Aristide, Jean-Bertrand (zhän` bĕrtränd` ä'rēstēd`), 1953–, president of Haiti (1991, 1994–96, 2001–4). A radical Catholic priest who defended liberation theology liberation theology, belief that the Christian Gospel demands "a preferential option for the poor," and that the church should be involved in the struggle for economic and political justice in the contemporary world—particularly in the Third World.
..... Click the link for more information. , he worked among Haiti's poor and was part of a group of progressive priests who opposed the Duvalier Duvalier, François (fräNswä` düvälyā`), 1907–71, dictator of Haiti (1957–71).
..... Click the link for more information. dictatorship. He studied theology and sociology in Canada, England, Italy, and Israel, and was ordained in 1982. Expelled from his order in 1988 because of his revolutionary teachings, he became the candidate of a coalition of leftist parties in the 1990 presidential elections and was elected with an overwhelming majority. He was overthrown in a bloody military coup seven months after taking office, and went into exile in Venezuela and later the United States. Aristide was returned to power in 1994 with the aid of the U.S. army. He formally resigned from the priesthood in 1994 and married in 1996. In 1995, René Préval was elected to succeed Aristide, who was barred from running. Aristide was again elected president in 2000, but political unrest resulting from contested parliamentary election results (also in 2000) led to political unrest and, in 2004, an armed uprising. Under pressure from the United States and France, Aristide resigned and went into exile; he subsequently accused U.S. and French officials of coercion and kidnapping.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1992).

Aristide, Jean-Bertrand

(born July 15, 1953, Port Salut, Haiti) First president of Haiti (1991, 1994–96, 2001–04) to be elected in free democratic elections. A priest in the Roman Catholic Salesian order, he aligned himself with the poor and opposed the harsh regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier, son of François Duvalier, often putting himself at odds with the church hierarchy and the military. Expelled by the Salesians in 1988, he formally requested that he be relieved of his priestly duties in 1994. In 1990 progressive-centre forces united behind Aristide and swept him into power. He initiated dramatic reforms but was ousted in a military coup after only seven months in office. Though restored to office in 1994 with the help of U.S. occupying troops, he received little aid with which to address his country's endemic ills. Constitutionally prohibited from seeking a consecutive term, he stepped down in 1996 but remained Haiti's most potent political figure. In 2000 he was reelected president amid charges of electoral fraud. A coup against Aristide failed in 2001, but unrest with his rule increased until a full-scale rebellion in 2004 forced him to flee the country.