Timeline Haiti
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CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ha.html
Early History: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/haiti/history.html
Island Connoisseur: http://www.caribbeansupersite.com/haiti/history.htm
Haiti Global Village: http://www.haitiglobalvillage.com/
MedaliaArt: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/haiti/history.html
Lanic: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/haiti/
Religious History: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/index-i.html
Timeline: http://www.language-works.com/Haiti/history.htm
USLC: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html
USSD: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/haiti_0398_bgn.html
Haiti and the Dominican Republic comprise the Island
of Hispaniola.
(WUD, 1994, p.673)(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A15)
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share a 243-mile border on the
Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but the countries have long had an
uneasy coexistence.
(AP, 3/3/06)
1492 Dec 5,
Columbus discovered Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
(http://tinyurl.com/dfzzk)
1492 Dec 24-1492 Dec 25, The Santa
Maria under Columbus ran aground on a reef off Espanola on Christmas
eve, and sank the next day. With the remains of the Santa Maria,
Columbus built a fort and called it La Navidad
(http://tinyurl.com/dfzzk)
1493 Jan 2, Columbus left 40 crew
members on La Navidad, Hispaniola, and sailed eastward along the coast.
He left behind instructions for the crew to obtain gold and find its
source. When he returned on his 2nd voyage he found the town burned and
all the Spaniards dead.
(www1.minn.net/~keithp/v1.htm)
1493 Jan 16, Columbus aboard the
Nina departed Hispaniola along with the Pinta to return to Spain.
(www1.minn.net/~keithp/v1.htm)
1493 Nov 22, Christopher Columbus
arrived at Hispaniola.
(AM, 7/97,
p.54,60)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1493 Nov 28, Christopher Columbus
arrived La Navidad, Hispaniola. He found the fort burned and his men
from the 1st voyage dead. According to the account of Guacanagari, the
local chief who had befriended Columbus on the first voyage, the men at
Navidad had fallen to arguing among themselves over women and gold.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1493 Dec 8, Christopher Columbus
and his crew of 1,500 built the town of La Isabela on the northern
coast of the Dominican Republic. It was abandoned within 5 years due in
part to poor relations with the Taino Indians. This area was part of
the chiefdom of Higuey.
(AM, 7/97,
p.54,60)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1496 Mar 10, Christopher Columbus
concluded his 2nd visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Isabela,
with 2 ships for Spain. He returned to Spain to ask for more support
for his colony on Hispaniola.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1522 A massive slave rebellion,
the first of dozens, was crushed in Hispaniola.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1537 Maria de Rojas y Toledo,
widow of Christopher Columbus' son Diego, was allowed to send the bones
of her husband and his father to the cathedral in Santo Domingo for
burial. There they lay until 1795, when Spain ceded the island of
Hispaniola to France and decided Columbus' remains should not fall into
foreigners' hands. A set of remains that the Spaniards thought were
Columbus' were then dug up from behind the main altar in the newly
built cathedral and shipped to a cathedral in Havana, where they
remained until the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 and Spain
brought them to Seville. But in 1877, workers digging inside the Santo
Domingo cathedral unearthed a leaden box containing 13 large bone
fragments and 28 small ones. It was inscribed "Illustrious and
distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon." The Dominicans said these
were the real remains of Columbus and that the Spaniards must have
taken the wrong remains in 1795.
(AP, 5/20/97)(HN, 5/20/99)(AP, 10/13/02)(SFC,
1/18/05, p.A8)
1697 Sep 20, The Treaty of Ryswick
was signed in Holland. It ended the War of the Grand Alliance (aka War
of the League of Augsburg,1688-1697) between France and the Grand
Alliance. Under the Treaty France’s King Louis XIV (1638-1715)
recognized William III (1650-1702) as King of England. The Dutch
received trade concessions, and France and the Grand Alliance members
(Holland and the Austrian Hapsburgs) gave up most of the land they had
conquered since 1679. The signees included France, England, Spain and
Holland. By the Treaty of Ryswick, a portion of Hispaniola was formally
ceded to France and became known as Saint-Domingue. The remaining
Spanish section was called Santo Domingo.
(www.caribbeanguides.net/hispaniola.htm)(www.jacobite.ca/documents/1697ryswick.htm)
1743 May 20, [Francois D]
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitian leader, was born on the Breda plantation
in Santo Domingo.
(MC, 5/20/02)(AP, 4/7/03)
1772 Jun 6, Haitian explorer Jean
Baptiste-Pointe DuSable settled Chicago. [see Mar 12, 1773]
(MC, 6/6/02)
1773 Mar 12, Jeanne Baptiste
Pointe de Sable settled what is now known as Chicago. [see Jun 6, 1772]
(MC, 3/12/02)
1780 Oct 10, A Great Hurricane
killed 20,000 to 30,000 in Caribbean.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1785 Apr 26, John James Audubon
(d.1851), American naturalist, bird watcher (ornithologist) and artist,
was born in Haiti and educated in France. The engraving of America's
indigenous turkey, which Benjamin Franklin nominated as the national
bird, appeared in John James Audubon's classic work "Birds of America,"
a book of 435 hand-colored engravings prepared from his wildlife
paintings begun in 1820. An artist and naturalist, Audubon was one of
the first to study and paint American birds in their natural
surroundings. Audubon came to America at 18 and failed in several
business ventures.
(440 Int’l. internet,4/26/97, p.5)(AP, 4/26/98)(HN,
4/26/98)(HNPD, 7/15/98)
1790 Oct 23, Slaves revolted in
Haiti.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1791 Aug 14, Haitian slaves, led
by voodoo priest Boukman Dutty, gathered to plan a revolution.
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.9)( http://tinyurl.com/yun3k3)
1791 In St. Domingue Toussaint
L’Ouverture joined the slave rebellion against plantation owners and
later led a colonial revolt against France. In 1995 Madison Smart Bell
authored "All Souls Rising," a novel set in this period.
(SFEC, 1/26/97 BR, p.10)(SSFC, 4/8/01, BR p.4)(SFCM,
5/30/04, p.10)
1793 Aug 29, Slavery was abolished
in the French colony of Santo Domingo (Haiti).
(HN, 8/29/98)(MC, 8/29/01)
1793 Sep, The 1st British soldiers
came ashore at St. Domingue.
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.10)
1794 Feb 4, France’s First
Republic (Convention) voted for the abolition of slavery in all French
colonies. The abolition decree stated that "the Convention declares the
slavery of the Blacks abolished in all the colonies; consequently, all
men, irrespective of color, living in the colonies are French citizens
and will enjoy all the rights provided by the Constitution." Slavery
was restored by the Consulate in 1802, and was definitively abolished
in 1848 by the Second Republic, on Victor Schoelcher’s initiative.
(www.ambafrance-uk.org/Slavery-Slavery-was-abolished-in.html)
1794 Feb 4, Slaves in Haiti won
emancipation.
(AP, 4/7/03)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)
1794 May 6, In Haiti Toussaint
Louverture (L’Ouverture), Haitian rebel leader, ended his alliance with
the Iberian monarchy and embraced the French Republicans. An order
followed that led to the massacre of Spaniards.
(www.travelinghaiti.com/history_of_haiti/toussaint_louverture.asp)(WSJ,
1/19/07, p.W4)
1794 Jun 4, British troops
captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(HN, 6/4/98)
1794-1801 In 2001 Madison Smart Bell authored "Master
of the Crossroads," a novel set in this period.
(SSFC, 4/8/01, BR p.4)
1795 Jul 22, Spain signed the
Peace of Basel, a treaty with France ending the War of the Pyrenees.
The treaty ceded Santo Domingo to France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Basel)
1795 A set of remains that the
Spaniards believed to be of Christopher Columbus were dug up from
behind the main altar in the newly built cathedral of Santo Domingo and
shipped to a cathedral in Havana, where they remained until the
Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, when Spain brought them to
Seville. In 1877 workers digging inside the Santo Domingo cathedral
unearthed a leaden box containing 13 large bone fragments and 28 small
ones. It was inscribed "Illustrious and distinguished male, don
Cristobal Colon." The Dominicans said these were the real remains of
Columbus and that the Spaniards must have taken the wrong remains.
(SFC, 1/18/05, p.A8)
1796 Apr 2, Haitian revolt leader
Toussaint L’Ouverture commanded French forces at Santo Domingo.
(AP, 4/2/99)
1797 Mar 4, Vice-President John
Adams, elected President on December 7, to replace George Washington,
was sworn in. Adams soon selected Timothy Pickering as his secretary of
state. Pickering extended aid to Haitian slaves in their ongoing revolt
against French colonists. This policy was reversed under Jefferson.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.M6)
1800 Dessalines, a lieutenant of
Haitian rebel leader Toussaint L'Ouverture (Louverture),
butchered many mulattoes (the estimates range from 200 to 10,000).
(http://tinyurl.com/22xwby)(WSJ, 1/19/07, p.W4)
1801 Jan, Toussaint Louverture,
ignoring the commands of Napoleon Bonaparte, overran Spanish Santo
Domingo, where slavery persisted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L'Ouverture)
1801 Jul 7, A new constitution,
drafted by a committee appointed by Toussaint Louverture (L’Ouverture),
went into effect and declared independence of Hispaniola. The
constitution made him governor general for life with near absolute
powers. L’Ouverture seized power in Haiti from French control.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L'Ouverture)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)
1802 Feb, Napoleon sent a large
army under his brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, to regain control of
St. Domingue. Thousands of soldiers died mainly to yellow fever and
French control was abandoned so as to support military ventures in
Europe. Toussaint L'Ouverture turned to guerrilla warfare inspired by
the ideals of the French Revolution and its motto of "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity."
(CO, Grolier's, 11/10/95)(AP, 4/7/03)
1802 Jul 8, Toussaint L'Ouverture
captured and sent to France in chains.
(AP, 4/7/03)
1802 Aug 7, Napoleon ordered the
re-instatement of slavery on St. Domingue (Haiti).
(MC, 8/7/02)
1802 Aug 25, Toussaint L'Ouverture
was imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1803 Apr 7, Francois D. Toussaint
L'Ouverture (Louverture), Haitian revolutionary, died in a dungeon at
Fort Joux in the French Alps. In 2007 Madison Smartt Bell authored
“Toussaint Louverture: A Biography.”
(AP,
4/7/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L'Ouverture)(SFC,
1/15/07, p.D7)
1803 Nov 18, The Battle of
Vertieres was fought. Jean-Jacques Dessalines (b.1758), Haitian rebel
leader, led his army to decisive victory over the French with his
slogan "Cut off their heads and burn down their houses."
(HFA, ‘96, p.42)(AP,
4/7/03)(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1804 Jan 1, Jacques Dessalines
proclaimed the Republic of Haiti and declared independence from France
(National Day).
(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.19)
1804 Apr 20, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines, Haitian rebel leader, commanded a massacre of the French at
town of Cape Francois. It is generally thought that Dessalines had
around 20,000 French slaughtered in early 1804.
(http://tinyurl.com/yu94s8)(http://tinyurl.com/23fdxf)
1804 Oct 6, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines (b.1758) had himself crowned James I, Emperor of Haiti. He
was murdered two years later in a conspiracy under Christophe and
Pétion.
(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1806 Oct 17, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines (b.1758), Emp. Jacques I of Haiti, was assassinated.
(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1825 A French emissary of Charles
X demanded that Haiti pay 150 million gold francs in exchange for
recognition as French warships cruised over the horizon. The deal
required 5 annual payments of 30 million and required a loan from a
French bank for the 1st payment. Haiti renegotiated the debt in 1838.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
1838 France agreed to reduce
Haiti's 1825 "debt" to 60 million fold francs to be paid over 30 years.
The final payment was made in 1883.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A6)
1844 Feb 27, Dominican Republic
gained independence from Haiti (National Day). [see Nov 6]
(MC, 2/27/02)
1844 Nov 6, Spain granted
independence to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic won
independence from next door Haiti after 2 occupations. [see Feb 27]
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)(MC, 11/6/01)
1883 Haiti made its final payment
to France of the 1825 "debt," renegotiated in 1838. In 2004 Haiti
demanded nearly 22 billion in restitution.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
1907 Apr 14, Francois "Papa Doc"
Duvalier, dictator of Haiti, was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
c1913-1997 Simone Duvalier, wife of Francois "Papa
Doc" and mother of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1915 Jan 27, US Marines occupied
Haiti. [see Jul 29]
(MC, 1/27/02)
1915 Jul 3, US military forces
occupied Haiti, and remained until 1934. [see Jan 27, Jul 29]
(MC, 7/3/02)
1915 Jul 28, US forces invaded
Haiti and stayed until 1924.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1915 Jul 29, U.S. Marines landed
at Port-au-Prince to protect American interests in Haiti. Roger
Gaillard (d.2000 at 77), historian, later wrote a multi-volume
chronicle of the US Marine occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934.
(HN, 7/29/98)(SFC, 5/27/00, p.a26)
1915 Sep 4, The U.S. military
placed Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital
Port-au-Prince.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1916 Feb 28, Haiti became the
first U.S. protectorate.
(HN, 2/28/98)
1934 Aug 16, US ended its
occupation of Haiti (begun in 1915).
(MC, 8/16/02)
1937 Mar 6, Jose Pena Gomez
(d.1998 at 61), advocate for the poor and later mayor of Santo Domingo,
was born in Valverde, Dominican Republic, to Haitian immigrants.
According to Jose Pena Gomez, a Dominican massacre of Haitians forced
his parents to flee back to Haiti. Jose was adopted by a Dominican
family.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)
1937 Thousands of Haitian
immigrants were massacred in the Dominican Republic. In 1998 the novel
"The Farming of Bones" by Edwidge Danticat was based on this event.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, BR p.3)
1939 Simone Ovide, illegitimate
daughter of Jules Faine, a mulatto merchant and scholar, married
Francis Duvalier, a young doctor.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17p.A17)
1949 Francois Duvalier became the
minister of public health and labor.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1951 Jul 3, Jean-Claude Duvalier,
[Papa Doc], deposed Haitian president-for-life, was born.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1953 Jul 15, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, president of Haiti (1991, 1994-1995 ), was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1953 Felix Morisseau-Leroy (d.1998
at 86) premiered his play "Antigone" in Port-au-Prince. It was the
first serious play in the native Creole language.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A21)
1954 Sep 25, Francois "Doc"
Duvalier won the Haitian presidential election.
(MC, 9/25/01)
1957 Francois Duvalier won the
election for the presidency. He spent 14 years in office.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1963 Oct 4-1963 Oct 8, Hurricane
Flora, killed some 7-8,000 people in Cuba and Haiti.
(SFC, 11/30/98, p.A2)
1963-1975 Rene Preval lived in exile from Haiti,
while it was ruled by the Duvalier dictatorship.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-10)
1966 In 2007 researchers said HIV
was brought to Haiti by an infected person from central Africa, and
then came to the United States in about 1969. The researchers think an
unknown single infected Haitian immigrant arrived in a large city like
Miami or New York, and the virus circulated for years, first in the US
population and then to other nations.
(AP, 10/30/07)
1968 Marie Vieux-Chauvet
(1916-1973) published her Haitian trilogy “Love, Anger, Madness.” It
was withdrawn soon after publication France following a government
warning that it would endanger the author’s family. It was released
again in France in 2005 and in English in 2009.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.78)
1968 Jean Dominique (d.2000)
purchased the lease on Radio Haiti Inter and initiated broadcasts in
Creole. Dominique was forced in to exile in 1980, but returned in 1986.
(SFC, 4/30/04, p.E6)
1971 Apr 21, In Haiti Francois
"Papa Doc" Duvalier (b.1907) died. He was succeeded by his teenage son
Jean-Claude "Baby-Doc" Duvalier, under the guidance of Simone Duvalier,
aka "Mama Doc."
(SFC,12/31/97,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier)
1980 Aug 5, Hurricane "Allen"
battered the southern peninsula of Haiti, leaving more than 200 dead in
its wake. Hurricane Allen went on to hit the southeastern US.
(AP, 8/5/00)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A17)
1980 Jean-Claude Duvalier married
Michele Bennett in a lavish wedding ceremony.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1980 In Haiti Journalist Richard
Brisson (d.1982) was sent into exile under the rule of dictator
Jean-Claude Duvalier.
(SFC, 10/20/98, p.C12)
1982 Jan, In Haiti journalist
Richard Brisson was murdered. He was part of a small group of
guerrillas attempting to overthrow dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.
Brisson died in detention between Jan. 11 and March 26 after
interrogation by the military. The manager of his station, he was
arrested with two others on Jan. 11 and charged with attempting to
topple the government of then-President Jean-Claude Duvalier.
(SFC, 10/20/98,
p.C12)(www.newseum.org/scripts/Journalist/Detail.asp?PhotoID=465)
1985 Students in Gonaives, Haiti,
began a popular uprising that led to the fall of the Duvalier family
dictatorship.
(Econ, 2/14/04, p.33)
1986 Feb 1, In Haiti 2 days of
anti-government riots in Port-au-Prince resulted in 14 dead.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1986 Feb 7, Haitian
President-for-Life Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was ousted from
power and fled his country, ending 28 years of family rule. He fled to
France with his wife and mother. Henri Namphy became leader of Haiti.
Duvalier and his cronies reportedly embezzled some $500 million during
his last decade of rule.
(TMC, 1994, p.1986)(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)(AP,
2/7/97)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.A1)
1987 The new Constitution
abolished the death penalty.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)
1987 In Haiti Paul Farmer,
American doctor and anthropologist, helped create a community-based
health care system called Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health). Partners
In Health (PIH) was founded by Farmer, Thomas J. White, and Todd
McCormack to support activities in Cange. In 2003 Tracy Kidder authored
“Mountains Beyond Mountains,” the story of Dr. Farmer. In 2004 Farmer
authored “Pathologies of Power.”
(Econ, 1/3/04,
p.61)(www.pih.org/whoweare/history.html)(SFC, 2/8/08, p.E1)
1988 Jan 17, Haiti held a
presidential election run by the military-led junta that was boycotted
by the opposition.
(AP, 1/17/98)
1988 Jan 24, The government of
Haiti declared Leslie Manigat winner of that country's presidential
election. However, Manigat was overthrown by Haiti's military leader,
Lt. Gen. Henri Hamphy, the following June.
(AP, 1/24/98)
1988 Feb 7, Leslie Manigat was
sworn in as Haiti's president. However, he lost power the following
June.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1988 Sep 17, Haitian President
Henri Hamphy was ousted in a coup; Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared
himself president the following day.
(AP, 9/17/98)
1988 Sep 11, In Haiti 12
people died when the San Juan Bosco Church was burned.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-5568.html)
1988 Some 4,000 tons of toxic ash
from an incinerator in Philadelphia, that wandered the oceans since
1986, was dumped in Lapierre, Haiti.
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.A10)
1989 In Haiti Guy Francois
(d.2006), commander of the feared Dessalines Battalion in
Port-au-Prince, was accused of conspiring with other officers in a
failed attempt to topple dictator Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril. The plot was
foiled and Francois fled to Venezuela. He later returned.
(AP, 9/15/06)
1990 Mar 10, Haitian ruler Lt.
Gen. Prosper Avril resigned during a popular uprising against his
military regime.
(AP, 3/10/00)
1990 Dec 16, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, a left-leaning former Catholic priest, was elected president
of Haiti in the country’s first democratic elections. He was overthrown
in a military coup in 1991, but was later restored to power.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A12)(AP, 12/16/00)
1991 Jan 7, Loyalist troops in
Haiti crushed a coup attempt that had threatened the transition of
power to the country’s first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
(AP, 1/7/01)
1991 Feb 7, The Rev. Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's first democratically elected
president.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1991 Sep 30, In Haiti the military
under Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the
country's first freely elected president. He was later returned to
power. The Prime Minister, Rene Preval, managed to escape to the French
embassy hidden in the trunk of a car.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-10)(AP, 9/30/01)(ST, 3/2/04,
p.A1)
1991 Oct 1, President Bush
strongly condemned the military coup in Haiti, suspending U.S. economic
and military aid and demanding the immediate return to power of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 10/1/01)
1991 Oct 2, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide asked the Organization of American
States in Washington to send a delegation to his homeland to demand
that the newly installed military junta surrender power immediately.
(AP, 10/2/01)
1991 Oct 4, Pres. Bush signed
Executive Order 12775 which prohibited certain transactions with
respect to Haiti.
(www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1991.html#12775)
1991 Oct 29, The US
suspended all trade with Haiti, excluding basic foods and medicines and
commercial flights, and ordered home all nonessential US government
employees and their dependents.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1992/WR92/AMW2.htm)
1991 Nov 23, The bodies of 35
drowned Haitian refugees were recovered off the coast of eastern Cuba.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1991 Haitian refugees fled to the
US base at Guantanamo, Cuba. Hundreds were refused further passage to
the US, many because of HIV infection.
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A7)
1991-1994 Emmanuel "Toto" Constant headed the Front
for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti. He was also a paid US CIA
agent and members of FRAPH were believed responsible for many of the
3,000 political killings over this period. Louis-Jodel Chamblain
co-founded FRAPH.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A14)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A3)
1992 Feb 2, The U.S. Coast Guard
shipped home 250 more Haitian refugees from the Guantanamo Bay Naval
Base in Cuba, a day after repatriating a shipload of about 150 Haitians.
(AP, 2/2/02)
1992 May 21: The Coast Guard
announced that high-seas interdiction of Haitian refugees was being
drastically scaled back because refugee camps at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo, Cuba, were filled.
(AP, 5/21/97)
1992 May 23, Pres. Bush issued
Executive Order 12807 authorizing the repatriation of Haitian refugees
interdicted by the Coast Guard.
(http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/nov91.htm)
1992 May 26, The White House
announced that the Coast Guard was returning a group of Haitian
refugees picked up at sea to their homeland under a new executive order
signed by Bush.
(AP, 5/26/97)
1992 Aug 1, The US Supreme Court
permitted the Bush administration to continue returning Haitians
intercepted at sea to their Caribbean homeland.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1993 Feb 16-1993 Feb 17, An
overcrowded ferry carrying up to 1,500 people sank between Jeremie and
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing an estimated 500-700 people; only 285
people were known to have survived.
(AP, 2/17/98)(AP, 2/3/06)
1993 Mar 16, President Clinton met
with ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; afterward,
Clinton announced he was sending a special envoy to Haiti to seek a
return to democracy.
(AP, 3/16/98)
1993 Jun 16, The UN authorized an
arms and oil embargo against Haiti.
(www.un.org/News/ossg/haiti.htm)
1993 Jun 21, The US Supreme Court
ruled that Haitian boat people could be stopped at sea and returned
home without asylum hearings.
(AP, 6/21/98)
1993 Jul 3, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Haiti's military chief, Lt. Gen.
Raoul Cedras, separately signed an accord designed to return Aristide
to power.
(AP, 7/3/98)
1993 Aug 27, The U.N. Security
Council suspended 2 1/2-month-old economic sanctions against Haiti to
spur the country's return to democracy. They were reimposed the
following October.
(AP, 8/27/98)
1993 Aug 30, Robert Malval was
installed as prime minister of Haiti during a ceremony at the Haitian
Embassy in Washington.
(AP, 8/30/98)
1993 Sep 11, Antoine Izmery, a
prominent supporter of exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
was shot and killed outside a church in Port-au-Prince; the UN mission
accused Haitian armed forces of involvement. Louis-Jodel Chamblain was
later convicted in absentia for his role in the murder.
(AP, 9/11/98)(SFC, 3/24/04, p.A9)
1993 Oct 11, In Haiti, army-backed
toughs prevented American troops from landing as part of a U.N. peace
mission and drove away U.S. diplomats waiting to greet the soldiers.
(AP, 10/11/98)
1993 Oct 12, Hundreds of militant
right-wingers in Haiti cheered as an American warship retreated in a
major setback for a U.N. mission to restore democracy.
(HN, 10/12/98)
1993 Oct 13, The U.N. Security
Council voted to reimpose sanctions on Haiti unless military leaders
there stopped violating a U.N.-brokered accord.
(AP, 10/13/98)
1993 Oct 14, In Haiti, gunmen
assassinated Justice Minister Guy Malary, a supporter of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A15)(AP, 10/14/98)
1993 Oct 15, President Clinton
sent six warships to the waters off Haiti to enforce trade sanctions in
the face of defiant Haitian military rulers.
(AP, 10/15/98)
1993 Oct 16, The U.N. Security
Council endorsed the deployment of U.S. warships to block arms and oil
shipments to Haiti in an attempt to increase pressure on Haiti's
military leaders.
(AP, 10/16/98)
1993 Oct 19, The United States
intercepted its first ship bound for Haiti since an oil and weapons
embargo was reimposed by United Nations.
(AP, 10/19/98)
1993 Oct 28, A US CIA report
mentioned FRAPH and Emmanuel Constant in connection with the killing of
Justice Minister Guy Mallory. The report says the Haitian junta’s chief
of staff, Gen. Philippe Biamby and his associates coordinated the
murder.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A15)
1993 Oct 28, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, speaking at the United Nations,
called for a trade blockade to Haiti to force out its military leaders.
(AP, 10/28/98)
1993 Oct 30, A United Nations
deadline for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return
to power passed with the country's military still in control.
(AP, 10/30/03)
1993 Nov 5, Talks on restoring
ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power collapsed when
military representatives failed to attend.
(AP, 11/5/98)
1994 Feb 15, US asked Aristide to
adopt a peace plan for Haiti.
(http://tinyurl.com/bwfuh)
1994 Apr 22, In Robateau, Haiti, a
shantytown of Gonaives city, soldiers and paramilitary burst into
dozens of homes and beat and killed a number of people. In 2000 16
ex-soldiers and cohorts were found guilty of the massacre. Another 38
people, charged with masterminding the killings and all living in
exile, were scheduled for a later trial. Another 37 defendants were
tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison. Louis-Jodel
Chamblain was among those convicted in absentia for his role in the
murders.
(SFC, 11/11/00, p.A14)(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D6)(SFC,
3/24/04, p.A9)
1994 May 22, A worldwide trade
embargo against Haiti went into effect to punish Haiti's military
rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 5/22/99)
1994 Jun 10, President Clinton
intensified sanctions against Haiti's military leaders, suspending U.S.
commercial air travel and most financial transactions between the two
countries.
(AP, 6/10/99)
1994 Jun 27, U.S. Coast Guard
cutters intercepted 1,330 Haitian boat people on the high seas in one
of the busiest days since refugees began leaving Haiti following a 1991
military coup.
(AP, 6/27/99)
1994 Jul 5, In an attempt to halt
a surge of Haitian refugees, the Clinton administration announced it
was refusing entry to new Haitian boat people.
(AP, 7/5/99)
1994 Jul 11, Haiti's army-backed
regime ordered the expulsion of international human rights observers.
(AP, 7/11/99)
1994 Jul 31, The U.N. Security
Council authorized member states to use "all necessary means" to oust
the military leadership in Haiti.
(AP, 7/31/99)
1994 Aug 1, Supporters of Haiti's
military rulers declared their intention to fight back in the face of a
U.N. resolution paving the way for a U.S.-led invasion.
(AP, 8/1/99)
1994 Sep 10, President Clinton,
Vice President Al Gore and top national security advisers met to
discuss intervention in Haiti, but made no final decisions.
(AP, 9/10/99)
1994 Sep 18, Haiti's military
leaders agreed to an Oct. 15 departure deadline, thereby averting a
U.S.-led invasion to force them from power.
(AP, 9/18/04)
1994 Sep 19, Some 3,000 U.S.
troops peacefully entered Haiti to enforce the return of exiled
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The US operation Uphold Democracy
began in Haiti and ended Mar 31, 1995. They cost $1.1 billion and left
4 US casualties with 3 wounded.
(AP,
9/19/99)(www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/haiti/haiti99.htm)
1994 Sep 22, The United States
stepped up its military control of Haiti, breaking up heavy weapons,
guarding pro-democracy activists and giving U.S. troops more leeway to
use force.
(AP, 9/22/99)
1994 Sep 24, A firefight erupted
between U.S. Marines and a group of armed Haitians outside a police
station in the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien; 10 of the Haitians
were killed.
(AP, 9/24/99)
1994 Sep, Pres. Clinton ordered
20,000 US troops into Haiti to restore a democratically elected
government and to stop the flow of boat people to Florida.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)
1994 Oct 2, U.S. soldiers in Haiti
detained several leaders of the country's pro-army militias as part of
an effort to dismantle armed opposition to restoration of elected rule.
(AP, 10/2/99)
1994 Oct 3, U.S. soldiers in Haiti
raided the headquarters of a hated pro-army militia.
(AP, 10/3/99)
1994 Oct 4, Exiled Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vowed in an address to the U.N.
General Assembly to return to Haiti in 11 days.
(AP, 10/4/99)
1994 Oct 10, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras
resigned as commander-in-chief of Haiti's armed forces and pledged to
leave the country.
(AP, 10/10/99)
1994 Oct 11, U.S. troops in Haiti
took over the National Palace.
(AP, 10/11/99)
1994 Oct 15, Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to his country, three years after being
overthrown by army rulers. The U.N. Security Council welcomed
Aristide's return by voting to lift stifling trade sanctions imposed
against Haiti. The US had led an invasion, Operation Restore Democracy,
to restore Pres. Aristide. Emmanuel "Toto" Constant left Haiti for the
US when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was reinstated as president. The US
invasion was described in 1999 by Bob Shacochis in "The Immaculate
Invasion." Shacochis served there for 18 months as a Special Forces
noncombatant.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A10)(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A14)(SFEC,
2/14/99, BR p.1)(WSJ, 2/18/99, p.A20)(AP, 10/15/99)
1994 Oct, US Pres. Clinton cited
FRAPH as a primary reason for US military intervention.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A14)
1994 Nov 8-21, Hurricane Gordon
caused 1,137 deaths in the Caribbean and eight in the United States.
The storm hit Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti before striking Florida.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1994 Nov 14, Heavy rains and
flooding from Tropical Storm Gordon swept across Haiti, killing several
hundred people.
(AP, 11/14/99)
1994 Police chief Lt. Col. Michel
Francois fled to the Dominican Republic 2 weeks after the arrival of US
troops.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A10)
1994 Susie Scott Krabacher, Miss
Playboy for May 1983, organized the construction of a health-care
center and food-kitchen for abandoned children in Haiti.
(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A1)
1995 Jan 6, Haitians housed at
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba were sent home by the U.S. military
against the refugees' will and over protests of refugee advocates.
(AP, 1/6/00)
1995 Jan 12, In Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, an American soldier was killed and another wounded during a
shootout with a former Haitian army officer who also was killed.
(AP, 1/12/00)
1995 Feb 6, Pres.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the Haitian army and replaced it with
a civilian police force.
(AP, 2/11/04)
1995 Feb 23, Former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter arrived in Haiti to help prepare for peaceful elections.
(AP, 2/23/00)
1995 Feb 25, Former President
Jimmy Carter wound up a 54-hour visit to Haiti, denying he'd been given
a chilly reception by Haitians whom he'd helped save from a potentially
bloody U.S.-led intervention.
(AP, 2/25/00)
1995 Mar, The UN began a mission
to train a new Haitian police force to replace the demobilized army.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)
1995 May 13, Army Capt. Lawrence
Rockwood was convicted at his court-martial in Fort Drum, N.Y., of
conducting an unauthorized investigation of reported human rights
abuses at a Haitian prison. Rockwood was dismissed from the military
the next day.
(AP, 5/13/05)
1995 Nov 23, A wave of violence in
Haiti claimed at least 3 more deaths following President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's Nov. 7 call for a disarmament campaign.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1995 Nov, Port-au-Prince, a
member of Haiti's Parliament was shot dead and another seriously
wounded.
(WSJ, 11/7/95, p.A-1)
1995 Nov, Aristide agreed to step
down on Feb. 7, 1996 and the elections would be held on Dec. 17, 1995.
Last week 47 boat people drowned trying to get to the US.
(WSJ, 11/28/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec 17, Low voter turnout
marked the elections and Rene Preval appears to have won in the field
of 14 candidates.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec 23, Rene Preval,
Aristide's protege, was elected president. Term limit prohibited
Aristide from running.
(AP, 2/11/04)
1995 The home of presidential
candidate Leon Jeune was sprayed with bullets. He was a front runner
against the incumbent party, Lavalas, whose candidate was Rene Preval.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-17)
1995 In Haiti Jean Jean-Pierre
produced the First Int'l. Haitian Roots Music Festival.
(NH, 12/98, p.8)
1996 Apr 2, More than 100 Haitians
died when a ferry sank.
(WSJ, 4/3/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 31, Residents of a small
town were enraged at the slaying of their mayor in Port-au-Prince and
stormed a rural police station where 7 suspects were being held and
hacked them to death.
(SFC, 6/1/96, p.A12)
1996 Mar, More than 100 people
were drowned when a ferry sank off the southwest peninsula.
(SFC, 9/9/97, p.A10)
1996 Jun 21, The US refused to
return Emmanuel "Toto" Constant to Haiti to face charges of leading a
terror campaign against pro democracy forces while being paid as a CIA
agent.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A14)
1996 Jun 26, At least 30 children
died of acute kidney failure after taking contaminated liquid
acetaminophen made by a company in Haiti. Another 38 were being treated
for acute kidney failure. Glycerin from China was contaminated with
diethylene glycol as it was shipped to Haiti. It was then used in
children's medication that killed 86 people from 1995-1996.
(SFC, 6/26/96, p.A9)(AP, 10/27/06)
1996 Jun 28, The UN Security
Council voted to extend the peacekeeper force in Haiti for 5 more
months.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 12, The unemployment rate
hovered at 80%.
(SFC, 8/12/96, p.A14)
1996 Aug 19, In Haiti about 20
former soldiers attacked the Port-au-Prince police headquarters. One
person, a shoeshine man, was killed and several injured.
(SFC, 8/20/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 20, Two conservative
politicians were killed in drive-by shootings.
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 26, The US announced the
return to Haiti of documents confiscated 2 years ago from the Haitian
army and pro-military party.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A13)
1996 Oct 1, It was confirmed that
a plot to undermine the government was squelched. The Committee of
Soldiers’ Demands, representing former soldiers, had plotted to
destabilize the government. More US trained Haitian-American police
officers and money from the IMF was expected before the expiration of
the current UN mandate.
(SFC, 10/2/96, p.A7)
1996 Nov 30, The current UN
mandate in Haiti expired. It was extended one year.
(SFC, 10/2/96, p.A7)(SFEC,11/30/97, p.A20)
1996 The Aristide Foundation was
founded to low-cost loans and assistance to the Haitian people.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A12)
1997 Jan 9, Former Pres.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide began forming a new political party called the
Lavalas Family. Lavalas means flash flood and is synonymous with
democracy.
(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A15)
1997 Jan 16, Strikes swept the
country and protestors demanded the resignation of premier Rosny Smarth
and an end to IMF-backed austerity measures..
(WSJ, 1/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar 7, The former Haiti
police chief, Lt. Col. Michel Francois, was arrested in Honduras for
helping to smuggle 33 tons of Columbian drugs through Haiti into the
US. Francois had fled to the Dominican Republic in 1994.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A10)
1997 Jun 9, Premier Rosny Smarth
resigned over differences in the legislative voting of Apr 6 that many
observers say was rigged. At stake was an int’l. austerity plan
supported by Smarth and opposed by Aristide.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Jul 17, Disney sub-contractor
H.H. Cutler announced that it would terminate its business in Haiti due
to slumping sales of children’s clothes. Some 2,300 jobs would be lost.
Int’l. activists had criticized the operations for wages as low as $.28
per hour. The unemployment rate was at 80%.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 8, In Haiti the ferry,
Pride of Gonave, sank in the Saint Marc Channel off Montrouis. The
60-foot vessel was chartered for only 80 passengers. The recovered
bodies numbered 170. A Haitian ferry, the Pride of Gonave, capsized,
killing about three-quarters of the 200 people aboard.
(SFC, 9/9/97, p.A10)(SFC, 9/10/97, p.A10)(WSJ,
9/17/97, p.A1)(AP, 9/8/98)
1997 Nov 5, It was reported that
falling orders for H.H. Cutler, a contractor for the Walt Disney Corp.,
left some 800 employees without jobs. The minimum wage was quoted as
$2.12 per day.
(SFC,11/5/97, p.C2)
1997 Nov 30, The UN mandate for
peace-keeping forces ended and 1,170 soldiers prepared to leave.
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.A20)
1997 Dec 26, Simone Duvalier, wife
of Francois "Papa Doc" and mother of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier,
died in France.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1998 Jan, In the Dominican
Republic the 6-month sugar cane harvest began and thousands of Haitians
were entering the country illegally to work.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 4, During a visit to
Haiti, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged leaders to stop
political infighting that had paralyzed the Caribbean nation for nearly
a year.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1998 Jun 9, Some 30 Haitians
drowned when police in the British Turks and Caicos Islands fired on a
boat jammed with about 100 refugees.
(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, In Haiti Theodore
Beaubrun, a leading comedian, died at age 79.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)
1998 Sep 15-Oct 1, Hurricane
Georges caused 602 deaths in the Caribbean and four in the United
States. The storm hit the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Antigua, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and British and U.S.
Virgin Islands before striking Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Florida.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1998 Sep 23, The death toll from
hurricane Georges reached 110. 17 people were killed in Haiti and 17 in
the Dominican Republic as the storm hit Cuba.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 24, The death toll from
Hurricane Georges reached 172.
(SFC, 9/25/98, p.A16)(SFC, 10/3/98, p.A11)(SFC,
10/7/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 16, In Haiti a former
judge, Luckner Pierrex, was arrested for the 1982 slaying of journalist
Richard Brisson.
(SFC, 10/20/98, p.C12)
1999 Jan 11, Pres. Preval
announced that he would bypass the Parliament and appoint a new
government by decree.
(SFC, 1/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 12, In Haiti 2 gunmen on
motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle carrying the sister of Pres. Rene
Preval. She was seriously wounded and her driver was killed.
(SFC, 1/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 1, In Haiti Senator
Jean-Yvon Toussaint (47) was shot in the head in Delmas.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 6, Some 40 Haitians were
apparently drowned when 2 boats loaded with refugees sank. There were 3
survivors.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A4)
1999 Mar 15, In Haiti a UN
helicopter crashed in the mountains and 13 people were killed. They
included 6 Argentines, 6 Russians and 1 American.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 25, In Haiti Pres. Preval
appointed a new government by decree.
(WSJ, 3/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 19, Guy Durosier, Haitian
born singer, composer, saxophonist and organist, died at his home in
Seattle at age 68.
(SFC, 8/25/99, p.B2)
1999 Aug 26, US officials reported
that its permanent military presence in Haiti would be replaced by
temporary missions.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 23, In Haiti violence
began when a customer was killed trying to cash in a winning lottery
ticket. 50 tin-roofed shacks were torched in Cite Soleil.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A20)
2000 Jan 10, The child slave
system in Haiti was described. Jean-Robert Cadet examined the slave
children system of Haiti known as restavek, a Haitian term meaning
"staying with" in his book "Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to
Middle-Class American," an account of his personal experiences.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 25, It was reported that
the number of HIV infected people in the Caribbean region ranged from
500,000-700,000. Cases in Haiti were estimated to be 330,000 and
150,000 in the Dominican Republic
(SFC, 2/26/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 3, Haiti postponed
elections that were scheduled for Mar 19 due to organizational chaos
that left 1 million voters unregistered.
(WSJ, 3/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, Jean Dominique (69),
radio journalist, was killed by 2 gunmen as he drove in for a morning
newscast in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 2004 Jonathan Demme debuted his
documentary film "The Agronomist," a paean to Dominique.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/29/02, p.A1)(SFC,
4/30/04, p.E6)
2000 Apr 8, Violence broke out
following the funeral of Jean Dominique and Aristide supporters set
fire to offices of the Confederation of Democratic Unity in
Port-au-Prince. The government continued to delay elections.
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C13)
2000 Apr 21, Some 224 migrant
Haitians landed in the Bahamas.
(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D4)
2000 Apr 26, Some 122 migrant
Haitians landed on Inagua, the southernmost island of the Bahamas. 15
Haitians were arrested when they landed near Key Biscayne, Florida.
(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D4)
2000 Apr 27, Some 288 migrant
Haitians were rescued from Flamingo Cay in the Bermuda Islands after
their boat ran aground. 2-14 of the migrants died of exposure and
dehydration while awaiting rescue.
(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D4)(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A12)
2000 May 6, Ary Bordes, a
prominent physician, was shot and killed by gunmen in a traffic jam.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A26)
2000 May 21, In Haiti elections
began for 7,625 positions. The Family Lavalas party of former Pres.
Aristide won 14 of 19 senate seats. The international community put
millions in foreign aid on hold until results are revised.
(SFC, 5/22/00, p.A11)(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A13)(SFC,
5/31/00, p.A13)(AP, 2/11/04)
2000 May 26, Haitian rights
activists denounced the arrests of dozens of opposition candidates
following the apparent victory of the Lavalas party. Most of the
arrested opposition candidates were soon released.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A13)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 18, Leon Manus (78), the
top election official, refused to approve the results of the election
and fled to the US.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A9)
2000 Jun 19, Militant supporters
of Pres. Aristide shut down the 3 largest cities and demanded the
release of election results. The Elections Council in response
announced that Aristide’s party won control of the Senate.
(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 9, Voters in Haiti cast
ballots for 44 seats of the 83-member Chamber of Deputies. Most voters
ignored the balloting and int’l. observers called the elections
"fundamentally flawed."
(SFC, 7/10/00, p.A9)(WSJ, 7/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 18, Clausel Debrosses
(85), chief justice of the Supreme Court, died.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)
2000 Nov 22, 7 bombs exploded
around Port-au-Prince. One teenage boy was killed and 14 people were
injured as weekend elections approached.
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D6)
2000 Nov 23, An explosion in
Carrefour killed a 7-year-old girl on her way to school and injured 2
other people.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.D8)
2000 Nov 26, Major opposition
parties boycotted the presidential elections and charged that
legislative actions favored the candidates of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Aristide won 92% of the votes.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A8)(SFC, 11/30/00, p.A18)
2000 Nov, A Haitian court
sentenced Emmanuel "Toto" Constant to life in prison following his
conviction for in absentia for the 1994 massacre of slum dwellers loyal
to Pres. Aristide.
(SFC, 12/26/00, p.C6)
2000 Dec 4, It was reported that a
mutated oral polio vaccine infected at least 3 people in the Dominican
Republic and Haiti. That standard vaccine appeared to work against the
mutated strain.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 4/16/02, p.A1)
2001 Jan 9, In Port-au-Prince Paul
Raymond, a militant priest of the Little Church Community read a
statement that threatened death to 80 establishment politicians,
journalists and clerics opposed to Pres. Aristide.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A8)
2001 Feb 6, The 15-party
opposition alliance Convergence named Gerard Gourgue as the
country’s provisional president.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A12)
2001 Feb 7, Pres. Aristide took
power in Haiti for a 2nd term and offered a series of national reforms
with plans for new schools, roads, electricity systems and an
independent court in each of the country’s 565 townships.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C3)(AP, 2/11/04)
2001 Mar 20, Violence flared in
Port-au-Prince as Aristide supporters attacked an opposition party
office with firebombs.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A13)
2001 Apr 5, Marc Ashton, a US
businessman, was kidnapped in front of his home near Port-au-Prince.
(SFC, 4/6/01, p.D6)
2001 Jun 26, A bus crash near St.
Louis du Sud left 41 people dead.
(SFC, 6/28/01, p.A10)
2001 Dec 17, In Haiti 33 gunmen,
ex-members of the disbanded military, attacked the national
penitentiary, were rebuffed and moved on to the National Palace. At
least 10 people were killed. Opposition buildings were attacked in
response. Pres. Aristide called the attack a failed coup. Opposition
called the attack a staged event to crush dissent. A captured former
soldier later said the attack was a coup attempt and that fellow
conspirators included a former colonel and 2 former police chiefs.
Former Col. Guy Francois was accused of helping plot the attack
and spent two years in prison for his alleged role despite
maintaining his innocence.
(SFC, 12/18/01, p.A3)(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A4)(WSJ,
12/18/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A3)(AP, 12/17/02)(AP, 9/15/06)
2001 Dec, Fearing a mass exodus of
Haitian boatpeople, the Bush administration made a secret decision to
keep Haitian asylum seekers jailed until their cases are decided.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2002 Jan 21, Haiti’s prime
minister quit amid political and economic woes. The government of
Jean-Marie Cherestal was bedeviled by doubts of legitimacy in the 2000
elections.
(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 25, A boat full of
Haitian migrants capsized near the Bahamas and at least 14 people were
drowned.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.AA8)
2002 May 10, A crowded Haitian
boat capsized as it was approached by a US Coast Guard cutter and 12
people drowned.
(SFC, 5/11/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 1, In Haiti many co-ops
shut down and the owners vanished with the depositors' savings. Many
lost their life savings and property to a cooperative banking scheme
that left untold thousands across Haiti in despair.
(AP, 7/27/02)
2002 Jul 5, In Guyana the
Caribbean Community trading bloc wrapped up a summit that was marred
early on by violence and admitted Haiti as its 15th member.
(AP, 7/5/02)
2002 Jul, Government-endorsed
cooperative banks collapsed across Haiti, losing the life savings of
thousands, amid allegations the accounts were used to launder drug
money. Violent protests ensue and more Haitians try to reach U.S.
shores.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2002 Aug 2, In Gonaives, Haiti,
gunmen broke through the wall of a prison, freeing Amiot Metayer,
a former presidential supporter and head of the Cannibal Army, a
militant communal group. 159 of 221 inmates escaped.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 10, A UNICEF report said
about 2,500 Haitian children are smuggled illegally into the Dominican
Republic each year to work as manual laborers or beggars.
(AP, 8/10/02)
2002 Oct 29, More than 200 illegal
Haitian migrants jumped overboard and rushed onto a major Miami
highway, bringing attention to the plight of a people desperate to
escape the unending violence created by Haiti's politics and poverty.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2002 Nov 28, Thousands of Haitians
demonstrated against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government and
clashed with whip-wielding Aristide supporters.
(AP, 11/29/02)
2002 Edwidge Danticat authored
"After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival in Haiti."
(SSFC, 8/25/02, p.M2)
2002 Derek Walcott authored
"Haitian Trilogy," an attempt to capture Haitian history in verse.
(SSFC, 5/19/02, p.M4)
2003 Jan 24, In Haiti thousands of
business leaders, taxi drivers and doctors held a general strike,
clamoring for a better life in the poor nation.
(AP, 1/24/03)
2003 Apr 3, Haiti's government
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners to
begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal
authority.
(AP, 4/10/03)(AP, 2/11/04)
2003 Apr 14, A boat off the coast
of the Dominican Republic loaded with more than 100 Haitian migrants
struck a reef and capsized after drifting nearly a week, killing 4
passengers.
(AP, 4/15/03)
2003 May 12, Haiti agreed to cut
spending and stabilize its currency in a deal with the International
Monetary Fund.
(AP, 5/13/03)
2003 Jul 9, Haiti paid $32 million
in arrears to the Inter-American Development Bank, nearly wiping out
its foreign reserves in its effort to resume frozen international loans.
(AP, 7/10/03)
2003 Jul 21, In Haiti a high
tension wire snapped and fell, electrocuting 15 people who were
gathered to watch the final match of a basketball game in Petit-Goave.
All 15 died.
(AP, 7/22/03)
2003 Jul 25, In Haiti gunmen
ambushed a delegation from the Interior Ministry on a central highway,
killing 4 and seriously wounding one.
(AP, 7/25/03)
2003 Jul 26, In Haiti a
4-day Voodoo religion pilgrimage, ended. It began with rituals to Ogou,
the god of war, and ended with rites to the goddess of love, Erzuli.
This year's crowd of more than 10,000 was half the turnout of last year.
(AP, 7/28/03)
2003 Aug 24, A twin-engine
turboprop Let L-410 crashed in Haiti and 21 people were killed.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 29, In Haiti's west-coast
city of St. Marc torrential rains burst river banks, left at least 24
people dead and destroyed dozens of flimsy riverside shacks.
(AP, 9/2/03)(AP, 9/11/03)
2003 Sep 22, In Haiti the
bullet-riddled body of Amiot Metayer (39) was found, more than a year
after he escaped from prison and allegedly went on a rampage
terrorizing government opponents. 3 days of protests followed the news.
(AP, 9/23/03)(SFC, 9/26/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct 2, In Haiti police trying
to raid a shantytown touched off a gunfight that killed five men in the
city of Gonaives.
(AP, 10/3/03)
2003 Oct 5, In Port-Au-Prince,
Haiti, landslides caused by heavy rains swept down on poor areas of the
capital, killing at least 12 people and leaving dozens of others
homeless.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 14, In St. Marc, Haiti,
protesters hurled rocks at police and blocked streets with flaming tire
barricades for a 2nd day, demanding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
resignation.
(AP, 10/14/03)
2003 Oct 26, In western Haiti
anti-government protesters loyal to a slain gang leader attacked a
police station. Gunfire killed a girl on her bicycle and wounded the
police chief and 2 officers.
(AP, 10/26/03)
2003 Oct 27, In Haiti police
raided Raboteau, a slain gang leader's seaside slum, and arrested a
dozen of his cronies in retaliation for a police station attack the day
before. At least one person was killed.
(AP, 10/28/03)
2003 Nov 13, In Haiti hundreds of
government opponents protested in Port-au-Prince, calling for the
resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide because of deepening
poverty and insecurity in the Caribbean country.
(AP, 11/13/03)
2003 Nov 14, In Haiti riot police
fired tear gas at thousands of rock-throwing protesters as a
demonstration against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overpowered
by throngs of supporters of the Haitian leader.
(AP, 11/15/03)
2003 Dec 11, In Haiti police fired
tear gas and warning shots at thousands of students calling for
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster, as four private radio
stations shut down because government supporters called in death
threats.
(AP, 12/11/03)(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A3)
2003 Dec 16, In Haiti a strike to
press for the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide closed down
schools, stores and banks in Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 17, Haiti police stormed
and shut down a pro-opposition radio station, smashing studio equipment
in what they said was a search for weapons.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 22, In Haiti an armed
gang opened fire on anti-government protesters during a clash that
killed one man and left President Jean-Bertrand Aristide facing growing
unrest. A radio station later reported that the death toll rose to
eight.
(AP, 12/22/03)(AP, 12/25/03)
2003 Dec 30, Haiti police hurled
tear gas and fired warning shots in Port-au-Prince to break up a
protest by thousands of government opponents, wounding at least two
people.
(AP, 12/31/03)
2003 Robert Fatton Jr. authored
"Haiti’s Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy."
(WSJ, 4/11/03, p.A11)
2003 Tracy Kidder (b.1945)
authored “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr Paul Farmer, A
Man Who Would Cure The World” the story of Dr. Farmer (b.1959) and the
health clinic Farmer founded in Haiti in 1987.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer)(SFC,
2/8/08, p.E1)
2004 Jan 1, President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide pledged to improve life for his impoverished
nation as police blocked thousands of anti-government demonstrators
during celebrations marking Haiti's 200th anniversary of independence
from France. More than 15,000 Aristide supporters rallied outside the
National Palace as more than 5,000 government opponents massed in the
capital's streets and faced off with police and government partisans.
(AP, 1/1/04)(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 1, Pres. Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa joined Pres. Aristide for Haiti’s independence
celebrations.
(WPR, 3/04, p.29)
2004 Jan 7, Haiti university
students marched against Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, sparking clashes
that left at least 2 dead amid a swelling opposition movement against
the leader.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 18, Marches in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, continued against Pres. Aristide. Gunmen hiding
inside a state-run TV station killed at least one marcher and wounded
several other.
(SFC, 1/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 28, In Haiti one student
was shot and killed as protests mounted against President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
(AP, 1/28/04)
2004 Feb 1, Tens of thousands of
government opponents marched peacefully to demand President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation. A day earlier Aristide vowed to
disarm politically affiliated gangs, reform the police force and
implement other measures to end the country's recent unrest.
(AP, 2/1/04)
2004 Feb 5, In Haiti an armed
opposition group, led by Butteur Metayer, seized control of Gonaives,
Haiti's fourth-largest city, burning a police station, freeing
prisoners and leaving at least four people reported dead and 20 wounded
in clashes with police.
(AP, 2/5/04)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 7, In Haiti police
reinforcements fought bloody battles with gunmen as they tried to
retake Gonaives from rebels who seized it. At least 7 police and 2
militants were killed.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 9, In Haiti government
police retook 2 of nearly a dozen towns seized by rebels as the death
toll in the violent uprising rose to at least 40.
(SFC, 2/9/04, p.A5)(AP, 2/9/05)
2004 Feb 10, In Haiti government
supporters in Cap-Haitien, the second largest city, built flaming
barricades to keep rebels out. UN aid officials warned of a looming
humanitarian crisis.
(AP, 2/10/04)
2004 Feb 11, In Haiti pro-Aristide
supporters killed up to 50 residents of St. Marc.
(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.42)(www.haitipolicy.org/content/2969.htm)
2004 Feb 16, Ex-soldiers took
Haiti's rebellion to the key central city of Hinche, torching the
police station and freeing prisoners.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, In Haiti pres.
Aristide said the nation is in the throes of a coup attempt and
appealed for international help.
(WSJ, 2/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 20, The US and a
host of other countries urged Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
and opposition leaders to form a broad-based government as a move
toward ending weeks of bloody conflict. Haiti's poorly trained and
equipped police put up little resistance as rebels moved against the
government.
(AP, 2/20/04)
2004 Feb 22, In Haiti rebels
attacked the government's last major stronghold in the north,
Cap-Haitien, and witnesses reported hearing gunfire on the outskirts of
the city.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, Rebels who overran
Haiti's second-largest city began detaining people identified as
supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and said they soon will
attack Haiti's capital. Fifty combat-ready U.S. Marines were on their
way to Port-au-Prince to secure the U.S. Embassy and its staff.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Feb 27, French Foreign
Minister Dominique de Villepin held talks with leaders of Haiti's
government on how to end a three-week rebellion.
(AP, 2/27/04)
2004 Feb 28, In Haiti anarchy
spread across the capital as residents looted warehouses, government
loyalists attacked passers-by and rebels advanced closer to the seat of
power.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 Feb 29, Haiti's Pres.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and flew into exile. The capital fell
into chaos, and the US said international peacekeepers, including
Americans, would be deployed soon. Boniface Alexandre, the Supreme
Court Justice, took over as interim president. PM Yvon Neptune
continued as head of the government. Guy Philippe (36), head of a band
of former exiled soldiers, said his forces would stop fighting.
(AP, 2/29/04)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 1, In Haiti rebels rolled
into the capital and were met by hundreds of residents dancing in the
streets and cheering the ouster of Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide. U.S.
Marines and French troops moved to take control of the impoverished
country as Aristide arrived in South Africa. There were reports of
reprisal killings.
(AP, 3/1/04)(WSJ, 3/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 1, Jean-Bertrand Aristide
from the Central African Republic said in a telephone interview that he
was "forced to leave" Haiti by U.S. military forces.
(AP, 3/1/04)(SFC, 3/02/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 2, Haiti rebel leader Guy
Philippe declared himself the new chief of Haiti's military, which had
been disbanded by ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 3/2/04)
2004 Mar 3, Haitian looters found
rotting stacks of cash, estimated at $350,000, stashed in a tunnel
beneath former Pres. Aristide's mansion.
(WSJ, 3/4/04, p.A14)
2004 Mar 3, In Petit Goave, Haiti,
an armed posse tracked down Ti Roro. They beat him with sticks, took
him to the morgue to identify his alleged victims, ringed him with
gasoline-soaked tires and burned him alive. As he was burning, he
admitted to all of the 15 people he killed in the last year.
(AP, 3/5/04)
2004 Mar 5, In Haiti some 3
thousand supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched on the
U.S. and French embassies, shouting their anger at his ouster. A
seven-member council met for the first time to help form a transitional
government.
(AP, 3/5/04)
2004 Mar 7, In Haiti U.S. Marines
shot and killed one of the gunmen who fired at a huge demonstration of
protesters celebrating the flight from Haiti of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. That raised the toll to six dead and more than 30 injured in
the protest.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 8, In Haiti US Marines
shot and killed the driver of a vehicle speeding up to a military
checkpoint.
(AP, 3/9/04)
2004 Mar 9, In Haiti Gerard
Latortue (69), a lawyer and economist, was named as interim prime
minister.
(SFC, 3/10/04, p.A8)
2004 Mar 10, U.S. Marines shot and
killed at least two Haitians in overnight gun battles.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 12, Haiti's new prime
minister, Gerard Latortue, was sworn into office. US Marines killed two
men during a patrol in Haiti and said they were gunmen who had
previously fired on the Marines, although their weapons were never
recovered. Witnesses said the dead were bystanders.
(AP, 3/14/04)(AP, 3/12/05)
2004 Mar 14, In Haiti French
troops took over patrols in a slum where U.S. Marines killed at least
two people.
(AP, 3/14/04)
2004 Mar 15, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left his temporary exile in Africa and
flew to Jamaica despite opposition to his presence in the Caribbean.
(AP, 3/15/04)
2004 Mar 27, The 15-nation
Caribbean Community withheld recognition from Haiti's U.S.-backed
interim government as leaders closed a summit renewing calls for a U.N.
investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Apr 3, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped detain
Jean Robert, a rebel sympathizer and gang leader accused of terrorizing
supporters of Aristide.
(AP, 4/9/04)
2004 Apr 7, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped
detain Wilford Ferdinand, a top rebel figure.
(AP, 4/9/04)
2004 Apr 19, Chilean troops
prepared to take up posts in central Haiti, extending the peacekeeping
presence where as many as 400 rebels still hold sway.
(AP, 4/19/04)
2004 Apr 22, In Haiti Louis-Jodel
Chamblain, a rebel commander convicted of killing supporters of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, surrendered to justice officials.
(AP, 4/23/04)
2004 May 4, In Haiti a provisional
council was sworn to oversee fresh elections.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 24, Heavy rains left as
many as 2000 people dead across the island of Hispaniola. Health
officials feared up to 1,000 people could be dead in the Haitian town
of Mopau. Floods wiped out villages across Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. The final toll was over 3,300 dead.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 May 30, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left Jamaica for South Africa, saying
it would be his "temporary home" until he could return to Haiti.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2004 May 31, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family received a first-class
diplomatic welcome from South Africa, his new home in exile.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jun 1, In Haiti US commanders
began turning over authority to a UN force under Gen. Augusto Pereira
of Brazil.
(SFC, 6/2/04, A1)
2004 Jun 19, It was reported that
AIDS was the leading cause of death in Haiti, killing about 30,000
people a year. It had orphaned 200,000 children.
(Econ, 6/19/04, p.39)
2004 Jun 22, In Haiti a fire
ripped through a downtown section of Port-au-Prince, destroying more
than 30 businesses.
(AP, 6/23/04)
2004 Jun, Yvon Neptune, former
prime minister, was imprisoned for his alleged role in a massacre in
St. Marc. In 2005 he was still not charged and began a hunger strike.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.42)
2004 Jul 27, NYC Mayor Michael
Bloomberg visited a slum in Haiti and met interim leaders.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Aug 17, In Haiti a jury
acquitted Louis-Jodel Chamblain, the leader of a paramilitary group
blamed for killing some 3,000 people, after a 14-hour murder trial.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Sep 13, In Haiti at least
three people were killed from Hurricane Ivan. Some 73 homes were
destroyed, mainly in the south by surging seas and battering waves.
(AP, 9/14/04)
2004 Sep 19, Floodwaters brought
by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed at least 90 people in Haiti.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 21, The death toll across
Haiti from Tropical Storm Jeanne topped 700, with some 500 of them in
Gonaives. Officials expected to find more dead.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2004 Sep 22, In Haiti, the death
toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne topped 1,000.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2004 Sep 23, Haiti officials said
the death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne rose to more than 1,070 and
could double again.
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 26, Haitians surrounded
by the destruction of Tropical Storm Jeanne prayed for the 1,500 dead
during church services and gave thanks their lives were spared, while
the UN rushed more peacekeepers in to stem looting in the ravaged city
of Gonaives. Tropical Storm Jeanne wiped out 7% of Haiti’s GDP.
(AP, 9/27/04)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.45)
2004 Sep 30, In Haiti at least 3
people were killed as Port-au-Prince police battled Aristide backers.
Lack of security kept hurricane aid locked in warehouses.
(WSJ, 10/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 2, In Haiti authorities
recovered the decapitated bodies of three policemen, among at least
seven people killed in a 2nd day of violence. Aristide supporters
demanded his return from exile in South Africa, launching what they
called "Operation Baghdad."
(AP, 10/2/04)(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 4, Officials in Haiti
said they have found hundreds more bodies, raising the death toll from
Tropical Storm Jeanne to nearly 2,000 people. Later estimates put the
death toll at 3,000.
(AP, 10/4/04)(AP, 11/1/07)
2004 Oct 7, In Haiti 2 beheaded
bodies, one wrapped in tires and set ablaze, turned up Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 10, Gerard Pierre-Charles
(b.1935), a prominent Haitian intellectual and politician, died of
heart failure in Cuba, where he was receiving emergency treatment for a
lung infection. Pierre-Charles was an economist, who wrote at least 16
books, and a longtime communist whose ideology shifted toward the
center after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 11-12, Records at Haiti’s
Port-au-Prince hospital showed 17 people with gunshot wounds died,
eight of them in the Cite Soleil seaside slum.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 15, The US State
Department said "restrictions on arms exports" to Haiti remained in
place but promised to "consider requests from the interim government."
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 26, In Haiti residents of
Port-au-Prince said 13 people were executed by police.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Nov 5, Latin American leaders
wrapped up a two-day summit in Brazil with a pledge to help rid Haiti
of political violence and grinding poverty.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 6, In northwestern Haiti
an armed group fired on a police station, prompting officers to flee
while prisoners escaped and more than 100 people started a flurry of
looting.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 29, Butteur Metayer, a
street gang leader who led the rebellion that forced Haiti's President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee, was arrested in Miami.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 1, A prison riot followed
other violence that left at least 11 people dead and scores wounded as
Secretary of State Colin Powell visited with Haitian leaders in an
effort to stop the country's bloodshed.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 6, In Haiti gunfire
erupted in a stronghold of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
overnight, leaving at least three dead.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 14, Shootouts erupted
between residents of a slum outside Haiti's capital and UN troops after
hundreds of international peacekeepers stormed the stronghold of former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in an attempt to control flashpoints
of violence. 4 people were killed.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 18, In Haiti bands of
former soldiers and armed residents looted police arsenals, set
bonfires and fired shots into the air amid escalating chaos.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 28, Haiti’s government
agreed to give 10 years back pay to rebel soldiers, who helped
overthrow Aristide, in a bid to end their insurrection.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2005 Jan 4, Doctors at Haiti's
largest public hospital extended a weeklong strike to protest overdue
paychecks.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 14, Assailants robbed and
severely beat two reporters for Haiti's largest newspaper while the
journalists were covering a cleanup effort by U.N. peacekeepers in a
slum.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Feb 10, In Haiti police
hunting a rebel leader stormed a compound used by the disbanded army,
exchanging gunfire with defenders. A grade school girl was killed in
the crossfire.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Haiti heavily
armed gunmen attacked the national penitentiary, killing one guard in a
shootout that allowed some 500 prisoners to escape.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 26, In Haiti a Brazilian
peacekeeper was wounded and the charred body of a man apparently burned
alive with a tire around his neck lay in the deserted street of a slum
where shots rang out and people peered fearfully from barred windows.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Mar 18, World donors approved
$1 billion in aid projects for Haiti, promising to repair its roads and
rebuild its battered power grid, in an effort to help the Western
Hemisphere's poorest nation as it prepares for fall elections.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 20, UN forces raided a
police station occupied by armed former soldiers in Petit-Goave, 45
miles west of Port-au-Prince, setting of a gunbattle that killed two
former soldiers and one Sri Lankan peacekeeper.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 22, Gunmen in
Port-au-Prince opened fire on the house of Haiti's justice minister,
killing a police officer in a brazen attack that underscored the
country's shaky security climate.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 28, In Haiti gunmen with
assault rifles ambushed a group of police in Port-au-Prince, spraying
their car with bullets in a bold daylight attack that killed 2 officers
and a driver.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Apr 9, Haitian police shot
and killed Remissainthe Ravix, a prominent rebel leader, who helped
force former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile last year.
(AP, 4/10/05)
2005 Apr 14, In Haiti a Filipino
soldier was killed as U.N. forces pushed into a volatile slum
controlled by heavily armed gangs loyal to deposed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 4/15/05)
2005 Apr 18, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. Recipients included
Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of Haiti, founder of the Peasant Movement of
Papay, for teaching sustainable agriculture and economic development.
(SFC, 4/18/05, p.B2)
2005 Apr 20, Haiti's former
national police commander agreed to plead guilty to two of eight counts
in a federal indictment accusing him of smuggling drugs and laundering
money.
(AP, 4/21/05)
2005 Apr 21, Haiti's Supreme Court
overturned the convictions of 38 army and paramilitary leaders who were
sentenced for their roles in a mass slaying a decade ago. The men had
been sentenced in 2000 in connection with a 1994 raid on the seaside
shantytown of Raboteau.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 Apr 21, It was reported that
the US has quietly given thousands of guns to the Haitian National
Police and was moving to approve the sale of thousands more despite a
14-year arms embargo and allegations the force is corrupt, brutal and
responsible for unjustified killings.
(AP, 4/21/05)
2005 Apr 27, Police fired on
protesters demanding the release of detainees loyal to Haiti's ousted
president, killing at least five demonstrators.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 May 31, In Haiti a fire
burned through a large market in Port au Prince moments after a gun
fight erupted that killed at least one man.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 Jun 1, In Haiti gunmen killed
Paul-Henri Mourral (53), a French diplomat, in Port-au-Prince and stole
his car.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2005 Jun 4, In Haiti police killed
at least 4 people and burned 12 homes during raids against gang members
in a slum filled with supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 8, In Haiti Butteur
Metayer (34), a gang leader who started the uprising that led to the
ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, died of kidney failure.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 16, Officials said the
Peace Corps has suspended operations in Haiti and evacuated its 16
volunteers because of increasing violence.
(AP, 6/16/05)
2005 Jun 17, In Haiti police
raided a slum of Bel Air teeming with gangs loyal to ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Residents accused the officials of killing two
people, including a 17-year-old girl.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 22, The UN Security
Council voted to temporarily enlarge the peacekeeping mission in Haiti
by more than 1,000 troops and police in the run-up to elections set for
later this year.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 29, In Haiti hundreds of
UN peacekeepers raided a slum filled with gangs loyal to ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, killing six gunmen.
(AP, 6/29/05)
2005 Jul 29, In Haiti a worker for
the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped. Joel
Cauvin, a Haitian, was abducted and found dead near his home the next
day.
(AP, 7/1/05)
2005 Jul 4, A UN official said
boat carrying dozens of migrants fleeing Haiti sank off the island's
coast, killing two people and leaving 11 others feared dead.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 6, In Haiti hundreds of
peacekeepers stormed Cite Soleil, part of an effort to clamp down on
politically aligned gangs that have been accused of waging a campaign
of violence to destabilize Haiti ahead of October and November
elections. Gang leader Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme was killed in the raid.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 7, Hurricane Dennis, a
Category 4 storm with 135-mph winds, left 10 people dead in Haiti
and some 100 missing.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 10, Hurricane Dennis
swamped homes, ripped off roofs and felled power lines and trees when
it hurtled into northwest Florida and Alabama with 120-mph (190-kph)
winds. The storm left at least 16 dead in Haiti. Dennis killed at least
16 people in Cuba, damaged or destroyed 15,000 homes and caused an
estimated $1.4 billion in property damage.
(Reuters, 7/11/05)(WSJ, 7/11/05, p.A1)(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 13, Rudy Therassan,
Haiti's former national police commander (2201-2003), was sentenced to
almost 15 years in prison. He was accused of protecting Colombian
cocaine shipments through his destitute homeland. He pleaded guilty in
federal court in April to conspiring to import at least 22 pounds of
cocaine into the US and laundering money.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 14, The body of Jacques
Roche, a well-known Haitian journalist, was found shot to death with
signs of torture, 5 days after he was seized while driving in the
capital.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 29, The U.N. mission to
Haiti said it will receive 750 more peacekeeping troops to help control
the violence that threatens to undermine fall elections.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 5, Haiti’s American
ambassador said the US will provide Haitian police with firearms and
tear gas to aid the fight against militants ahead of elections this
fall.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 10, In Haiti police
stormed a volatile slum in Port-au-Prince in an attack on well-armed
gangs that witnesses said left at least five people dead.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 11, Louis-Jodel
Chamblain, a Haitian rebel leader who once led a paramilitary group
accused of killing and torturing thousands of people, was released from
prison.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 20, In Haiti
black-uniformed riot police ordered all participants to lie down and
allowed hooded attackers to hack to death as many as 20 people during a
soccer tournament in the slum of Martissant.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.36)
2005 Aug 25, Haiti recalled its
top diplomat to the Dominican Republic after 3 Haitian migrants were
beaten and burned to death in an attack that has added to growing
tensions between the uneasy Caribbean neighbors.
(AP, 8/25/05)
2005 Sep 16, In Haiti
investigative Judge Cluny P. Jules decided that former PM Yvon Neptune
and 29 others should stand trial for the February 2004 massacre in the
western town of St. Marc. A list of calls from Neptune's cell phone
showed that he had spoken for at least 350 minutes with the alleged
perpetrators of the killings from Feb. 7 to Feb 13, when the killings
were either being organized or taking place at St. Marc.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 23, In Haiti Dumarsais
Simeus (65), owner of a Texas-based food services company, was rejected
as a presidential candidate because he has US citizenship. Simeus
appealed the decision.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Haiti Rev. Gerard
Jean-Juste, a jailed Catholic priest who was suspended from his
religious duties for political activities, appealed to church
authorities to reverse a punishment that supporters claim was intended
to halt his growing influence in the Western Hemisphere's poorest
nation.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Oct 11, Haiti's highest court
ruled that Dumarsais Simeus, a Haitian-born U.S. businessman, may run
for president. Simeus said this marked a turning point in the roles
expatriate Haitians could play in their homeland.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, kidnappers shot and killed businessman Archange Honore, on a
busy street after he resisted being taken, then sped off in his car
with his wife and 2 children.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 17, The European Union
unblocked $87 million in development aid for Haiti, ending a freeze
imposed almost five years ago because of allegedly flawed elections in
the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 19, Hurricane Wilma
swirled into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded, a Category
5 monster whose 175 mph winds and heavy rains were blamed for killing
at least 11 people in Haiti and one in Jamaica as it bore down on
Central America.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Haiti Muhammed
Khalaf (32), a UN peacekeeper from the Jordanian army. was shot
while on patrol near the volatile Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince.
He died 2 days later.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Alpha, the Atlantic
season's record-breaking 22nd named storm, left at least 10 people dead
in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before moving north into the
Atlantic Ocean.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Nov 2, Haiti's interim
government filed a federal lawsuit against former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accusing him of stealing millions from the
Haitian treasury and state-owned telephone company.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Haiti demonstrators
marched out of two slums and across the capital in support of former
Pres. Rene Preval's bid to regain the presidency in Dec elections.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 8, Haiti's police chief
said 14 police officers will face charges for their alleged involvement
in the Aug 20 slayings of at least 11 civilians at a soccer game.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 15, In Haiti UN
peacekeepers and gang members traded gunfire in the volatile Cite
Soleil slum of the Haitian capital, leaving at least four people dead.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Dec 5, UN peacekeepers at a
checkpoint in Port-au-Prince opened fire on a car full of Haitian
police officers wounding two.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Haiti's interim
government said it has removed five of the 10 judges from the Supreme
Court, another move in a tense power struggle ahead of next month's
national elections.
(AP, 12/9/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Haiti protesters
angry over the treatment of Haitian migrants in neighboring Dominican
Republic clashed with police during a visit by the Dominican president,
and at least three people were wounded by gunshots.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 20, A Canadian police
officer serving as a UN peacekeeper in Haiti was shot to death near a
volatile slum on the outskirts of the capital.
(AP, 12/21/05)
2005 Dec 24, In Haiti a UN
peacekeeper from Jordan was shot to death while on patrol in Cite
Soleil, a slum that has seen almost daily violence since the ouster of
President Aristide.
(AP, 12/25/05)
2005 Kathie Klarreich authored
“Madame Dread.” Her first-person tale of love, voodoo and civil strife
in Haiti covered her years in Haiti under the rule of Pres. Aristide.
(WSJ, 10/28/05, p.W6)
2006 Jan 1, In Haiti 2 kidnapped
American journalists, who said their captors threatened to kill them,
were freed after friends and family assembled a ransom for their
release.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2006 Jan 5, The leader of Haiti's
largest business association called for a general strike next week to
protest the wave of kidnappings that has sparked fear in the capital
and contributed to the chaos that prompted authorities to postpone
elections.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 7, In Haiti Brazilian Lt.
Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, commander of UN peacekeepers,
was found dead in an apparent suicide in a room at the Montana hotel in
Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2006 Jan 9, In Haiti business
ground to a halt in a general strike called to protest a wave of
kidnappings that has terrified people and cast a shadow over already
troubled efforts to restore democracy.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 10-2006 Jan 11, The
bodies of 24 Haitian migrants, who apparently suffocated crossing the
border in a sealed truck, were found in the Dominican Republic. The
victims were among 69 Haitians, mostly adult men, who were driven
across the border illegally at the northern Dominican town of Dajabon.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 11, In Haiti clashes
between gangs and UN peacekeepers reportedly killed one person and
wounded at least 17.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 17, In Haiti gunmen
killed two Jordanian UN peacekeepers and seriously wounded a third at a
checkpoint in Cite Soleil, a slum in Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2006 Jan 20, In Haiti a judge
dropped charges against Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste (59), a supporter of
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in the death of a journalist,
but indicted him on two lesser counts.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 23, Brazilian Gen. Jose
Elito Carvalho de Siqueira (59) took command of the UN peacekeepers in
Haiti, vowing to make the impoverished nation secure for elections on
Feb. 7.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 25, In Haiti 2 French
missionaries and two Haitians were kidnapped near Cite Soleil, a
volatile slum outside Port-au-Prince. Last month, there were 162
reported kidnap cases in Haiti, and January has seen 37 so far. The
actual number is probably much higher because victims' families often
prefer to negotiate with kidnappers rather than notify police.
(AP, 1/26/06)
2006 Jan 27, Three French citizens
and a Haitian who were kidnapped near a volatile slum outside of the
capital were released unharmed.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Feb 4, Dumarsais Simeus (65),
a presidential candidate whose name was dropped from the ballot despite
two Haitian Supreme Court rulings, said the interim president, the
prime minister and the electoral council should be jailed.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 7, Haitians jammed
polling stations as UN peacekeepers fanned out to guard the country's
first presidential election in nearly six years.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 9, Rene Preval took a
strong lead in Haiti's presidential election, with most of the first
votes counted going to the former president who is seen as a champion
of the poor.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 13, In Haiti election
results showed the former president Preval slipping further below the
50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
(AP, 2/13/06)
2006 Feb 15, Rene Preval was
declared the winner of Haiti's presidential election under an agreement
between the interim government and electoral council.
(AP, 2/16/06)(Econ, 2/18/06, p.35)
2006 Feb 19, Jacques Bernard, the
head of Haiti's electoral council, fled the country after opponents
threatened his life and burned down his farmhouse nearly two weeks
after disputed elections.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 1, Two Haitian security
guards employed by the US Embassy were shot to death near the American
ambassador's official residence.
(AP, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 2, Haiti's newly elected
Pres. Rene Preval met with Dominican Republic President Leonel
Fernandez in Santo Domingo amid rising tensions between their countries
over immigration and security.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2006 Mar 5, Jacques Bernard, a top
election official who fled Haiti under threat, returned to help
organize a legislative runoff needed to form a new government.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 25, In Haiti 17 human
skulls were found in a trash-strewn wooded lot outside Port-au-Prince,
including at least some discovered inside a container that had been
tossed from a passing car.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2006 Mar 27, In Haiti scavengers
found 10 human skulls in a trash heap, the second such grisly find in
as many days in Port-au-Prince, where authorities speculated that the
bones may have come from a Voodoo ritual.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Apr 10, Haiti's interim
leader PM Gerard Latortue announced a probe into the finances of all
government agencies amid allegations of corruption by state officials
in the aftermath of a bloody revolt that toppled the previous
government.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 21, In Haiti polling
stations were nearly empty in a crucial legislative runoff. Hundreds of
candidates from more than a dozen parties sought 127 legislative seats.
(AP, 4/21/06)
2006 Apr 24, In Haiti partial
results indicated that President-elect Rene Preval's party had won at
least 11 of 30 senate seats in the parliamentary runoff.
(AP, 4/24/06)
2006 May 14, Rene Preval was sworn
in as Haiti's president for the second time in a decade. Prisoners
rioted at Haiti's main prison, with gunfire heard within its walls and
scores of inmates massing on the roof and holding what appeared to be
two dead bodies.
(AP, 5/14/06)(AP, 5/14/07)
2006 May 22, Haiti’s President
Rene Preval said he has nominated former Cabinet member and close ally
Jacques Edouard Alexis as prime minister. UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan appointed Edmond Mulet (b.1951) of Guatemala as his Special
Representative in Haiti and Head of the UN Stabilization Mission in
Haiti (MINUSTAH). Mr. Mulet succeeded Júan Gabriel Valdés
of Chile.
(AP,
5/22/06)(www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sga1007.doc.htm)
2006 Jun 6, Haiti's president Rene
Preval appointed a coalition government in an effort to unite the
impoverished nation.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 17, In Haiti kidnappers
seized Ed Hughes, a Canadian missionary, from his residence and
demanded $45,000 in ransom. After 5 days the ransom was lowered to
$10,000. Hughes lost an arm in December 2005 trying to stop the
abduction of Haitian-American missionary Daniel Phelusmar. Hughes was
shot and badly wounded in the arm. Phelusmar was held hostage for four
days.
(AP, 6/22/06)
2006 Jun 24, In Haiti Ed Hughes
(72), a Canadian missionary, was released after kidnappers received a
ransom raised by his friends and colleagues.
(AP, 6/26/06)
2006 Jul 6, Emmanuel "Toto"
Constant (49), an elusive former strongman from Haiti, accused of
sanctioning rape to silence dissent there in the early 1990s, was
arrested in a mortgage fraud scheme on Long Island, NY.
(AP, 7/7/06)
2006 Jul 7, UN peacekeepers in
Haiti found the bodies of 16 people believed killed in a surge of gang
violence.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 15, In Haiti thousands of
demonstrators demanding the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide marched to the National Palace, pushing past riot police in a
dramatic show of support for the exiled former leader.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 22, In Haiti a new rash
of kidnappings has raised fears that well-armed, politically aligned
street gangs are seeking to destabilize the new government, threatening
UN-led efforts to restore security 2 1/2 years after a crippling
revolt. At least 30 people have been kidnapped so far in July, about
the same number for all of June.
(AP, 7/22/06)
2006 Jul 27, Former Haitian PM
Yvon Neptune was released from jail, more than two years after his
arrest on charges of orchestrating the killing of political opponents
at the start of a rebellion that engulfed the country.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jul 28, In Haiti hundreds of
people fled their homes in a hillside slum of Port-au-Prince to escape
fierce fighting between gangs that has killed at least 30 people in the
past 2 months.
(AP, 7/29/06)
2006 Aug 3, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, making his first trip to Haiti, called for strengthening
the national police force to stem an upsurge in kidnapping and
lawlessness.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 7, Gunmen in Haiti killed
Guido Vitiello (67), an Italian businessman, and kidnapped his wife,
Gigliola Martino (65), amid a spate of violence in the impoverished
Caribbean nation. Martino was released Aug 10.
(AP, 8/8/06)(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 15, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in
Haiti for six months and urged its troops and police to help fight gang
violence and kidnapping.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 21, In Haiti Amaral
Duclona, the leader of a major gang, defied President Rene Preval's
orders to disarm, saying his followers would give up their weapons only
if UN peacekeepers stop conducting raids in the slums.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2006 Aug 28, Tropical Storm
Ernesto hit Cuba west of the US naval air base at Guantanamo after
killing 2 people in Haiti.
(AP, 8/28/06)(AP, 8/29/06)
2006 Sep 11, In Haiti 3 gang
members surrendered their guns in the first handover of weapons in a
UN-led effort to disarm hundreds of Haitian criminals.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Sep 14, Ex-Col. Guy Francois,
former army commander twice accused of plotting to overthrow Haiti's
government, was shot to death in an upscale suburb of the capital.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Oct 10, The US Embassy in
Haiti said the US has partially lifted a 15-year-old arms embargo,
allowing Haiti to buy weapons for police battling violent, and often
better armed, street gangs.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 27, Hundreds of
protesters marched peacefully through Haiti's largest slum to demand
the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, accusing the troops of killing
civilians during gunbattles with street gangs.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Nov 6, Transparency
International, a watchdog group, reported that nearly three-quarters of
163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of
serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant.
Finland, Iceland and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt, while
Haiti, Guinea and Myanmar ranked as most corrupt.
(AP, 11/6/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.69)
2006 Nov 11, In Haiti 2 UN
peacekeepers from Jordan were shot to death in Port-au-Prince after
coming under attack by gunmen. Jordan counted about 1,500 troops in the
force of some 8,800 peacekeepers. Nine peacekeepers have been killed
since the force arrived in June 2004.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 17, Sonia Pierre (43)
received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award at a ceremony in
Washington, a prize of $30,000 and a promise from the center founded in
honor of the late senator to help her cause. Her tireless work securing
citizenship and education for Dominican-born ethnic Haitians has made
her the target of threats at home, but has earned her recognition from
overseas as a fierce defender of human rights.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Dec 3, Haitians cast ballots
in municipal and local elections that were billed as the final step in
the troubled country's return to democratic rule following a bloody
February 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Haiti as many as 30
inmates escaped through a small hole in a prison wall in the latest of
several breakouts from the overcrowded National Penitentiary.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Haiti at least 8
people were killed over the last few days in the Martissant slum during
a gang feud set off by the Dec 3 murder of a police officer. The
officer's killing reignited an ongoing battle between the rival Grand
Ravine and Ti Manchet gangs.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 13, In Haiti gunmen
abducted 10 children after hijacking a school bus and another car in
brazen daylight assaults. 7 of the children were released the next day.
(AP, 12/14/06)(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Haiti’s numbered some 8.5
million people with a police force of about 6,000. Foreign aid
accounted for over 65% of the state budget.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.35)
2007 Jan 24, In Haiti UN troops
traded gunfire with armed gangs after seizing an abandoned primary
school that had been used to stage attacks on the peacekeepers.
Witnesses said one person died and five were injured.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 30, The United Nations
said it will send 350 more peacekeepers to Haiti in the latest effort
to flush out armed gangs from the capital's slums.
(AP, 1/30/07)
2007 Feb 4, Armed kidnappers
seized an American missionary as he left his church near Haiti's
capital and have demanded a ransom for his release.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 9, Hundreds of UN
peacekeepers raided Haiti's largest and most violent slum, seizing a
portion of it in a six-hour gunbattle that left a gang member dead and
two soldiers wounded.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 28, A boat carrying
Haitian migrants caught fire off the coast of the Dominican Republic,
leaving at least eight passengers dead and 44 missing.
(AP, 3/1/07)
2007 Mar 12, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez shadowed his political foil President Bush on a tour of
Western Hemisphere nations, stopping in Haiti after passing through
Jamaica to promote aid packages and discuss development projects.
(AP, 3/12/07)
2007 Mar 16, The Inter-American
Development Bank announced it would forgive $4.4 billion in debt owed
by five of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The bank excused the foreign debts of Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Haiti and Guyana in an announcement ahead of its annual meeting.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to
Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his
most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 May 4, A boat loaded with
Haitian migrants capsized while being towed by a police boat from the
Turks and Caicos Islands. 78 of some 160 people survived. Haitian
migrants later claimed a Turks and Caicos naval vessel rammed their
crowded sailboat twice before it capsized.
(AP, 5/4/07)(SFC, 5/5/07, p.A8)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Haiti
gunmen killed journalist Alix Joseph (38), shooting him 11 times
outside his fiancé’s house.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, Haitian President
Rene Preval declared a "war without end" against corruption, calling
crooked state officials traitors who rob the deeply impoverished nation
of vital investment and jobs.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 31, Haitian authorities
arrested 10 people, including four police officers, who were allegedly
transporting 925 pounds of cocaine in two vehicles with government
license plates.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 12, Haitian police and UN
peacekeepers killed a suspected gang leader wanted in the
kidnap-slaying of a French businessman.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jul 16, Haitian radio
reported that US Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Guy
Philippe (39), a former rebel leader and presidential candidate with
alleged ties to drug traffickers.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Aug 18, Hurricane Dean
barreled across the eastern Caribbean and took aim at Hispaniola,
Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, with forecasters saying it
could turn into a monster Category 5 storm within 72 hours. Dean
claimed at least six lives as it began sweeping past the Dominican
Republic and Haiti.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Sep 1, A US Navy hospital
ship Comfort brought state-of-the-art medical care to Haiti during a
regional goodwill mission aimed at countering leftist Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez's influence.
(AP, 9/7/07)(http://tinyurl.com/2squrt)
2007 Oct 12, In Haiti a
rain-swollen river flooded a town killing at least 20 people.
(WSJ, 10/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 15, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in
Haiti for a year, noting significant improvements in security in recent
months but saying the situation remains fragile.
(AP, 10/15/07)
2007 Nov 1, Floodwaters and
mudslides spawned by Tropical Storm Noel killed at least 143 people
including 84 in the Dominican Republic and 57 in Haiti. By this evening
Noel was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane and rains continued to
pound the area.
(AP, 11/1/07)(AP, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov, In Haiti 108 Sri Lankan
soldiers were recalled after investigators found they had paid for sex
with Haitians, some of whom were underage.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 12, Tropical Storm Olga
soaked portions of the Caribbean, triggering floods and landslides that
killed at least 38 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto
Rico.
(AP, 12/12/07)(AP, 12/13/07)(WSJ, 12/15/07, p.A1)
2008 Feb 4, Dominican merchants
closed a popular border market that caters to Haitians, punishing their
impoverished neighbor for banning Dominican poultry and egg imports
following an outbreak of avian flu.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 9, In Haiti a man blamed
for kidnappings in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville was
pummeled with rocks and killed by neighbors in the seaside Cite Soleil
slum. The next day UN and Haitian police rescued a suspected kidnapper
(27) from a mob in downtown Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 22, Canadian Foreign
Minister Maxime Bernier pledged $555 million in fresh aid to Haiti, as
he wrapped up a three-day visit to the impoverished Caribbean nation.
(Reuters, 2/23/08)
2008 Apr 4, At least three
Haitians were killed and 25 others injured amid food riots and clashes
with UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 7, In Haiti protesters
angered by high food prices flooded the streets of Port-au-Prince,
forcing businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the
countryside. Witnesses said at least one person was killed by hotel
security guards during a protest in the southern city of Les Cayes.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 8, In Haiti hungry
protesters stormed the presidential palace throwing rocks and demanding
the resignation of Pres. Rene Preval over soaring food prices.
(SFC, 4/9/08, p.A4)
2008 Apr 9, In Haiti a desperate
appeal from Pres. Preval failed to restore order to Port-au-Prince, and
bands of looters sacked stores, warehouses and government offices.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 12, Haiti’s President
Rene Preval announced a drop in the price of rice in a bid to defuse
anger of rising food prices that fueled days of deadly protests and
looting. Haitian lawmakers dismissed PM Jacques Edouard Alexi, hoping
to defuse widespread anger over rising food prices.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 20,
The US Coast Guard recovered the bodies of 20 migrants, 19
Haitians and one Honduran, from the sea near the Bahamas after their
boat apparently capsized.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 27, President Rene Preval
chose Ericq Pierre, an international banking official, to be the
troubled country's next prime minister.
(AP, 4/27/08)
2008 May 10, In Haiti an
overloaded ferry capsized off the southern coast, killing at least 13
people.
(AP, 5/12/08)
2008 May 12, Haitian legislators
rejected President Rene Preval's pick for prime minister, extending a
monthlong period without a functioning government. International banker
Ericq Pierre (63) lost a vote that ended his candidacy 51 to 35, with
nine abstentions.
(AP, 5/12/08)
2008 May 27, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon said the UN will investigate allegations by a leading
children's charity that UN peacekeepers are involved in widespread
sexual abuse of children. The report by Save the Children UK was based
on field research in southern Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 Jun 4, In Haiti thousands of
protesters, bearing photographs of victims and with fists thrust in the
air, marched through Port-au-Prince to demand that officials crack down
on a kidnapping scourge. UN police said more than 157 people have been
kidnapped this year in Haiti, up 10 percent from last year.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2008 Jun 26, Cuts in Haitian
gasoline subsidies pushed the price of fuel to $6.14 a gallon, further
burdening the people as the government redirected money to other
programs.
(AP, 6/27/08)
2008 Jul 26, In southern Haiti at
least 29 people were killed when a large truck carrying people and
merchandise collided with three pickups east of Cavailon.
(AP, 7/27/08)
2008 Jul 29, Hundreds of armed
former soldiers from Haiti's disbanded army stormed an old barracks and
civilian prison to demand the force be reinstated.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2008 Jul 31, Haitian lawmakers
ratified Michele Pierre-Louis to be the country's prime minister,
ending more than three months of political bickering and deadlock in
Parliament.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 5, The EU said it will
give Haiti $4.6 million to help pay for food in the world's poorest
country.
(AP, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 16, Tropical Storm Fay
lashed Haiti and the Dominican Republic with torrential rains and
floods that killed at least 18 people including at least 14 people in
Haiti, feared to have died aboard a bus that tried to cross a flooded
river.
(AP, 8/17/08)(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 26, Hurricane Gustav hit
Haiti and triggered flooding and landslides that killed 15 people
before weakening to a tropical storm.
(AP, 8/27/08)(SFC, 8/28/08, p.A2)
2008 Aug 28, Tropical Storm Gustav
bore down on Jamaica after leaving 67 people dead on Hispaniola,
including 59 in Haiti and 8 in the Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 8/29/08, p.A2)
2008 Sep 3, Tropical Storm Hanna
drenched flood-plagued Haiti, adding to the miseries of a country that
has lost more than 100 lives to mudslides and flooding since mid-August.
(AP, 9/3/08)
2008 Sep 4, Tropical Storm Hanna
roared along the edge of the Bahamas ahead of a possible hurricane hit
on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 137 dead in Haiti.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 7, In Haiti at least 58
people died as Ike's winds and rain swept the impoverished Caribbean
nation. Officials also found three more bodies from a previous storm,
raising Haiti's death toll from four tropical storms in less than a
month to 319. A Dominican man was crushed by a falling tree. Ike
damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the
Bahamas and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a
ferocious Category 4 storm.
(AP, 9/7/08)(AP, 9/8/08)
2008 Sep 19, Haiti said its system
of agriculture has been destroyed by the last 4 tropical storms, Fay,
Gustav, Hanna and Ike. The storms killed 425 people in less than a
month. On Oct 3 authorities said the official death toll from four
storms that ravaged Haiti this summer nearly doubled to 793 people.
(SFC, 9/20/08, p.A10)(AP, 10/3/08)(Econ, 2/14/09,
p.45)
2008 Oct 14, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to renew its peacekeeping mission in Haiti
for another year.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Nov 7, In Petionville, Haiti,
the collapse of a school killed at least 94 children and teachers.
There may have been hundreds of students in La Promesse school when the
concrete building collapsed. Fortin Augustin, the preacher who owns and
built College La Promesse in suburban Port-au-Prince, was arrested Nov
8 and charged with involuntary manslaughter.
(AP, 11/8/08)(AP, 11/9/08)(AP, 11/11/08)(SFC,
11/11/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 19, In Haiti Max Cosci of
Doctors Without Borders said at least 26 children had died over a
two-week period in the remote, southeastern area of Baie d'Orange. The
UN World Food Program says it is sending medical and food aid to the
region.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 24, A Haitian teen shot
and killed a classmate in a rare outbreak of school violence in the
troubled country.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 30, In Haiti a dozen men
in T-shirts declaring "I am gay" and "I am living with HIV/AIDS"
marched with hundreds of other demonstrators through St. Marc in what
organizers called the Caribbean nation's first openly gay march.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2009 Jan 12, In Haiti Police
Commissioner Philippe Jean Raymond of Port-de-Paix was poisoned after
several million dollars of cash seized from the uncle of a prominent
drug smuggler went missing.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.46)(http://tinyurl.com/dz7gcq)
2009 Jan 19, Some 25 people, most
of them Haitians, were aboard an overloaded boat that was illegally
traveling the 100-mile (160-kilometer) passage from the Dutch territory
of St. Maarten to the British Virgin Islands. They were apparently
island-hopping in hopes of eventually reaching US shores when the boat
hit a reef, pitching passengers into the ocean. 13 migrants were
rescued by a passing fishing boat.
(AP, 1/21/09)
2009 Apr 19, In Haiti
clear-plastic ballot boxes were nearly as empty as Port-au-Prince's
unusually deserted streets as few voters turned out for Senate
elections in which candidates from a major populist party were not
allowed to run. Supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, whose Fanmi Lavalas party was disqualified from the election
by Haiti's provisional electoral council, had urged an estimated 4
million registered voters not to participate.
(AP, 4/19/09)
2009 May 13, Off of Florida an
overloaded boat capsized and sank with about 30 people aboard, mainly
Haitian immigrants fleeing their country's crushing poverty. At least 9
people were dead. 17 survivors were pulled from the waters. On May 18
Jimmy Metellus (33) of Haiti was charged with human smuggling.
(AP, 5/14/09)(SFC, 5/14/09, p.A4)(SFC, 5/19/09, p.A5)
2009 May 19, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon formally named Bill Clinton as its special envoy to Haiti.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 22, Haiti's civil
protection department said floods have killed at least 11 people this
week as heavy rains swamp towns still rebuilding from last year's
hurricanes.
(AP, 5/22/09)
2009 May 25, The US Coast Guard
cutter Venturous intercepted a smugglers' boat near the Haitian barrier
island of La Tortue and took on board 35 of the approximately 100
illegal passengers. 6 armed smugglers threatened other passengers and
prevented them from getting on the Coast Guard ship, instead fleeing
with them aboard the vessel in shallow water.
(AP, 5/28/09)
2009 May 27, The Rev. Gerard
Jean-Juste, a champion of the poor in Haiti and close supporter of
Aristide, died in Miami following complications from a stroke.
(AP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 18, In Haiti a
confrontation between UN peacekeepers and mourners for Rev. Gerard
Jean-Juste, a popular priest allied with former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, left one person dead. A video showed marchers throwing rocks
at UN soldiers, who periodically turned and fired their assault rifles
into the air.
(AP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 21, Haiti held Senate
run-offs elections. Fed up with chronic poverty and unresponsive
leaders many stayed away from the elections, ignoring government
efforts to improve on the paltry voter turnout that undercut the first
round of voting in April.
(AP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 29, Haiti’s President
Rene Preval's party won five of 11 contests to fill open Senate seats,
according to preliminary results released by the provisional electoral
council. Turnout in the latest voting was even lower than the 11
percent tallied in the first round. No official percentage has been
reported for the June 21 elections.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jul 2, Canada said it has
forgiven C$2.3 million in debt owed by Haiti as part of a plan that
aims to relieve the world's poorest countries of C$1.3 billion in debt.
(Reuters, 7/2/09)
2009 Jul 8, In Haiti Bill Clinton
said a lack of coordination among aid groups and Haitian leaders is
hurting efforts to ease poverty in the Caribbean nation, as he wrapped
up his first trip here as a special UN envoy.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 11, A ferry capsized off
Haiti's southern coast, killing at least five people. Authorities said
it wasn't clear how many people were on board, but as many as two dozen
could be missing.
(AP, 7/11/09)
2009 Jul 27, An overloaded
sailboat carrying an estimated 200 Haitian migrants sank off the Turks
and Caicos Islands and as many as 85 people were missing.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Aug 4, Haiti’s lawmakers
voted to more than double the minimum wage after long hours of debate
and clashes between police and protesters, who complained they can't
feed and shelter their families on the current pay of about $1.75 a day.
(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 14, A Swiss court backed
the government's plan to give aid agencies 7 million Swiss francs ($6
million) seized from bank accounts linked to Haiti's former dictator
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The Duvalier family, which wants to
reclaim the money, can now appeal the case to Switzerland's highest
court. The accounts have been blocked since 2002.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Sep 24, The Clinton Global
Initiative announced $258 million in aid projects for Haiti. The 21
projects included a $2 million pledge by actor mat Damon’s Water.org to
get water and sanitation to 50,000 people.
(SFC, 9/25/09, p.A2)
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Subject = Haiti
End of file