The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti
| 2004 Haitian coup d'état | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
 Republic of Haiti
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National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti
|
 MINUSTAH United States Chile Canada France
|
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
|
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
|
Guy Philippe
|
George W. Bush Juan Gabriel Valdés  Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira |
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| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| 50 (estimated) | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Anti-Republican victory;
The 2004 Haitian coup d'état occurred after conflicts lasting for several weeks in Haiti during February 2004. It resulted in the removal from office of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide preventing him from finishing his second term, and he left Haiti on a United States (U.S.) plane accompanied by U.S. military/security personnel.
Aristide claims that his departure was a kidnapping, accusing the U.S. of orchestrating a coup d'état against him. Aristide was forced into exile, being flown directly out of Haiti to the Central African Republic, eventually settling in South Africa.
An interim government led by Prime Minister Gérard Latortue (brought back from the U.S.) and President Boniface Alexandre was installed in Haiti.
The opposition in Haiti accused the government party of election fraud in the Haitian general election, 2000 as did the United States.
U.S. Congressman John Conyers wrote:
Unfortunately, there were irregularities that occurred in the election and there is a post-election problem of the vote count that is threatening to undo the democratic work of the citizens of Haïti. Without doubt there were irregularities that occurred in the election which have been conceded by the CEP.
The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) says that there were delays in the distribution of voter identification cards.
Aristide's supporters claim that an opposition boycott of the election was used as a ploy in order to discredit it and that they did not have anywhere near majority support.
European nations suspended government-to-government assistance to Haiti. Haiti had received no help from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank for years. The U.S. Congress banned any U.S. assistance from being channeled through the Haitian government, codifying an existing situation.
In 2003, Aristide requested that France pay Haiti over US$21 billion in reparations, which he said was the equivalent in today's money of the 90 million gold francs Haiti was forced to pay Paris after winning independence from France 200 years ago.
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Wikipedia