Jean-Bertrand Aristide

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His Excellency Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns to the National Palace in Port au Prince, Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy in October 1994
President of Haiti
In office 4 February 2001 – 29 February 2004
Prime Minister	Jacques-Édouard Alexis Jean Marie Chérestal Yvon Neptune
Preceded by	René Préval
Succeeded by	Boniface Alexandre
In office 12 October 1994 – 7 February 1996
Prime Minister	Smarck Michel Claudette Werleigh
Preceded by	Émile Jonassaint
Succeeded by	René Préval
In office 15 June 1993 – 12 May 1994
Prime Minister	Robert Malval
Preceded by	Marc Bazin
Succeeded by	Émile Jonassaint
In office 7 February 1991 – 29 September 1991
Prime Minister	René Préval
Preceded by	Ertha Pascal-Trouillot
Succeeded by	Raoul Cédras
Leader of Fanmi Lavalas
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 October 1996
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	(1953-07-15) 15 July 1953 (age 70) Port-Salut, Sud, Haiti
Political party	Lavalas Political Organization (1991–96) Fanmi Lavalas (1996–present)
Spouse	Mildred Trouillot ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	2 daughters
Alma mater	Collège Notre-Dame State University of Haiti University of South Africa
Occupation	Priest
Ecclesiastical career
Church	Roman Catholic Church (Salesians of Don Bosco)
Ordained	1982
Laicized	1994
Congregations served	St. Jean Bosco Church, Port-au-Prince

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃ aʁistid]; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president.^[1][2] As a priest, he taught liberation theology^[3][4] and, as a president, he attempted to normalize Afro-Creole culture, including Vodou religion, in Haiti.^[5] Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest. 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 1990–91 Haitian general election, with 67% of the vote.

Aristide was briefly president of Haiti, until a September 1991 military coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under U.S. pressure and threat of force (Operation Uphold Democracy), and Aristide was president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was ousted in the 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitary units invaded the country from across the Dominican border. Aristide and many others have alleged that the United States had a role in orchestrating the coup against him.^[6] In 2022, numerous Haitian and French officials told The New York Times that France and the United States had effectively overthrown Aristide by pressuring him to step down,^[7] though this was denied by James Brendan Foley, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti at the time of the coup.^[8]

Aristide went into exile in the Central African Republic^[6] and South Africa. He returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile.^[9]