René Préval | |
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38th & 40th President of Haiti | |
In office May 14, 2006 – May 14, 2011 |
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Prime Minister |
Jacques-Édouard Alexis Michèle Pierre-Louis Jean-Max Bellerive |
Preceded by | Boniface Alexandre |
Succeeded by | Michel Martelly |
In office February 7, 1996 – February 7, 2001 |
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Prime Minister |
Claudette Werleigh Rosny Smarth Jacques-Édouard Alexis |
Preceded by | Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
Succeeded by | Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
2nd Prime Minister of Haiti | |
In office February 13, 1991 – October 11, 1991 |
|
President | Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
Preceded by | Martial Célestin |
Succeeded by | Jean-Jacques Honorat |
Minister of Interior and National Defence | |
In office February 19, 1991 – October 11, 1991 |
|
President | Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
Preceded by | Joseph Maxi (Interior) Jean Thomas (National Defence) |
Succeeded by | Gracia Jean |
Personal details | |
Born |
René Garcia Préval 17 January 1943 Cap-Haïtien, Haiti |
Died | 3 March 2017 Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
(aged 74)
Political party |
Lespwa (2006–2009) Patriotic Unity (2009–2017) |
Other political affiliations |
Fanmi Lavalas (1996–2006) |
Spouse(s) | Geri Benoit (Divorced) Solange Lafontant (Divorced) Elisabeth Delatour (2009–2017) |
Alma mater |
College of Gembloux Catholic University of Leuven University of Pisa |
Profession | Agronomist |
René Garcia Préval (French pronunciation: [ʁəne pʁeval]; January 17, 1943 – March 3, 2017) was a Haitian politician and agronomist who twice served as President of Haiti, from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and again from May 14, 2006, to May 14, 2011. He was also Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991. Préval was the first elected head of state in Haitian history to peacefully receive power from a predecessor in office, the first elected head of state in Haitian history since independence to serve a full term in office, the first to be elected to non-successive full terms in office, the first to peacefully hand over power, and the first former Prime Minister to be elected President. His presidencies were marked by domestic tumult and attempts at economic stabilization, with his latter presidency being marred through the destruction wrought by the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Préval was born on 17 January 1943 in Port-au-Prince and was raised in his father's hometown of Marmelade, a village town in the Artibonite department. He studied agronomy at the College of Gembloux and the University of Leuven in Belgium and also studied geothermal sciences at the University of Pisa in Pisa, Italy. He left Haiti with his family in 1963.
Préval's father, an agronomist also, had risen to the position of Minister of Agriculture in the government of Général Paul Magloire, the predecessor of Duvalier. Leaving Haiti because his political past presented him as a potential opponent, Preval's father found work with UN agencies in Africa.