Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: Historical Setting
1991, Archbishop Francois Wolff Ligonde gave a homily in the
Port-au-Prince Cathedral in which he called the president-elect
a "socio Bolshevik," and wondered whether this was the beginning
of a dictatorship. But he urged his parishioners not to be
afraid, saying "this, too, shall pass." On January 6, Roger Lafontant
attempted a coup. He arrested President Trouillot, forcing
her to resign, then went on television saying he had the support
of the army. Infuriated Haitians took to the streets in two
days of clashes with the police and army, and violence against
church property before the military arrested Lafontant and
restored President Trouillot to office. On January 27, Haitians
stifled the threat of a coup involving the imprisoned Lafontant.
On February 3, someone fire-bombed Aristide's orphanage,
Family Is Life (Lafanmi Selavi), killing four children. In the
seven weeks prior to the inauguration on February 7, 125 people
died of street violence and clashes with the army and
police.
The transfer of power on February 7, 1991, from President
Trouillot to an elected president, was unexpected and unprecedented.
Few people expected that Aristide would be allowed to
take office or that his presidency would last. They were halfright.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born in 1953 to a property-owning
peasant family from Port-Salut in southern Haiti. He was
sent to Port-au-Prince to be educated by the Salesian Order;
then, in 1966, to a seminary in Cap-Haitien. Thereafter he
became a novice in the Dominican Republic. Before ordination
in 1982, Aristide studied in Canada, Israel, Greece, and
Italy. Returning to Haiti in 1985, Father Aristide helped oust
Jean-Claude Duvalier and, subsequently, worked to eliminate
residual traces of Duvalierism.
Aristide's efforts created enemies. In 1986 his march to commemorate
victims of the notorious prison, Fort Dimanche, was
interrupted by bullets intended for him. In 1987 his jeep ride
to Jean Rabel to commemorate the peasants murdered by the
military almost cost him his life. In 1988 his mass at St. Jean
Bosco was halted by the military and by thugs who killed thirteen,
wounded seventeen others, and burned the church. In
1988 the Salesians removed him from their order for "incitement
of hatred and violence, glorifying class struggle, and profanation
of the liturgy." Aristide emerged stronger from each
of these confrontations. His popularity was reflected at the
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