Editing Jean-Bertrand Aristide (section)

=== 2004 overthrow ===
{{further|2004 Haitian coup d'état}}

It has been alleged that after his return to power in 2001, Aristide increasingly relied on street gangs to enforce his will and to terrorize his political opponents. After the murder of Amiot Métayer, the leader of the pro-Aristide Lame Kanibal (Cannibal Army) gang in the Raboteau slum in the northern city of Gonaïves in September 2003, Métayer's partisans, believing that Aristide had ordered his killing, rose up against the president.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article792|title=Le fil des événements entourant l'assassinat de Amiot Métayer|date=10 October 2003|newspaper=Alterpresse}}</ref> On 5 December 2003, organized pro-Aristide forces committed and encouraged violent attacks and threats against [[University of Port-au-Prince]] students protesting against Aristide.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/soros-foundation-haiti-denounces-attacks-students-pro-government-forces|title=Soros Foundation in Haiti Denounces Attacks on Students by Pro-Government Forces|date=10 December 2003|newspaper=FOKAL}}</ref>

In early 2004, the Cannibal Army was joined in its fight against the government by former military and police, many of whom had been in exile in the Dominican Republic and who had been launching cross-border raids since 2001.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993414,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308025123/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993414,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 March 2008|title=Letter From Haiti: A Battle of Cannibals And Monsters|last=Klarreich|first=Kathie |date=23 February 2004|magazine=Time Magazine}}</ref> The paramilitary campaign was headed by ex-police chief Guy Philippe and former FRAPH [[death squad]] founder Louis Jodel Chamblain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/02/15/disparate_forces_behind_the_violent_opposition_in_haiti|title=Disparate forces behind the violent opposition in Haiti|last=Steven|first=Dudley|date=15 February 2004|newspaper=Boston Globe}}</ref> In February 2004, pro-Aristide forces were accused of committing a massacre in the city of Saint-Marc.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article1374|title=Requiem pour la Scierie|date=30 April 2004|newspaper=Alterpresse}}</ref>

The rebels soon took control of the North, and eventually laid siege to, and then invaded, the capital. Under disputed circumstances, Aristide was flown out of the country by the U.S. with assistance from Canada and France on 28 February 2004.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3543355.stm|title=Haiti's Aristide defiant in exile|work=BBC News|date=8 March 2004}}</ref>  Aristide and his bodyguard, Franz Gabriel, stated that he was the victim of a "new [[coup d'état]] or modern kidnapping" by U.S. forces. Mrs. Aristide stated that the personnel who escorted him wore U.S. Special Forces uniforms, but changed into civilian clothes upon boarding the aircraft that was used to remove them from Haiti.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/186/34344.html |title=Aristide Kidnapped by US Forces? |publisher=Globalpolicy.org |date=1 March 2004 |access-date=24 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/16/exclusive_aristide_and_his_bodyguard_describe |title=Exclusive: Aristide and His Bodyguard Describe the U.S. Role In His Ouster |publisher=[[Democracy Now!|Democracynow.org]]  |date=16 March 2004 |access-date=24 July 2013}}</ref> [[Jamaica]]n prime minister [[P. J. Patterson]] released a statement saying "we are bound to question whether his resignation was truly voluntary, as it comes after the capture of regions of Haiti by armed insurgents and the failure of the international community to provide the requisite support. The removal of President Aristide in these circumstances sets a dangerous precedent for democratically elected governments anywhere and everywhere, as it promotes the removal of duly elected persons from office by the power of rebel forces."<ref name="CNN"/> Meanwhile, National Palace security agent Casimir Chariot said that Aristide left of his own free will.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2006/02/28/aristide-s-last-days/|title=Aristide's Last Days|date=28 February 2006|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times}}</ref> Aristide's Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune, also said that Aristide's resignation was genuine.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://radiokiskeya.com/spip.php?article7105|title=Aristide avait "démissionné" en 2004, dit son ancien Premier ministre|date=6 October 2010|newspaper=Radio Kiskeya|access-date=3 June 2023|archive-date=28 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928122820/http://www.radiokiskeya.com/spip.php?article7105|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After Aristide was flown out of Haiti, looters raided his villa.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/aristide.home.ap/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040305021635/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/aristide.home.ap/index.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=5 March 2004 |title=Looters pick through Aristide's villa: Letters about the CIA, FBI left behind|last=Associated Press |date=1 March 2004 |publisher=CNN|access-date=21 February 2017}}</ref> Most barricades were lifted the day after Aristide left as the shooting had stopped; order was maintained by Haitian police, along with armed rebels and local vigilantes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/haiti.scene.reut/index.html|title=Haitians emerge to work, or party|agency=Reuters|date=1 March 2004|publisher=CNN|access-date=29 January 2010}}</ref> Almost immediately after the Aristide family was transported from Haiti, the [[Prime Minister of Jamaica|prime minister of Jamaica]], [[P.J. Patterson|P.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;Patterson]], dispatched a member of parliament, [[Sharon Hay-Webster]], to the [[Central African Republic]]. The leadership of that country agreed that Aristide and his family could go to Jamaica. The Aristide family remained on the island for several months until the Jamaican government gained acceptance by the [[Republic of South Africa]] for the family to relocate there.

Aristide later claimed that France and the U.S. had a role in what he termed "a kidnapping" that took him from Haiti to South Africa via the [[Central African Republic]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n08/farm01_.html|title=Who removed Aristide?|pages=28–31|author=Paul Farmer|newspaper=London Review of Books|date=15 April 2004}}</ref> However, authorities said his temporary asylum there had been negotiated by the United States, France and [[Gabon]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/01/centralaf.aristide.ap/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040305124410/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/01/centralaf.aristide.ap/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 March 2004 |title=Aristide arrives for African exile|last=Associated Press |date=1 March 2004|publisher=CNN International|access-date=21 February 2017}}</ref> On 1 March 2004, U.S. congresswoman [[Maxine Waters]], along with Aristide family friend [[Randall Robinson]], reported Aristide had told them that he had been forced to resign and had been abducted from the country by the United States and that he had been held hostage by an armed military guard.<ref name = demnow>{{Cite web| title = Rep Maxine Waters: Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped'| publisher = [[Democracy Now]]| url =http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/1/rep_maxine_waters_aristide_says_i | access-date=19 April 2015}}</ref> According to Waters, Mildred Aristide called her at her home at 6:30&nbsp;am, informing her that "the coup d'etat has been completed". She also stated how Jean-Bertrand Aristide claimed the U.S. embassy in Haiti's chief of staff came to his house and threatened that he, alongside many other Haitians would be killed if he did not resign.<ref name="CNN"/> Aristide's letter, which is described as his resignation, does not actually contain Aristide clearly and officially resigning. Representative [[Charles Rangel]], D-New York, expressed similar words, saying Aristide had told him he was "disappointed that the international community had let him down" and "that he resigned under pressure" – "As a matter of fact, he was very apprehensive for his life. They made it clear that he had to go now or he would be killed."<ref name="CNN"/> When asked for his response to these statements [[Colin Powell]] said that "it might have been better for members of Congress who have heard these stories to ask us about the stories before going public with them so we don't make a difficult situation that much more difficult" and he alleged that Aristide "did not democratically govern or govern well".<ref name="CNN"/> [[CARICOM]], an organization of Caribbean countries that included Haiti, called for a [[United Nations]] investigation into Aristide's removal, but were reportedly pressured by the U.S. and France to drop their request. Some observers suggest the rebellion and removal of Aristide were covertly orchestrated by these two countries and Canada.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/haiti/doc/hti34.html|author=Thalif Deen|title=US, France Block UN Probe of Aristide Ouster|publisher=[[Inter Press Service]]|date=13 April 2004}}</ref><ref name=weisbrot/>

In 2022, Thierry Burkard, the French ambassador to Haiti at the time, told the ''[[New York Times]]'' that France and the United States had effectively orchestrated a coup against Aristide by forcing him into exile.<ref name="nyt250522">{{cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Catherine |last2=Méheut |first2=Constant |last3=Apuzzo |first3=Matt |last4=Gebrekidan |first4=Selam |title=The Root of Haiti's Misery: Reparations to Enslavers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/americas/haiti-history-colonized-france.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=25 May 2022 |date=20 May 2022}}</ref> In response to this, [[James Brendan Foley]], U.S. Ambassador to Haiti at the time of the coup, called these claims untrue, stating that it was never U.S. policy to remove Aristide. He said that Aristide had requested a U.S. rescue and that the decision to dispatch a plane to carry him to safety had been agreed upon following night-time discussions at the behest of Aristide.<ref name="Foley" >{{Cite news |last=Foley |first=James |date=24 May 2022 |title=No, the U.S. did not try to overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti|language=en-US |work=[[Miami Herald]] |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article261734482.html}}</ref>

In a 2006 interview, Aristide claimed the United States reneged on compromises he made with it over the privatization of enterprises to ensure that part of the profits from those enterprises would be distributed to the Haitian population and then relied on a disinformation campaign to discredit him.<ref name=hallward/>