos everywhere as theft, riots, and coup d'états were rampant as the government after the Duvalier regime was unstable.

After Duvalier and his family left for France, the country was led by the National Council of Government (CNG) under Haitian general Henri Namphy. The council was made up of four individuals from the military and two civilians which tried to push for several democratic reforms and promised Haitians the occurrence of elections. Two years later, the general was then made president after successfully overthrowing Leslie Manigat who was the winner in the 1988 elections via a coup d'état.

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