Editing Jean-Bertrand Aristide (section)

== Background and church vocation ==
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into poverty in [[Port-Salut]], [[Sud (department)|Sud]] on 15 July 1953. His father died three months after Aristide was born,<ref name = webster /> and he later moved to [[Port-au-Prince]] with his mother.<ref name = "Danner Verge" /> At age five, Aristide started school with priests of the [[Salesians of Don Bosco|Salesian order]].<ref name="Aristide no stranger to struggle">{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/16/haiti.aristide.ap/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040221154204/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/16/haiti.aristide.ap/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 February 2004|title=Aristide no stranger to struggle|publisher=Associated Press|date=16 February 2004|access-date=30 January 2010}}</ref> He was educated at the [[Collège Notre-Dame (Haiti)|Collège Notre-Dame]] in [[Cap-Haïtien]], graduating with honors in 1974. He then took a course of novitiate studies in [[La Vega, Dominican Republic]], before returning to Haiti to study [[philosophy]] at the Grand Séminaire Notre Dame and [[psychology]] at the [[University of Haiti|State University of Haiti]].

After completing his post-graduate studies in 1979, Aristide travelled in [[Europe]], studying in [[Italy]], [[Greece]], and at the [[Cremisan Valley#Cremisan Monastery|Cremisan Monastery]] in the town of [[Beit Jala]]. He returned to Haiti in 1982 for his ordination as a [[Salesian]] priest,<ref name="Danner Prophet">{{Cite web|last=Danner |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Danner |title=The Prophet |work=[[The New York Review]] |date=18 November 1993 |url=http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/74 |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908051806/http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/74 |archive-date=8 September 2008}}</ref> and was appointed [[curate]] of a small [[parish]] in Port-au-Prince.

Between 1957 and 1986, Haiti was ruled by the [[Duvalier dynasty|family dictatorships]] of [[François Duvalier|François "Papa Doc"]] and [[Jean-Claude Duvalier|Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier]]. The misery endured by Haiti's poor made a deep impression on Aristide himself,<ref name="Danner Verge">{{Cite web|last=Danner|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Danner|title=Haiti on the Verge|work=[[The New York Review]]|date=4 November 1993|url=http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/73?class=related_content_link|access-date=20 May 2010|archive-date=9 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509210849/http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/73?class=related_content_link|url-status=dead}}</ref> and he became an outspoken critic of Duvalierism.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Gallo| first = Michael F.| title = Hope in Haiti? An interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide| journal = Touchstone Magazine| volume = 3| issue = 3| date=Fall 1989|url= http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=03-03-026-i| access-date=10 May 2010}}</ref> Nor did he spare the hierarchy of the country's church, since a 1966 Vatican Concordat granted Duvalier one-time power to appoint Haiti's bishops.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Concordat Watch: Papa Doc's Concordat (1966)| url = http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showtopic.php?org_id=847&kb_header_id=39321 | access-date=10 May 2010}}</ref> An exponent of liberation theology, Aristide denounced Duvalier's regime in one of his earliest sermons. This did not go unnoticed by the regime's top echelons. Under pressure, the provincial delegate of the Salesian Order sent Aristide into three years of exile in [[Montreal]].<ref name ="Danner Prophet" /> By 1985, as popular opposition to Duvalier's regime grew, Aristide was back preaching in Haiti. His Easter Week sermon, "A call to holiness", delivered at the cathedral of Port-au-Prince and later broadcast throughout Haiti, proclaimed: "The path of those Haitians who reject the regime is the path of righteousness and love."<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Hallward| first = Peter| author-link = Peter Hallward| title = Option Zero in Haiti| journal = [[New Left Review]]| volume =27| issue = May–June 200|date=May–June 2004|url=http://newleftreview.org/A2507|access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref>

Aristide became a leading figure in the Ti Legliz movement, whose name means "little church" in [[Haitian Creole|Kreyòl]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rohter|first=Larry|title=Liberal Wing of Haiti's Church Resists Military|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 July 1994|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/24/world/liberal-wing-of-haiti-s-catholic-church-resists-military.html?pagewanted=1| access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> In September 1985, he was appointed to St. Jean Bosco church, in a poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. Struck by the absence of young people in the church, Aristide began to organize youth, sponsoring weekly youth Masses.<ref name = "Farmer Uses">{{Cite book|last=Farmer|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Farmer|title=The Uses of Haiti, 3rd edition|publisher=Common Courage Press|year=2005|page=104|isbn= 978-1567513448}}</ref> He founded an orphanage for urban street children in 1986 called ''Lafanmi Selavi'' [Family is Life].<ref name = "Wilentz" />{{rp|214}} The program sought to be a model of participatory democracy for the children it served.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Bernat| first = J. Christopher| title = Children and the Politics of Violence in Haitian Context: Statist violence, scarcity and street child agency in Port-au-Prince| journal = [[Critique of Anthropology]]| publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|location=Thousand Oaks, California|volume = 19| issue = 2| pages = 121–138| date = 1 June 1999| url = http://coa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/19/2/121| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120707132916/http://coa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/19/2/121| url-status = dead| archive-date = 7 July 2012| access-date = 10 May 2010| doi = 10.1177/0308275x9901900202| citeseerx = 10.1.1.623.758| s2cid = 145185450}}</ref> As Aristide became a leading voice for the aspirations of Haiti's dispossessed, he inevitably became a target for attack.<ref>{{Cite news| last = French| first = Howard| title = Attack on Priest Called Haiti Catalyst| newspaper = The New York Times| date=24 September 1988| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/24/world/attack-on-priest-called-haiti-catalyst.html| access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> He survived at least four assassination attempts.<ref name="Aristide no stranger to struggle"/><ref>{{Cite web| last = Farmer| first = Paul| title = Who is Aristide, from Uses of Haiti| publisher = Common Courage Press |url=http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/Who_Is_Aristide.html |access-date=17 February 2014}}</ref> The most widely publicized attempt, the [[St. Jean Bosco massacre]], occurred on 11 September 1988,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | last = Belleau| first = Jean-Philippe| title = Massacres perpetrated in the 20th Century in Haiti| encyclopedia= Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence| date=2 April 2008| url = http://www.massviolence.org/Massacres-perpetrated-in-the-20th-Century-in-Haiti?cs=print
|issn=1961-9898 |access-date=17 February 2014}}</ref> During the attempt over one hundred armed [[Tontons Macoute]] wearing red armbands forced their way into St. Jean Bosco as Aristide began Sunday Mass.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Treaster| first = Joseph B.| title = Haiti Terrorists Form in New Groups| newspaper = The New York Times| date=23 September 1988| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/23/world/haiti-terrorists-form-in-new-groups.html| access-date=23 May 2010}}</ref> As army troops and police stood by, the men fired machine guns at the congregation and attacked fleeing parishioners with machetes. Aristide's church was burned to the ground. Thirteen people are reported to have been killed, and 77 wounded. Aristide survived and went into hiding.<ref name = "Wilentz">{{Cite book| last = Wilentz| first = Amy| author-link = Amy Wilentz | title = The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier| publisher = Simon and Schuster| year = 1989| pages = 348–353| isbn = 978-0671641863}}</ref>

Subsequently, Salesian officials ordered Aristide to leave Haiti, but tens of thousands of Haitians protested, blocking his access to the airport.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Farmer|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Farmer|title=The Uses of Haiti, 3rd edition|publisher=Common Courage Press|year=2005|pages=122|isbn= 978-1567513448}}</ref> In December 1988, Aristide was expelled from his Salesian order.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Treaster|first=Joseph B.|title=A Haitian Priest is Ousted by Order|newspaper=The New York Times|date=18 December 1988|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/18/world/a-haitian-priest-is-ousted-by-order.html| access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> A statement prepared by the Salesians called the priest's political activities an "incitement to hatred and violence", out of line with his role as a clergyman.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Corbett |first=Bob |title=Aristide resigning his priesthood?|url=http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/recent/priest.htm |access-date=20 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529230436/http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/recent/priest.htm |archive-date=29 May 2010 }}</ref> Aristide appealed the decision, saying: "The crime of which I stand accused is the crime of preaching food for all men and women."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Farmer|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Farmer|title=The Uses of Haiti, 3rd edition|publisher=Common Courage Press|year=2005|pages=124–125|isbn= 978-1567513448}}</ref> In a January 1988 interview, he said "The solution is revolution, first in the spirit of the Gospel; Jesus could not accept people going hungry. It is a conflict between classes, rich and poor. My role is to preach and organize...."<ref name="webster">{{Cite web|url=http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/recent/aristidebio.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822212332/http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/recent/aristidebio.htm|url-status=dead|title=Portrait of a Folk-Hero: Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide|archivedate=22 August 2012}}</ref> In 1994, Aristide left priesthood, ending years of tension with the church over his criticism of its hierarchy and his espousal of liberation theology.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Rohter| first = Larry| title = Aristide decides to quit as priest| newspaper = The New York Times| date=17 November 1994| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/17/world/aristide-decides-to-quit-as-priest.html?pagewanted=1| access-date=10 May 2010}}</ref> Aristide married [[Mildred Trouillot]], on 20 January 1996, with whom he had two daughters.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|first=Gary|last=Pierre-Pierre |title=Many in Haiti Are Troubled By Marriage Of Aristide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/21/world/many-in-haiti-are-troubled-by-marriage-of-aristide.html |work=[[New York Times]] |date=21 January 1996 |access-date=20 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612213235/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/21/world/many-in-haiti-are-troubled-by-marriage-of-aristide.html |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=career>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aristide.org/articles/aristidecareer.htm |title=Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Tumultuous Career |access-date=13 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120071927/http://www.aristide.org/articles/aristidecareer.htm |archive-date=20 January 2010 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>