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Jean Bertrand Aristide Biography And Net Worth
Meet Jean Bertrand Aristide: A Former Salesian Priest and Politician
Do you wanna know Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Politician. He was born in Port Salut on July 15, 1953. He is 70 years old. Get detailed information about him in this article.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Salesian priest who later entered politics. He was the country’s first democratically elected leader. Someone who supports liberation theology, Aristide was posted to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after finishing his studies to become a priest. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement both under the military transition administration that replaced Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier and before. With 67% of the vote, he won the general election in Haiti in 1990–1991. He practiced liberation theology as a priest and worked to legitimize Afro-Creole culture, especially the Vodou religion, in Haiti as president.
Bio Data
Name: | Jean Bertrand Aristide |
Category: | Richest Politicians › Presidents |
Net Worth: | $100 Million |
Date of Birth: | Jul 15, 1953 |
Place of Birth: | Port-Salut |
Age: | 70 years old |
Gender: | Male |
Nationality: | Haiti |
Profession: | Priest and Politician |
Biography
In Port-Salut, Sud, Haiti, on July 15, 1953, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into abject poverty. He was just three months old when his father went away, and finally, he and his mother relocated to Port-au-Prince. Aristide started going to school with Salesian priests when he was five years old. Later, he studied at the Collège Notre-Dame in Cap-Hatien, where he earned an honors degree in 1974. After that, Aristide studied in the Dominican Republic as a novitiate student. He returned to Haiti and attended the Grand Séminaire Notre Dame to study philosophy and the State University of Haiti to study psychology.
Career: Priesthood
Aristide traveled to Europe in 1979 to study religion. In 1982, after returning to Haiti to complete his Salesian priestly ordination, he was assigned curate of a tiny parish in Port-au-Prince. Aristide, a supporter of liberation theology, condemned the Duvalier family’s tyranny that was in place in Haiti at the time. The provincial representative of the Salesian order moved Aristide into exile in Montreal, Canada, where he lived for three years as the authorities began to target him for his criticism. In 1985, when popular resistance to the Duvalier government grew stronger, he resumed preaching in Haiti. Aristide was given a position at St. Jean Bosco Church in that year. He immediately started funding weekly youth masses, and in 1986 he established an orphanage for children living on the streets. Aristide continued to be a prominent target for assault because of his work to develop democracy in Haiti, and he escaped at least four assassination attempts.
Aristide was instructed to leave Haiti by Salesian leaders after the St. Jean Bosco massacre in 1988, in which Haitian paramilitary forces opened fire on the community and assaulted fleeing parishioners with machetes. However, tens of thousands of protesters blocked his path to the airport by blocking it. The Salesian order finally ousted Aristide for encouraging “hatred and violence.” In 1994, he formally quit the priesthood.
First Presidential Term
Aristide won the 1990 presidential election in Haiti after a six-week campaign, which is regarded as the first free and fair election in the nation’s history. But eight months into his term as president, he was overthrown by a military coup. Emmanuel Constant, the commander of the murder squad and a CIA informant, initiated a terror campaign against his followers after he was removed from office. Aristide was forced into exile and first traveled to Venezuela before arriving in the US.
President Clinton in the US pledged to send Aristide back to Haiti. Clinton sent US soldiers to Haiti when the military administration capitulated in response to sizable pro-Aristide rallies by Haitian expats and intense international pressure. In order to complete his term, Aristide was then re-elected president of Haiti in October 1994. The social-democratic political group Fanmi Lavalas, which was subsequently renamed the Struggling People’s Organization, was established by him the following year.
Second Presidential Term
Aristide won the election for a second term as president in 2000. It was said that during his second tenure, he deployed street gangs more frequently to maintain his control and frighten his political enemies. After gang boss Amiot Métayer was killed in 2003, Métayer’s supporters turned their attention to the president because they thought he had ordered the killing. Aristide was overthrown as opposition forces intensified their campaign in 2004 and finally invaded the city. Aristide and his family were transported from Haiti to Jamaica during the commotion. The family stayed there for several months before moving to South Africa.
Politics Achievements
Aristide made a number of social improvements in Haiti when he was president. His administration improved civil freedoms, doubled the minimum wage, built affordable housing, increased access to health care and education, strengthened safeguards for those facing criminal charges, and supported small farmers and fishers. Aristide and René Préval constructed 195 new elementary schools, and 104 new secondary schools, and gave thousands of kids scholarships. Aristide oversaw the development of an effective AIDS preventive and treatment program in the field of medicine. He also started the first paramilitary death squad trials, which were successful in putting many of its members and powerful backers behind bars.
Net Worth
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a former Salesian priest and politician who has a net worth of $100 million.
Controversies
Even though he promoted democracy and individual rights, Aristide was accused of violating several human rights as president. He was accused by Human Rights Watch of encouraging the assaults on opposition activists by the Haitian police force that worked for him. Due to his government’s suspected dealings with several firms, Aristide was also charged with corruption.
Personal Life
Aristide wed lawyer Mildred Trouillot in the first quarter of 1996. Together, they have two daughters.
FAQs
Who is Jean Bertrand Aristide?
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a former Salesian priest and politician.
How old is Jean Bertrand Aristide?
70 years
Who was the best president in Haiti?
Where was Jean-Bertrand Aristide born?
Port Salut, Haiti
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