Aristide

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on 14 October 1994.
37th & 39th President of Haiti
In office 7 February 1991 – 29 September 1991
Prime Minister	René Préval
Preceded by	Ertha Pascal-Trouillot
Succeeded by	Raoul Cédras
In office 15 June 1993 – 12 May 1994
Prime Minister	Robert Malval
Preceded by	Marc Bazin
Succeeded by	Émile Jonassaint
In office 12 October 1994 – 7 February 1996
Prime Minister	Smarck Michel Claudette Werleigh
Preceded by	Émile Jonassaint
Succeeded by	René Préval
In office 7 February 2001 – 29 February 2004
Prime Minister	Jean Marie Chérestal Yvon Neptune
Preceded by	René Préval
Succeeded by	Boniface Alexandre
Personal details
Born	(1953-07-15) 15 July 1953 (age 63) Port-Salut, Sud Department
Nationality	Haitian
Political party	Lavala Political Organization (1991-1996) Fanmi Lavalas (1996-present)
Spouse(s)	Mildred Trouillot (1996-present)
Children	Two daughters
Alma mater	Collège Notre-Dame State University of Haiti University of South Africa
Occupation	Priest
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a Roman Catholic parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Salesian order. 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. He won the Haitian general election between 1990 and 1991, with 67% of the vote and was briefly president of Haiti, until a September 1991 military coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under US pressure and threat of force (Operation Uphold Democracy). Aristide was then president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. However, Aristide was ousted in a 2004 coup d'état, in which one of his former soldiers participated. He accused the United States of orchestrating the coup d'état against him with support from Jamaican prime minister P. J. Patterson, among others. Aristide was later forced into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa. He finally returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into poverty in Port-Salut, Sud Department 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, [2] and in the Palestinian town of Beit Jala at the Cremisan Monastery. 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.