The 1991 Haitian coup d'état took place on 29 September 1991, when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected eight months earlier in the 1990–91 Haitian general election, was deposed by the Armed Forces of Haiti. Haitian military officers, primarily Army General Raoul Cédras, Army Chief of Staff Philippe Biamby and Chief of the National Police, Michel François led the coup. Aristide was sent into exile, his life only saved by the intervention of US, French and Venezuelan diplomats. Aristide would later return to power in 1994.
Background
The 1990–91 general election was heralded as the first democratic election in Haiti's history. Aristide, a populist Roman Catholic priest, was the most controversial candidate of his party, the National Front for Change and Democracy (FCND). He was one of the only church figures to speak out against repression during the Duvalier years. However, due to the popularity of his populist Lavalas movement ("the flood" in Haitian Creole), which advocated the use of legislation and popular mobilization for economic reform, an end to corruption, and justice for the victims of the Haitian military and the Tonton Macoutes, he received the majority of the vote, with 67.5%.
Despite having popular support, the transition of power was rocky. Aristide's political platform threatened the power of some of the Haitian elite, specifically those who supported the Duvalier family dictatorship. Aristide's main opposition was the Haitian army, on whom he attempted to enforce constitutional laws that had not previously been adhered to. These laws included the separation of the police from the army and its subsequent placement under the Ministry of Justice as well as the trial of military abuses against citizens by the military, when they were meant to be tried in civilian courts.
The Haitian right mobilized in response to the Lavalas movement. A coup attempt against Aristide had taken place on 6 January, even before his inauguration, when Roger Lafontant, a Tonton Macoute leader under Duvalier, seized the provisional President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and declared himself President. After large numbers of Aristide supporters filled the streets in protest and Lafontant attempted to declare martial law, the Army crushed the incipient coup. Lafontant's trial was controversial, as he received a life sentence on the recommendation of Aristide, while the maximum sentence was set at 15 years.
On 27 September 1991, Aristide gave a speech that critics believe advocated for the use of necklacing - also called Pere Lebrun in Haiti - as a form of execution, potentially referring to necklacing as a "beautiful instrument." Others argue that Aristide was referring to the constitution, since necklacing is never explicitly mentioned and earlier in the same speech Aristide refers ambiguously in similar ways to using the constitution as an instrument or tool— "Your tool in hand, your instrument in hand, your constitution in hand!"
It has been suggested that Aristide also threatened elite bourgeois families in that speech, for not supporting his government enough. A social network analysis of Haitian elites who participated in the coup has suggested that more central families were more likely to have been accused of participating in the coup and more likely to benefit financially.
Coup d'état
The coup was brief, with some conflict the night of 28 September 1991, but the bulk of the action taking place on 29 September, ending with Aristide deported to France in exile and Cédras announcing the success of the coup at 11 p.m. on the night of Monday, 30 September. On the night of 28 September, some army bases and police stations mutinied, aligning themselves with Cédras over the Aristide administration. At daybreak, soldiers fired on Aristide's residence and his armored personnel carrier as he traveled to the National Palace. Soldiers overtook the palace, captured Aristide and led him to army headquarters. There, Venezuelan, French, and US ambassadors successfully negotiated with coup leaders for Aristide's life. Aristide was forced into exile and flew to France, later visiting the United States and speaking before the United Nations.
An outburst of popular protest associated with the coup also claimed lives. Silvio Claude, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party and a critic of both the Duvaliers and Aristide, was murdered by a mob. Roger Lafontant was also murdered in prison during the coup, however the circumstances surrounding his death have never been made clear.