Aristide, Jean-Bertrand (1953- )

President of Haiti 1990-91, 1994-95, and 2001-04. A left-wing Catholic priest opposed to the right-wing regime of the Duvalier family, he relinquished his priesthood in 1994 to concentrate on the presidency. He initially campaigned for the National Front for Change and Democracy, representing a loose coalition of peasants, trade unionists, and clerics. His return to power in 2001 on a similar platform was accompanied by parliamentary success for his new party of supporters, the Fanmi Lavalas (FL). He was twice overthrown in military coups, in 1991 and in 2004, after mounting political violence.

He won 70% of the vote in 1990, but was deposed by the military in September 1991 and took refuge in Venezuela and the USA. A United Nations arms and oil embargo was imposed on Haiti 1993-94 in an attempt to force Aristide's return, but the military did not step down and allow his return until September 1994, when threatened with a US invasion. Constitutionally barred from seeking a second term in December 1995, he was succeeded by his preferred candidate René Préval. However, Aristide became critical of Préval's policies, and formed the Fanmi Lavalas party in 1996. After Préval dissolved parliament in 1999, elections in 2000 returned Aristide to the presidency. He was overthrown in February 2004 after violence between his supporters and political opponents escalated and he was forced to flee the country.

Born in Port-Salut, he studied philosophy and psychology at universities in Haiti, Europe, and Israel, before being ordained as a priest in 1983. Working in the La Saline slums, he became an exponent of left-wing radical liberation theology.