A coup d'état in Haiti on 29 February 2004, following several weeks of conflict, resulted in the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. On 5 February, a rebel group, called the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation and Reconstruction of Haiti, took control of Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaïves. By 22 February, the rebels had captured Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien and were besieging the capital, Port-au-Prince by the end of February. On the morning of 29 February, Aristide resigned under controversial circumstances and was flown from Haiti by U.S. military and security personnel. He went into exile, being flown directly to the Central African Republic, before eventually settling in South Africa. Following Aristide's departure, an interim government led by President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gérard Latortue was installed, and 2,700 foreign troops were deployed to Haiti under the U.S.-led Operation Secure Tomorrow to stop the breakdown of public order. The operation was later replaced by the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti.
Aristide, while still being the most popular politician in Haiti, faced growing opposition after the 1990s. His political party Fanmi Lavalas won the May 2000 parliamentary election, though the results of some Senate races were disputed by opposition parties because of how the votes were tabulated by the Provisional Electoral Council. They also claimed that the council was not independent. The government still certified the results, and the opposition boycotted the November 2000 presidential election, in which Aristide was re-elected for a second term.
Although the Senate vote tabulation was not believed to have changed the outcome of those races, the government was criticized for its lack of a response by the Organization of American States (OAS), the United States, Canada, and the European Union, which suspended foreign aid to Haiti. The Aristide administration agreed to a plan negotiated with the U.S. to address election-related concerns, but the opposition refused to cooperate for years, and foreign aid was withheld because of the delay. There were also anti-government demonstrations in 2002, 2003, and 2004, which became increasingly violent. A rebellion broke out, which included a core of ex-army paramilitary groups that had been disbanded during Aristide's presidency due to their history of committing atrocities and involvement in the 1991 military coup. The Haitian National Police became outgunned and outnumbered by the rebels and gangs.
Aristide afterwards claimed that he had been kidnapped by U.S. forces, accusing them of having orchestrated a coup d'état against him, a claim denied by U.S. officials. In 2022, a dozen Haitian and French officials told The New York Times that Aristide's earlier calls for reparations had caused France to side with Aristide's opponents and collaborate with the United States to remove him from power. This claim was, however, denied by the United States Ambassador to Haiti at the time, James Brendan Foley. After the coup, Haiti experienced worsening political, economic, and humanitarian crises, and increased foreign involvement in its politics. Before 2004, there had been two peaceful transitions of power from one elected Haitian president to another, in 1996 and 2001. Since 2004 there has only been one, in 2011.
A coup d'état in Haiti on 29 February 2004, following several weeks of conflict, resulted in the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. On 5 February, a rebel group, called the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation and Reconstruction of Haiti, took control of Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaïves. By 22 February, the rebels had captured Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien and were besieging the capital, Port-au-Prince by the end of February. On the morning of 29 February, Aristide resigned under controversial circumstances and was flown from Haiti by U.S. military and security personnel. He went into exile, being flown directly to the Central African Republic, before eventually settling in South Africa. Following Aristide's departure, an interim government led by President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gérard Latortue was installed, and 2,700 foreign troops were deployed to Haiti under the U.S.-led Operation Secure Tomorrow to stop the breakdown of public order. The operation was later replaced by the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti.
Aristide, while still being the most popular politician in Haiti, faced growing opposition after the 1990s. His political party Fanmi Lavalas won the May 2000 parliamentary election, though the results of some Senate races were disputed by opposition parties because of how the votes were tabulated by the Provisional Electoral Council. They also claimed that the council was not independent. The government still certified the results, and the opposition boycotted the November 2000 presidential election, in which Aristide was re-elected for a second term.
Although the Senate vote tabulation was not believed to have changed the outcome of those races, the government was criticized for its lack of a response by the Organization of American States (OAS), the United States, Canada, and the European Union, which suspended foreign aid to Haiti. The Aristide administration agreed to a plan negotiated with the U.S. to address election-related concerns, but the opposition refused to cooperate for years, and foreign aid was withheld because of the delay. There were also anti-government demonstrations in 2002, 2003, and 2004, which became increasingly violent. A rebellion broke out, which included a core of ex-army paramilitary groups that had been disbanded during Aristide's presidency due to their history of committing atrocities and involvement in the 1991 military coup. The Haitian National Police became outgunned and outnumbered by the rebels and gangs.
Aristide afterwards claimed that he had been kidnapped by U.S. forces, accusing them of having orchestrated a coup d'état against him, a claim denied by U.S. officials. In 2022, a dozen Haitian and French officials told The New York Times that Aristide's earlier calls for reparations had caused France to side with Aristide's opponents and collaborate with the United States to remove him from power. This claim was, however, denied by the United States Ambassador to Haiti at the time, James Brendan Foley. After the coup, Haiti experienced worsening political, economic, and humanitarian crises, and increased foreign involvement in its politics. Before 2004, there had been two peaceful transitions of power from one elected Haitian president to another, in 1996 and 2001. Since 2004 there has only been one, in 2011.
Events prior to the coup d'état
Controversy over elections in 2000
The May 2000 general election resulted in a sweep of 7,500 political offices in Haiti by Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the political party founded by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1996. Their opposition was divided, and Aristide had been the most popular politician in Haiti since his victory in December 1990 presidential election. The Organization of American States (OAS) observer mission initially described the elections as a success. However, the opposition in Haiti accused FL and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) of election fraud, and later so did Europe and the United States. Haitian electoral law required a run-off if no candidate won over 50% of the vote in the first round, but in some of the races for the nineteen Senate seats, the council only counted the votes of the top four candidates in each department race instead of the votes for every candidate. This change in vote tabulation benefited FL, and other concerns were also raised, such as the independence of the council. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) also stated that there were delays in the distribution of voter identification cards. U.S. Congressman John Conyers wrote:
Unfortunately, there were irregularities that occurred in the election and there is a post-election problem of the vote count that is threatening to undo the democratic work of the citizens of Haiti. Without doubt there were irregularities that occurred in the election which have been conceded by the CEP.
The Senate vote tabulation has been described as a small technicality that would not have changed the outcome of those races, but it turned into an international controversy. Based on some of the Senate races, the OAS observer mission later characterized the election as flawed and asked the Haitian government to address the concerns. The government ignored the request and the certified the results, causing the OAS to withdraw its observer mission. The leading opposition parties – including Espace de Concertation (EC) of Evans Paul and Serge Gilles, the National Christian Movement of Haiti (MOCHRENA), the Struggling People's Organization (OPL) of Gérard Pierre-Charles, and Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RNDP) of Leslie Manigat – declared a boycott of the November 2000 presidential election. Some of the opposition later formed the coalition Convergence Démocratique (CD). The coalition demanded the resignation of President René Préval and the annulment of the entire May election for all 7,500 offices, not just the disputed ones. CD was a mix of social democratic, right-wing, business-linked, or neo-Duvalierist factions with little public support, viewed by many as a creation of the urban-based political elite. Aristide's supporters claim that an opposition boycott of the election was used as a ploy in order to discredit it.
In response to this controversy, in September 2000 the U.S. and Canada decided to not provide any assistance for the presidential election. European nations suspended government-to-government assistance to Haiti. The U.S. Congress banned any U.S. assistance from being channeled through the Haitian government, codifying an existing situation. Ultimately $500 million in foreign aid was suspended. Aristide won another presidential term with over 90% of the vote in the November election, which was not funded or observed by international partners, against several unknown candidates. The high voter turnout was rejected by the opposition and questioned by foreign diplomats. Aristide met with U.S. National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and reached an agreement to hold Senate run-off elections, and to appoint a cabinet and an election council that included the opposition. The plan was later endorsed by the George W. Bush administration and the OAS. Although the Aristide government took measures to implement the agreement, the opposition represented by CD refused to participate in the process, and it had allies in the U.S. Congress. Even after Aristide convinced several FL senators to resign, the foreign aid to Haiti was not restored.
The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti was a conference hosted by Canada that took place at Meech Lake, Quebec (a federal government resort near Ottawa) on 31 January and 1 February 2003, to decide the future of Haiti's government, though no Haitian government officials were invited. Journalist Michel Vastel leaked information about the conference that he says was told to him by his friend and conference host Denis Paradis, Canada's Secretary of State for Latin America, Africa, and the French-speaking world, in his 15 March 2003, article in Quebec news magazine L'actualité. In the article, he claims that the officials at the conference wanted to see regime change in Haiti in less than a year. "Michel Vastel wrote that the possibility of Aristide's departure, the need for a potential trusteeship over Haiti, and the return of Haiti's dreaded military were discussed by Paradis and the French Minister for La Francophonie, Pierre-André Wiltzer." Paradis later denied this, but neither Vastel nor L'actualite retracted the story.
CD continued refusing to cooperate and demanded the resignation of Aristide right up until the coup, and some donors, such as the EU, continued blocking foreign aid over the election dispute despite worsening economic conditions in Haiti. At the same time, the government, which faced growing protests during 2003, used street gangs to attack the demonstrators. The Haitian National Police (PNH) was accused of human rights abuses and of being biased in the political dispute. Multiple protests by Haitian students were organized in 2002, 2003 and 2004 against the Aristide government. On 5 December 2003, some of Aristide's supporters, backed by the police according to witnesses, entered the social studies department of the Université d'État d'Haïti to attack students who were rallying for an anti-government protest later that day. Dozens of students were injured and the University dean had his legs broken. This event led to more protests by students, eventually joined by other groups. A student protest against Aristide on 7 January 2004 led to a clash with police and Aristide supporters that left two dead.
Aristide's request for reparations and other policies
In 2003, Aristide requested that France pay Haiti over US$21 billion in reparations, which he said was the equivalent in today's money Haiti was forced to pay Paris after winning independence from France 200 years ago.
The United Nations Security Council, of which France is a permanent member, rejected a 26 February 2004 appeal from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for international peacekeeping forces to be sent into its member state Haiti, but voted unanimously to send in troops three days later, just hours after Aristide's forced resignation.
"I believe that (the call for reparations) could have something to do with it, because they (France) were definitely not happy about it, and made some very hostile comments," Myrtha Desulme, chairperson of the Haiti-Jamaica Exchange Committee, told IPS. "(But) I believe that he did have grounds for that demand, because that is what started the downfall of Haiti," she says."
During Aristide's second administration in 2003, he doubled the minimum wage, which impacted over 20,000 people who worked in the Port-au-Prince assembly sector. Furthermore, the Aristide government launched a campaign to collect unpaid taxes and utility bills from Haiti’s wealthy population, seeking to reign in the business elite; such developments deeply unsettled the country’s aristocracy.
Following the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, the appointed provisional prime minister Gerard Latortue rescinded the reparations demand.
Security and cross-border paramilitary campaign
Both Aristide and his opposition had armed gangs. The role of right-wing paramilitary groups in violently targeting activists and government officials aligned with the Aristide government has been well documented. Freedom of Information Act documents have shown how paramilitary forces received support from sectors of Haiti's elite as well as from sectors of the Dominican military and government at the time. According to researcher Jeb Sprague, these groups also had contact with U.S. and French intelligence. One of their leaders was Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a founder of the paramilitary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti (FRAPH), who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the murder of the activist Antoine Izmery in 1993. FRAPH had been created by Raoul Cédras during the military regime of the early 1990s to suppress both the pro-Aristide forces and other rivals. The Dominican-based paramilitary forces were involved in the assassination of the journalist Jean Dominique in 2000, the attack on the police academy in July 2001, and the attempted coup against Aristide in December 2001. Aristide's armed opposition eventually included defecting paramilitaries from his side, neo-Duvalierists, and/or drug lords, including the so-called Liberation Army, the Kosovo Army, and the Cannibal Army.
After abolishing the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H) in December 1994, Aristide established the Haitian National Police (PNH). The early recruits of the new force received intensive training from French, Canadian, and U.S. forces, and initially performed well. However, Aristide replaced the professional leadership of the PNH in 1997 with a new one based on loyalty to himself, and overlooked corruption from those that were loyal to him. The U.S. foreign aid cut off to Haiti in 2000 included judicial and police assistance, and the PNH rapidly declined without direct support. The Haitian police became incompetent and corrupt, and some of its members were involved in drug trafficking. Aristide also used gangs against his opponents, and allowed former Duvalierist Tonton Macoutes paramilitary members to join both them and the PNH.
Coup d'état
In September 2003, Amiot Métayer was found dead, his eyes shot out and his heart cut out, most likely the result of machete-inflicted wounds. He was, prior to his death, the leader of the Gonaives gang known as "The Cannibal Army." After his death, his brother Buteur Métayer swore vengeance against those he felt responsible for Amiot's death—namely, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Buteur took charge of the Cannibal Army and promptly renamed it the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti. In October 2003, France tasked philosopher Régis Debray with leading a commission in Haiti to improve bilateral relations, though strictly instructed him to not discuss potential reparations. In December 2003, Debray said that he had visited the presidential palace to warn Aristide not to have a fate like President of ChileSalvador Allende, who died during the 1973 Chilean coup, with the philosopher telling the president that the United States was planning his overthrow.
On 5 February 2004, this rebel group seized control of Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaïves, marking the beginning of a minor revolt against Aristide. During their sack of the city, they burned the police station and looted it for weapons and vehicles, which they used to continue their campaign down the coast. By 22 February, the rebels had captured Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien. As the end of February approached, rebels threatened to take the capital, Port-au-Prince, fueling increasing political unrest and the building of barricades throughout the capital. Haitians fled their country on boats, seeking to get to the United States. The Haitian National Police collapsed during the rebel advance.