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. About two
dozen crew members were left behind.
(http://tinyurl.com/dfzzk)(SFC, 10/6/14, p.A2)
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.
1493 Jan 16, Columbus aboard
the Nina departed Hispaniola along with the Pinta to return to
1493 Nov 22, Christopher
Columbus arrived at Hispaniola.
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.
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.
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.
1522 A massive slave rebellion,
the first of dozens, was crushed in Hispaniola.
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,
1659 The French colony of
Saint-Domingue was founded on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and
continued to 1804.
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 Franceís 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
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]
1773 Mar 12, Jeanne Baptiste
Pointe de Sable settled what is now known as Chicago. [see Jun 6,
1780 Oct 10, A Great Hurricane
killed 20,000 to 30,000 in Caribbean.
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 Intíl. internet,4/26/97, p.5)(AP,
4/26/98)(HN, 4/26/98)(HNPD, 7/15/98)
1790 Oct 23, Slaves revolted in
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
LíOuverture 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, Franceís 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
1794 Feb 4, Slaves in Haiti won
(AP, 4/7/03)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)
1794 May 6, In Haiti Toussaint
Louverture (LíOuverture), 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.
1794 Jun 4, British troops
captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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.
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
(SFC, 1/18/05, p.A8)
1796 Apr 2, Haitian revolt
leader Toussaint LíOuverture commanded French forces at Santo
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)
1798 Oct, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture negotiated a secret peace
agreement in which the British renounced all claim to the colonyís
lands in exchange for the right to trade freely on an equal basis
(ON, 2/10, p.7)
1799 Apr 27, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture signed a treaty of
friendship with the US under Pres. John Adams. Certain elements were
kept secret in order not to alienate France.
(ON, 2/10, p.8)
1799 May, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture signed a trade agreement
with Britain. Certain elements were kept secret in order not to
(ON, 2/10, p.8)
1799 Jul 3, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture formally declared Gen.
Andre Rigaud, the leader of a revolutionary army in the south and
west of Saint-Domingue, a rebel.
(ON, 2/10, p.8)
1800 May 20, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) forces under Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture cornered Gen.
Andre Rigaud near the town of Acul.
(ON, 2/10, p.9)
1800 Jul 29, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Andre Rigaud, defeated by Gen. Dessalines, set
sail for France.
(ON, 2/10, p.9)
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.
1801 Jul 7, A new constitution,
drafted by a committee appointed by Toussaint Louverture
(LíOuverture), went into effect and declared independence of
Hispaniola. The constitution made him governor general for life with
near absolute powers. LíOuverture seized power in Haiti from French
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,
(CO, Grolier's, 11/10/95)(AP, 4/7/03)
1802 May, In Saint-Domingue
(later Haiti) Gen. Toussaint LíOuverture surrendered to French
forces. Many of his generals continued to wage a guerilla campaign
against the French.
(ON, 2/10, p.9)
1802 Jul 8, Toussaint
L'Ouverture, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) general, was sent to
France in chains.
1802 Aug 7, Napoleon ordered
the re-instatement of slavery on St. Domingue (Haiti).
1802 Aug 25, Toussaint
L'Ouverture was imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France.
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 ďToussaint Louverture: A Biography."
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, Ď96, p.42)(AP,
1804 Jan 1, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines proclaimed the Republic of Haiti and declared
independence from France. Documentation of his speech was then lost
and only re-discovered in 2010 by a Canadian graduate student
searching in the British National Archives.
(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.19)(SFC,
1804 Jan 1, After defeating the
French army led by Rochambeau, Dessalines, the military leader of
Haiti's slave revolt proclaimed Haiti's independence from the
French and it became the first black republic in the western
hemisphere (Western side of formerly Island of Santo Domingo). The
French demanded a payment of 150 million gold francs, later reduced
to 90 Million gold francs in exchange for recognizing the
independence of Haiti.
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.
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
1806 Oct 17, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines (b.1758), Emp. Jacques I of Haiti, was assassinated.
1810 Dec, Gen. Andre Rigaud
(1761-1811) returned to Haiti yet a third time, establishing himself
as President of the Department of the South, in opposition to both
Alexandre Petion and Henri Christophe.
1821-1844 Haiti occupied the Dominican Rep. during
(Econ, 5/31/14, p.30)
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. Payments on loans made to
repay France continued to 1947.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A6)(Econ, 3/12/11, p.47)
1844 Feb 27, Dominican Republic
rebels, under the leadership of Francisco del Rosario Sanchez and
Ramon Mella, launched their uprising and gained independence from
Haiti (National Day). [see Nov 6]
1844 Nov 6, The first
constitution of the new Dominican Republic was signed in San
Cristobal. Pedro Santana, fearing political instability, controlled
revisions to the newly written constitution that allowed him to stay
in power, and declared himself president of the nation, a post he
would hold from 1844-1848, 1853-1856, and 1858-1861. Spain granted
independence to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic won
independence from next door Haiti after 2 occupations. [see Feb 27]
5/16/96, p.A-9)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.35)
1863 Abraham Lincoln sent 450
newly freed slaves to Haitiís Ile-ŗ-Vache to found a colony, though
most gave up and returned home a year later.
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.
c1913-1997 Simone Duvalier, wife of Francois "Papa
Doc" and mother of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.
1915 Jul 28, The United States
occupation of Haiti began as 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince
on the authority of President Woodrow Wilson to safeguard the
interests of US corporations. Roger Gaillard (d.2000 at 77),
historian, later wrote a multi-volume chronicle of the US Marine
occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934.
1915 Sep 4, The U.S. military
placed Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital
1916 Feb 28, Haiti became the
first U.S. protectorate.
1934 Aug 16, US ended its
occupation of Haiti (begun in 1915).
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 under dictator
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. An estimated 30,000 Haitians and black
Dominicans were rounded up at gunpoint and executed, often by
machetes (to give the impression that peasants had committed the
murders). In 1998 the novel ďThe Farming of Bones" by Edwidge
Danticat was based on this event.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, BR
1939 Simone Ovide, illegitimate
daughter of Jules Faine, a mulatto merchant and scholar, married
Francis Duvalier, a young doctor.
1939 The Dominican Rep. and
Haiti in their ďAgreement on Migration" said that all Haitian
descendants in the Dominican Rep. are Haitians as provided in the
(Econ, 1/4/14, p.11)
1947 Haiti completed loan
payments incurred in 1825 to pay reparations to France following its
(Econ, 3/19/11, p.47)
1949 Francois Duvalier became
the minister of public health and labor.
1953 Jul 15, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, president of Haiti (1991, 1994-1995 ), was born.
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.
1957 Sep 22, In Haiti Francois
Duvalier (1907-1971) won the election for the presidency. He spent
14 years in office. His reign of terror exceeded the ruthless
American occupation (1915-1934).
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.
1968 Marie Vieux-Chauvet
(1916-1973) published her Haitian trilogy ďLove, Anger, Madness." It
was withdrawn soon after publication France following a government
warning that it would endanger the authorís 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
(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 (19), under the guidance of
Simone Duvalier, aka "Mama Doc."
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.
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.
1985 Apr, Students in Gonaives,
Haiti, began a popular uprising that led to the fall of the Duvalier
family dictatorship. After protests by religious groups against
Duvalier's leadership, bloody confrontations are sparked between
anti-government demonstrators and Duvalier's private militia, called
(Econ, 2/14/04, p.33)(AP, 1/17/11)
1985 Nov 27, In Haiti 3
students were slain by security forces in Gonaives in the first of
several bloody confrontations with anti-government demonstrators.
1985 Dec, Protests broadened
across Haiti. Duvalier ordered a significant reshuffle of his
1986 Jan 31, Following weeks of
unrest, White House spokesman Larry Speakes announced the collapse
of the Duvalier government, a report that was later denied by
Haitian and US officials.
1986 Jan, In Haiti Duvalier's
administration closed schools and universities and forbade radio
stations to report on the turmoil engulfing the country. More than
50 people were killed in disturbances, most by Tonton Macoutes.
Duvalier declared 30-day state of siege.
1986 Feb 1, In Haiti 2 days of
anti-government riots in Port-au-Prince resulted in 14 dead.
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)
1986 Feb 10, In Haiti a
provisional government, headed by Namphy, named a 19-member Cabinet.
It dissolved the Assembly and Tonton Macoutes, reopened schools,
freed political prisoners, and sought to recover Duvaliers' assets.
US aid resumed after being halted because of Duvalier abuses.
1987 Mar 29, Haitiís
Constitution barred Duvalierists from candidacy for 10 years. The
new Constitution also abolished the death penalty.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)(AP, 1/17/11)
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 ďMountains Beyond Mountains," the story of Dr. Farmer. In
2004 Farmer authored ďPathologies of Power."
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.
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.
1988 Feb 7, Leslie Manigat was
sworn in as Haiti's president. However, he lost power the following
1988 Sep 17, Haitian President
Henri Hamphy was ousted in a coup; Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared
himself president the following day.
1988 Sep 11, In Haiti 12
people died when the San Juan Bosco Church was burned.
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.
1990 Mar 10, Haitian ruler Lt.
Gen. Prosper Avril resigned during a popular uprising against his
1990 Dec 16, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, a left-leaning former Catholic priest, was elected
president of Haiti in the countryís first democratic elections. He
was overthrown in a military coup in 1991, but was later restored to
(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 countryís first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand
1991 Feb 7, The Rev.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's first democratically
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,
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.
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.
1991 Oct 4, Pres. Bush signed
Executive Order 12775 which prohibited certain transactions with
respect to Haiti.
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.
1991 Nov 23, The bodies of 35
drowned Haitian refugees were recovered off the coast of eastern
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
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.
1992 May 23, Pres. Bush issued
Executive Order 12807 authorizing the repatriation of Haitian
refugees interdicted by the Coast Guard.
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.
1992 Jun 19, Marc Louis Bazin
(1932-2010) became prime minister of Haiti and served for one year.
1992 Aug 1, The US Supreme
Court permitted the Bush administration to continue returning
Haitians intercepted at sea to their Caribbean homeland.
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.
1993 Jun 16, The UN authorized
an arms and oil embargo against Haiti.
1993 Jun 21, The US Supreme
Court ruled that Haitian boat people could be stopped at sea and
returned home without asylum hearings.
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.
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
1993 Aug 30, Robert Malval was
installed as prime minister of Haiti during a ceremony at the
Haitian Embassy in Washington.
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
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
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.
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.
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
1993 Oct 19, The United States
intercepted its first ship bound for Haiti since an oil and weapons
embargo was reimposed by United Nations.
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 juntaís
chief of staff, Gen. Philippe Biamby and his associates coordinated
(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
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.
1993 Nov 5, Talks on restoring
ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power collapsed
when military representatives failed to attend.
1994 Feb 15, US asked Aristide
to adopt a peace plan for Haiti.
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
1994 Jul 11, Haiti's
army-backed regime ordered the expulsion of international human
1994 Jul 31, The U.N. Security
Council authorized member states to use "all necessary means" to
oust the military leadership in Haiti.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
1994 Oct 3, U.S. soldiers in
Haiti raided the headquarters of a hated pro-army militia.
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.
1994 Oct 10, Lt. Gen. Raoul
Cedras resigned as commander-in-chief of Haiti's armed forces and
pledged to leave the country.
1994 Oct 11, U.S. troops in
Haiti took over the National Palace.
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.
1994 Nov 14, Heavy rains and
flooding from Tropical Storm Gordon swept across Haiti, killing
several hundred people.
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
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.
1995 Feb 6, Pres.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the Haitian army and replaced it
with a civilian police force.
1995 Feb 23, Former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter arrived in Haiti to help prepare for peaceful
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.
1995 Mar, The UN began a
mission to train a new Haitian police force to replace the
(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.
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.
1995 Nov, Port-au-Prince, a
member of Haiti's Parliament was shot dead and another seriously
(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.
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
(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
(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
(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
(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 Soldiersí 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
(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 intíl. 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 childrenís clothes. Some
2,300 jobs would be lost. Intíl. 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.
1997 Nov 30, The UN mandate for
peace-keeping forces ended and 1,170 soldiers prepared to leave.
1997 Dec 26, Simone Duvalier,
wife of Francois "Papa Doc" and mother of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc"
Duvalier, died in France.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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,
(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 Aristideís 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 intíl. 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
countryís 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 countryís 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
2002 Jan 21, Haitiís prime
minister quit amid political and economic woes. The government of
Jean-Marie Cherestal was bedeviled by doubts of legitimacy in the
(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 25, A boat full of
Haitian migrants capsized near the Bahamas and at least 14 people
(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
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2002 Nov 28, Thousands of
Haitians demonstrated against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
government and clashed with whip-wielding Aristide supporters.
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.
2003 Apr 3, Haiti's government
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners
to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal
(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.
2003 May 12, Haiti agreed to
cut spending and stabilize its currency in a deal with the
International Monetary Fund.
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
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.
2003 Jul 25, In Haiti gunmen
ambushed a delegation from the Interior Ministry on a central
highway, killing 4 and seriously wounding one.
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.
2003 Aug 24, A twin-engine
turboprop Let L-410 crashed in Haiti and 21 people were killed.
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
(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
(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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
(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.
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.
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
2003 Robert Fatton Jr. authored
"Haitiís Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy."
(WSJ, 4/11/03, p.A11)
2003 Tracy Kidder (b.1945)
authored ďMountains 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.
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 Haitiís independence
(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.
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
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.
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.
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.
2004 Feb 11, In Haiti
pro-Aristide supporters killed up to 50 residents of St. Marc.
2004 Feb 16, Ex-soldiers took
Haiti's rebellion to the key central city of Hinche, torching the
police station and freeing prisoners.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
(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
(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.
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
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
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.
2004 Mar 8, In Haiti US Marines
shot and killed the driver of a vehicle speeding up to a military
2004 Mar 9, In Haiti Gerard
Latortue (69), a lawyer and economist, was named as interim prime
(SFC, 3/10/04, p.A8)
2004 Mar 10, U.S. Marines shot
and killed at least two Haitians in overnight gun battles.
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.
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
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
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.
2004 Apr 7, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped
detain Wilford Ferdinand, a top rebel figure.
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.
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.
2004 May 4, In Haiti a
provisional council was sworn to oversee fresh elections.
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,
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
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
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.
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
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.42)
2004 Jul 27, NYC Mayor Michael
Bloomberg visited a slum in Haiti and met interim leaders.
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.
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.
2004 Sep 19, Floodwaters
brought by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed at least 90 people in Haiti.
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.
2004 Sep 22, In Haiti, the
death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne topped 1,000.
2004 Sep 23, Haiti officials
said the death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne rose to more than
1,070 and could double again.
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 Haitiís 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
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
2004 Oct 11-12, Records at
Haitiís Port-au-Prince hospital showed 17 people with gunshot wounds
died, eight of them in the Cite Soleil seaside slum.
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
2004 Oct 26, In Haiti residents
of Port-au-Prince said 13 people were executed by police.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2004 Dec 6, In Haiti gunfire
erupted in a stronghold of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
overnight, leaving at least three dead.
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.
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.
2004 Dec 28, Haitiís 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)
2004-2007 In Haiti at least 134 Sri Lankan
peacekeepers exploited nine children in a sex ring from during this
period. In the wake of a UN report, 114 peacekeepers were sent home.
Not one was ever imprisoned.
2005 Jan 4, Doctors at Haiti's
largest public hospital extended a weeklong strike to protest
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
(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
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.
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.
2005 Apr 27, Police fired on
protesters demanding the release of detainees loyal to Haiti's
ousted president, killing at least five demonstrators.
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.
2005 Jun 1, In Haiti gunmen
killed Paul-Henri Mourral (53), a French diplomat, in Port-au-Prince
and stole his car.
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
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.
2005 Jun 16, Officials said the
Peace Corps has suspended operations in Haiti and evacuated its 16
volunteers because of increasing violence.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
2005 Jul 7, Hurricane Dennis, a
Category 4 storm with 135-mph winds, left 10 people dead in
Haiti and some 100 missing.
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,
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.
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.
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.
2005 Aug 5, Haitiís American
ambassador said the US will provide Haitian police with firearms and
tear gas to aid the fight against militants ahead of elections this
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
2005 Dec 5, UN peacekeepers at
a checkpoint in Port-au-Prince opened fire on a car full of Haitian
police officers wounding two.
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.
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
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.
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.
2005 Kathie Klarreich authored
ďMadame Dread." Her first-person tale of love, voodoo and civil
strife in Haiti covered her years in Haiti under the rule of Pres.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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
2006 Jan 11, In Haiti clashes
between gangs and UN peacekeepers reportedly killed one person and
wounded at least 17.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2006 Jan 27, Three French
citizens and a Haitian who were kidnapped near a volatile slum
outside of the capital were released unharmed.
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
2006 Feb 7, Haitians jammed
polling stations as UN peacekeepers fanned out to guard the
country's first presidential election in nearly six years.
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.
2006 Feb 13, In Haiti election
results showed the former president Preval slipping further below
the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
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.
2006 Mar 1, Two Haitian
security guards employed by the US Embassy were shot to death near
the American ambassador's official residence.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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, Haitiís 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 Jķan Gabriel Valdťs
2006 Jun 6, Haiti's president
Rene Preval appointed a coalition government in an effort to unite
the impoverished nation.
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.
2006 Jun 24, In Haiti Ed Hughes
(72), a Canadian missionary, was released after kidnappers received
a ransom raised by his friends and colleagues.
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.
2006 Jul 7, UN peacekeepers in
Haiti found the bodies of 16 people believed killed in a surge of
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
(AP, 12/14/06)(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Haitiís 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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 fiancťís house.
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.
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.
2007 May, A Geneva court
temporarily blocked the release of some of the US$6.2 million
stashed in Switzerland by Duvalier. Many in Haiti considered the
money to have been stolen from public funds before Duvalier was
2007 Jun 12, Haitian police and
UN peacekeepers killed a suspected gang leader wanted in the
kidnap-slaying of a French businessman.
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.
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.
2007 Aug, The Swiss government
extended a freeze on Duvalier's funds for a year. Many in Haiti
considered the money to have been stolen from public funds before
Duvalier was ousted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
2008 Apr 4, At least three
Haitians were killed and 25 others injured amid food riots and
clashes with UN peacekeepers.
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.
2008 Apr 8, In Haiti hungry
protesters stormed the presidential palace throwing rocks and
demanding the resignation of Pres. Rene Preval over soaring food
(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
2008 Apr 12, Haitiís 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.
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.
2008 Apr 27, President Rene
Preval chose Ericq Pierre, an international banking official, to be
the troubled country's next prime minister.
2008 May 10, In Haiti an
overloaded ferry capsized off the southern coast, killing at least
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
2008 Aug 5, The EU said it will
give Haiti $4.6 million to help pay for food in the world's poorest
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
(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
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
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
(SFC, 9/20/08, p.A10)(AP, 10/3/08)(Econ, 2/14/09,
2008 Oct 14, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to renew its peacekeeping mission in Haiti
for another year.
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
(AP, 11/8/08)(AP, 11/9/08)(AP, 11/11/08)(SFC,
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
2008 Nov 24, A Haitian teen
shot and killed a classmate in a rare outbreak of school violence in
the troubled country.
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
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.
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.
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
(AP, 5/14/09)(SFC, 5/14/09, p.A4)(SFC, 5/19/09,
2009 May 19, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally named Bill Clinton as its
special envoy to Haiti.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
2009 Jun 29, Haitiís 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
2009 Aug 4, Haitiís 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.
2009 Aug 11, Former US
President Bill Clinton appointed the physician and Harvard
University professor Paul Farmer as the UN Deputy Special Envoy to
Haiti to assist in advancing the economic and social development of
the impoverished Caribbean nation.
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
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 Damonís Water.org
to get water and sanitation to 50,000 people.
(SFC, 9/25/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 8, Leaders of the
Dominican Republic and Haiti agreed to cooperate in a campaign aimed
at eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the
Caribbean by 2020.
2009 Oct 9, In Haiti 11 UN
peacekeepers were killed when a CASA C-212 surveillance flight
slammed into a mountain. The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian
troops serving with the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that has
been in Haiti since 2004.
2009 Oct 30, Haitian lawmakers
ousted PM Michele Pierre-Louis in a power struggle that threatens to
undermine a campaign to attract foreign investment to the
impoverished country. President Rene Preval turned to Jean-Max
Bellerive, the minister of planning and external cooperation, as
nominee to be the next premier.
2009 Nov 10, Haitiís lawmakers
overwhelmingly gave final approval to Jean-Max Bellerive as the new
prime minister, making him the sixth person to hold the post since
2009 Nov 27, Haiti's UN
peacekeeping mission urged local officials to provide a
justification for banning 17 political groups from participating in
next year's legislative elections.
2009 Dec 5, In Haiti Francesco
Fantoli (54), an Italian journalist, was mortally wounded by gunmen
who may have tried to rob him outside a bank in Port-au-Prince. He
recently founded a soccer school in the southern city of Jacmel,
where he often lived.
2009 Dec 22, The Pan American
Development Foundation reported that poverty has forced at least
225,000 children in Haiti's cities into slavery as unpaid household
servants, far more than previously thought.
2010 Jan 12, A powerful 7.0
earthquake hit Haiti and crushed thousands of structures, from
schools and shacks to the National Palace. Thousands of people were
believed dead and untold numbers were trapped. An estimated 3
million people were in need of emergency aid. The quake left over
200,000 people dead. Some 4,500 prison inmates escaped during the
earthquake. By April they were terrorizing neighborhoods and
fighting turf battles. The UN later estimated 222,570 people were
killed and 300,572 injured. In 2011 a report commissioned by USAID
contended that between 46,000 and 85,000 people were killed by the
quake, far below the Haitian government's death toll of 316,000.
(AP, 1/13/10)(SFC, 3/11/10, p.A2)(SFC, 4/8/10,
p.A2)(Econ, 3/19/11, p.46)(AFP, 6/1/11)
2010 Jan 12, Switzerland's
highest court ruled that $4.6 million seized from bank accounts
linked to Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier
can be handed over to his family. The decision was not published
until Feb 3. Many in Haiti considered that money to be stolen from
public funds. Duvalier was ousted in 1986.
2010 Jan 14, In Haiti planes
carrying teams from China, France and Spain landed at
Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of food, medicine
and other supplies, with more promised from around the globe. Tens
of thousands were feared dead in the Jan 12 earthquake and the
international Red Cross estimated 3 million people, a third of the 9
million population, may need emergency relief.
(AP, 1/14/10)(Econ, 1/16/10, p.38)
2010 Jan 15, In Haiti the UN
and other aid organizations struggled to get food and water to
stricken millions. Fears spread of unrest among the people in their
fourth day of desperation. France urged Haitiís creditors to cancel
the nationís debt.
(AP, 1/15/10)(SFC, 1/16/10, p.A2)
2010 Jan 16, President Barack
Obama declared one of the largest relief efforts in US history to
help Haiti four days after an earthquake killed up to 200,000 people
and devastated the Caribbean nation's capital.
2010 Jan 16, Senegal offered
free land to Haitians wishing to "return to their origins" following
this week's devastating earthquake, which has destroyed the capital
and buried thousands of people beneath rubble.
2010 Jan 17, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Haiti to support earthquake
relief efforts and to visit his staff's devastated headquarters in
what the agency is calling the most challenging disaster it has ever
2010 Jan 18, The European Union
said some 200,000 people may have been killed in the magnitude-7.0
quake, quoting Haitian officials who also said about 70,000 bodies
have been recovered so far.
2010 Jan 19, Troops in Haiti
struggled to control looters in Port-au-Prince a week after the
devastating earthquake, as rescuers continued to pull women and
babies from the rubble and kept alive hope of finding more
survivors. A riot in a prison in Les Cayes began when some of the
400-plus prisoners tried to escape a week after the Jan 12
earthquake, because they were terrified of aftershocks in the
overcrowded prison. Police were later accused of then rushing into
the building and opening fire killing at least 10 prisoners. In 2011
13 officers faced trial for murder, attempted murder and other
crimes. On Jan 19, 2012, eight police officers were convicted for
their role in the prison riot.
2010 Jan 20, A 6.1 aftershock
struck Haiti, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending
screaming people running into the streets eight days after the
country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake.
2010 Jan 21, A Dutch airlift
brought 106 children from quake-ravaged Haiti to new lives in the
Netherlands and Luxembourg, as anxious families waited to hug
children they had been in the process of adopting for months.
2010 Jan 22, Aid officials said
Haitians are fleeing their quake-ravaged capital by the hundreds of
thousands, as their government promised to help nearly a
half-million more move from squalid camps on curbsides and vacant
lots into safer, cleaner tent cities.
2010 Jan 23, Haiti's government
declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake
over, saying there is little hope of finding more people alive 11
days after much of the capital was reduced to rubble.
2010 Jan 24, Haitiís
communications minister said the confirmed death toll from the Jan
12 earthquake has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan
area alone, with many more thousands dead around the country or
still buried under the rubble.
2010 Jan 25, A Saudi foreign
ministry spokesman said Saudi Arabia has donated $50 million in
relief to Haiti to cope with the devastating earthquake that hit the
country nearly two weeks ago, making it the largest donation from
the Middle East to date.
2010 Jan 27, In Haiti teenager
Darlene Etienne (17) was rescued from a collapsed home near St.
Gerard University, 15 days after a great earthquake killed an
estimated 200,000 people, It was the first such recovery since Jan
23, when French rescuers extricated a man from the ruins of a hotel
2010 Jan 29, In Haiti US
soldiers halted a violent confrontation between looters and a
private security guard who shot and killed one man inside an
appliance store and appeared poised to shoot others.
2010 Jan 30, In Haiti about 20
armed men blockaded a street and attacked UN a convoy carrying food
from the airport. Ten American Baptists were detained for
trying to take 33 children across the border into the Dominican
Republic without documentation.
(AP, 2/2/10)(AP, 2/5/10)
2010 Jan 31, Ten American
Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital after trying take 33
children out of Haiti at a time of growing fears over possible child
trafficking. Doctors skirted a bureaucratic logjam to save the life
of two critically ill child victims of Haiti's earthquake, flying
them to US hospitals on a private jet to avoid a military suspension
of medical evacuation flights.
2010 Feb 1, Many schools in
Haiti's outlying provinces reopened for the first time since an
earthquake devastated the nation, though it may take a month or more
to open classrooms in the quake-crushed capital.
2010 Feb 6, G7 finance leaders
met for a 2nd day in Iqaluitís legislative building of Canada's
Arctic territory of Nunavut. A senior official said Europe was
determined to solve its problems without the International Monetary
Fund. G7 countries told earthquake-ravaged Haiti that any debts it
owes them needn't be repaid and international lenders should do the
2010 Feb 8, In Haiti the UN
warned that it will cut off shipments of free medicine beginning
immediately to any Haitian hospitals that it finds are charging
patients. Evans Monsigrace (28), a rice vendor, survived 27 days
trapped under the rubble of a flea market following the devastating
Jan 12 earthquake.
(AP, 2/8/10)(AP, 2/10/10)
2010 Feb 15, Canada PM Harper
began a 2-day visit to Haiti and said his country will build the
Haitian government a temporary base.
2010 Feb 16, Jorge Puello, who
surged into the spotlight by providing food, medicine and legal
assistance to the 10 Americans jailed in Haiti, acknowledged in a
phone interview from the Dominican Rep., that he is named in a 2003
federal indictment out of Vermont that accuses him of smuggling
illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States. He was
already being pursued by authorities in the Dominican Republic on an
Interpol warrant out of El Salvador, where police said he led a ring
that lured young women and girls into prostitution.
2010 Feb 17, In Haiti 8
American missionaries were freed from jail and left for Miami,
nearly three weeks after being arrested trying to take 33 children
out of the earthquake-stricken country. Group leader Laura Silsby
and her former nanny Charisa Coulter remained in jail.
(AP, 2/17/10)(SFC, 2/19/10, p.A4)
2010 Feb 17, France's Pres.
Nicolas Sarkozy made the first visit ever by a French president to
Haiti, once his nation's richest colony. Sarkozy said France will
cancel Haitiís 56 million in debt and pledged hundreds of millions
in aid for the catastrophic Jan 12 earthquake.
(AP, 2/17/10)(SFC, 2/18/10, p.A3)
2010 Feb 18, Haitiís PM
Jean-Max Bellerive said the government will appropriate land to
build temporary camps for earthquake victims. The decision was
potentially explosive in a country where a small elite owns most of
the land in and around the capital.
2010 Feb 21, Haitiís Pres. Rene
Preval said the death toll from his country's earthquake could reach
300,000 once all the bodies are recovered from wrecked buildings.
2010 Feb 24, Chilean President
Michelle Bachelet said a group of South American nations has
committed to providing $100 million in aid for earthquake-ravaged
2010 Feb 27, Haitian officials
said eight people were killed and two missing after heavy rain
pounded the southwest and caused widespread flooding.
2010 Feb, In a reversal,
Switzerland's top court said at least US$4.6 million in Swiss bank
accounts previously awarded to charities must be returned to the
family of Duvalier. Many in Haiti considered the money to have been
stolen from public funds before Duvalier was ousted.
2010 Mar 8, In Haiti US
missionary Charisa Coulter (24), held for more than a month on
kidnapping charges, was released from prison, while Laura Silsby
(40), the leader of her Baptist group, remained in custody.
2010 Mar 10, In Haiti
kidnappers freed two female European aid workers, one from the Czech
Republic and the other Belgium, snatched off the streets of the
capital and held for five days.
2010 Mar 10, Pres. Obama met
with Haitiís Pres. Rene Preval and assured him that the US was
committed to Haitiís recovery and reconstruction following the
devastating January 12 earthquake.
(SFC, 3/11/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 16, In Haiti two
off-duty officers were shot to death near an open-air market in the
capital. Such shootings have increased since thousands of prisoners
escaped during the Jan. 12 earthquake.
2010 Mar 19, In Haiti one of
the heaviest rainfalls since the Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless
camps, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water,
overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
2010 Mar 19, Japan said it will
boost its aid to quake-hit Haiti to 100 million dollars as the
country's foreign minister prepared to visit the impoverished
Caribbean nation this weekend.
2010 Mar 21, A small earthquake
struck northern Haiti, collapsing an apartment building and killing
at least three people.
2010 Mar 22, Former US
Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Haitiís capital
to raise aid and investment in the country reeling from the Jan 12
(SFC, 3/23/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 31, Nearly 50 donors
pledged $9.9 billion in reconstruction aid for Haiti at a UN donor
conference, but leaders and businessmen stressed private investment
would be the key to improving the lot of the hemisphere's poorest
2010 Apr 13, First lady
Michelle Obama made a surprise visit to the ruins of the Haitian
capital, a high-profile reminder that hundreds of thousands remain
in desperate straits three months after the earthquake.
2010 Apr 16, In eastern Haiti 4
soldiers died in the fiery crash of a Spanish military helicopter in
the rugged mountains of the Fond Verrettes area.
2010 Apr 26, A Haitian judge
said he has dismissed kidnapping and criminal association charges
against 10 American missionaries detained for trying to take a
busload of children out of the country after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
2010 May 10, In Haiti police
fired tear gas outside the ruins of the national palace to control
2,000 demonstrators calling for President Rene Preval's resignation
in the largest political protest since the Jan. 12 earthquake. The
driver for the Pan-American Development Foundation was kidnapped
along with a British contractor. The contractor was released after
four days. The body of the driver was found dead on May 15.
(AP, 5/10/10)(AP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 17, Haitian protesters
marched to the collapsed national palace for a second straight
Monday to criticize President Rene Preval, saying he failed the
nation in the aftermath of its catastrophic earthquake. Laura
Silsby, the last of 10 Americans detained while trying to take 33
children out of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, was freed when a
judge convicted her but sentenced her to time already served in
(AP, 5/18/10)(SFC, 5/18/10, p.A2)
2010 May 18, Haitian President
Rene Preval pledged to step down as scheduled next year, rebuking
critics who say he is using the post-earthquake emergency to hold
2010 Jun 9, The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation pledged 10 million dollars to coax
telecommunications and finance companies to set up mobile phone
banking services for Haiti's poor.
2010 Jun 16, In Haiti Marc
Louis Bazin (b.1932), former prime minister of Haiti (1992-1993),
died. He lost Haiti's first free presidential election in 1990.
2010 Jun 18, In Haiti UN and
Haitian police raided a crowded earthquake survivor camp to capture
30 criminal suspects in the biggest law-enforcement operation since
the Jan. 12 earthquake.
2010 Aug 3, Time magazine
reported on that Haitian-American music star Wyclef Jean (37) will
announce his bid for president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti this
week. A three-time Grammy award-winner, Jean was a founding member
of the hip-hop trio The Fugees and won wider fame for his
collaboration with Colombian pop star Shakira. He released a song
two years ago called "If I Was President". Haitiís ruling Unity
party nominated ousted ex-Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis to
lead the earthquake-ravaged nation.
(Reuters, 8/4/10)(AP, 8/4/10)
2010 Aug 5, Haitian hip-hop
star Wyclef Jean registered as a presidential contender, in a move
into politics that generated an outburst of popular enthusiasm in
his poor, earthquake-ravaged homeland.
2010 Aug 20, Singer Wyclef
Jean's high-profile bid for Haiti's presidency ended after election
officials on the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation disqualified
his candidacy. The singer has not lived in Haiti for the past five
years as required.
2010 Sep 24, In Haiti a freak
storm blasted through the capital, killing at least five earthquake
survivors as it tore down trees, billboards and tent homes.
2010 Oct 1, In Haiti gunmen
killed Pierre Richard Denis (42), an engineer supervising the
building of shelters at the Corail-Cesselesse relocation camp for
Haitian earthquake survivors, forcing construction to be suspended
on part of the site. Denis worked for International Organization for
2010 Oct 6, Former US president
Bill Clinton returned to Haiti to participate in a meeting on
rebuilding the quake-ravaged nation, as his foundation pledged
500,000 dollars to a huge tent city.
2010 Oct 13, In Senegal
dancers, traditional praise singers and leaders of three African
nations greeted 163 Haitian students who left their
earthquake-ravaged country and flew to Senegal, where victims of the
calamity are being offered free housing and scholarships.
2010 Oct 17, In Haiti 2 inmates
were shot to death trying to escape from the roof of the
quake-damaged national penitentiary. A third was trampled to death
inside during a prison riot. Police officials familiar with the
prison said some inmates had escaped.
2010 Oct 18, In Haiti civil
protection officials said steady rains toppled hillsides and turned
streets into rivers in Port-au-Prince over the weekend, leaving at
least 12 people dead and three missing.
2010 Oct 22, In Haiti aid
groups rushed in medicine and other supplies to combat a suspected
cholera outbreak. At least 135 people had already died in the rural
Artibonite region, host to thousands of quake refugees. By 2016 more
than 770,000 9,200 people were sickened by the disease and over
9,200 had died.
(AP, 10/22/10)(SFC, 3/4/16, p.A4)
2010 Oct 23, In Haiti 194 dead
were confirmed dead of cholera in the poor Caribbean nation's worst
health crisis since the Jan 12 quake. Authorities said more than
2,000 people were sick. Experts were investigating possible cases in
Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of the capital, and radio reports said
there were two dozen cases of diarrhea on Gonave island.
(AP, 10/23/10)(SFC, 10/23/10, p.A3)
2010 Oct 24, In Haiti a cholera
outbreak, that already left 250 people dead and more than 3,000
sickened, was at the doorstep of an enormous potential breeding
ground: the squalid camps in Port-au-Prince where 1.3 million
earthquake survivors live.
2010 Oct 25, In Haiti gunmen
shot up and robbed a bus carrying journalists covering the campaign
of a presidential candidate, killing the driver and injuring a
2010 Oct 26, UN officials
counted 3,769 cases of cholera in Haiti and raised the death toll to
(SFC, 10/27/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 29, In Haiti the death
toll from the cholera epidemic rose to 330, as medical teams
desperately sought to contain the outbreak.
2010 Nov 5, Haiti was lashed by
heavy rains and wind from Hurricane Tomas. Leaders of the quake-hit
nation called for mass evacuations from tent cities. 6 people were
killed. Tomas weakened the next day and was downgraded from a
hurricane to a tropical storm as it passed over the Turks and Caicos
(AFP, 11/5/10)(AP, 11/6/10)
2010 Nov 8, Haiti health
officials said the cholera epidemic has spread into the capital,
imperiling nearly 3 million people living in Port-au-Prince, nearly
half of them in unsanitary tent camps for the homeless from the Jan.
12 earthquake. The outbreak had already killed at least 544 people.
2010 Nov 12, The UN asked for
$164 million to fight the cholera outbreak in Haiti, as the death
toll reached 724 with 10 of the deaths and 278 cases in the capital
2010 Nov 15, Haiti's cholera
toll rose above 900, including dozens of deaths in the teeming
capital, as the epidemic showed no sign of abating just two weeks
ahead of presidential elections. Anti-UN riots spread to several
cities and towns, as protesters blaming a contingent of Nepalese
peacekeepers for a deadly outbreak of cholera barricaded roads and
exchanged gunfire with UN soldiers in clashes that lasted late into
the night. Protests in Cap Haitien left at least 2 people dead.
(AFP, 11/15/10)(AP, 11/16/10)(AFP, 11/18/10)
2010 Nov 17, Haiti's health
ministry said that 1,100 people have now died from cholera. In
Cap-Haitien anti-UN riots disrupted international efforts to tackle
a spreading cholera epidemic, increasing the risk of infection and
death for tens of thousands of poor Haitians in the north.
2010 Nov 22, In Haiti clashes
between political factions left two dead as growing violence and a
raging cholera epidemic raised fears of wider unrest ahead of key
2010 Nov 27, In Haiti at least
one person was killed and several wounded when gunmen opened fire on
a rally for presidential candidate Michel Martelly.
2010 Nov 27, The British
government said it is paying for more than 1,000 medical staff to
work in Haiti as part of an aid package worth more than 5.6 million
pounds to help combat a deadly cholera outbreak there.
2010 Nov 28, Haiti held
elections. 96 contenders competed for 11 Senate seats and more than
800 sought to fill the 99-seat lower house. Within hours, ballot
boxes were ripped to pieces, protesters were on the streets and
nearly every presidential hopeful was united against the government.
12 of the 19 presidential candidates appeared together at a news
conference to accuse Pres. Rene Preval of stealing the election and
installing his chosen candidate, Jude Celestin. Haitian radio
reported one man was shot to death at a polling place in rural
Artibonite. Electoral officials said another was killed in southern
Haiti. On Dec 7 officials announced that government protege Jude
Celestin and former first lady Mirlande Manigat would advance to a
runoff in presidential elections.
(AP, 11/28/10)(AP, 11/29/10)(SFC, 11/29/10,
2010 Nov 29, International
election monitors declared Haiti's vital post-quake elections valid,
while two leading presidential candidates rowed back on allegations
the polls had been rigged.
2010 Dec 3, The death toll in
Haitiís cholera epidemic reached nearly 1,900 people since erupting
less than two months ago. The Health Ministry said there have been
more than 80,000 cases since it was first detected in late October.
The Pan-American Health Organization projected it could sicken
400,000 people within a year.
2010 Dec 4, In Haiti 17 people
died when a group taxi slammed into a truck on a blind curve in the
southern peninsula town of Aquin.
2010 Dec 6, Haitian medical
sources said fully 140 people have died of cholera in recent days in
the southwest, a region that had been largely spared the epidemic
that has killed more than 1,880 people since mid-October.
2010 Dec 6, A motorboat
overloaded with mostly Haitian migrants slammed into a reef off the
British Virgin Islands and capsized as it tried to evade
authorities. At least 8 people were killed, including two infants.
25 people were rescued. Police in St. Maarten arrested three
Haitians and said they will be charged with human smuggling in the
(AP, 12/7/10)(AP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 7, In Haiti furious
supporters of an apparently eliminated candidate set fires and
manned barricades in the streets of Port-au-Prince after officials
announced that government protege Jude Celestin and former first
lady Mirlande Manigat would advance to a runoff in presidential
2010 Dec 7, An expert report
submitted to the French foreign ministry said respected French
epidemiologist Professor Renaud Piarroux conducted a study in Haiti
last month and concluded the epidemic began with an imported strain
of the disease that could be traced back to the Nepalese base.
2010 Dec 8, In Haiti Michel
"Sweet Micky" Martelly urged his backers to nonviolently protest
results from Nov 28 presidential elections that demonstrators say
were rigged. His campaign manager later said they would formally
challenge the tallies released the previous evening to Haiti's
Provisional Electoral Council. Thousands of protesters rampaged in
Haitian towns, torching buildings in armed clashes that left four
dead after election results triggered bitter accusations of
(AP, 12/9/10)(AFP, 12/9/10)
2010 Dec 14, In Haiti Michel
"Sweet Micky" Martelly, the popular singer-turned-presidential
candidate, called for the electoral commission to be replaced and
the vote redone with all the original candidates involved. His
apparent loss in flawed elections helped spark days of rioting.
2010 Dec 22, Haitian officials
said angry mobs have lynched at least 45 people in recent weeks,
accusing them of spreading a cholera outbreak that has killed over
2,500 people across the country.
2010 Dec 22, In France 113
children arrived from Haiti to start new lives with adoptive parents
in time for the holidays.
2010 Dec 29, In Haiti Paul
Waggoner, an American aid worker, was released from a notoriously
overcrowded Haitian prison after a judge apparently cleared him of
allegations that he kidnapped an infant from a hospital where he
worked as a volunteer. Waggoner had been in custody for 18 days
while authorities investigated the allegations of Frantz Philistin,
a Haitian man whose infant son was treated at a hospital in
Petionville in February.
2010-2011 In the two years following Haitiís
January 12 eathquake some $6 billion in aid flooded into the
(Econ 5/6/17, p.55)
2011 Jan 3, The Dominican
Republic launched its first major crackdown on illegal Haitian
immigrants since last year's devastating earthquake, rounding up and
deporting hundreds of people in recent days. Human rights groups
criticized the deportations, accusing authorities of stopping and
questioning people based on their physical appearance.
2011 Jan 12, Pope Benedict XVI
named a new archbishop for the Catholic church in Haiti on the first
anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed the bishop's
predecessor along with dozens of other priests, seminarians and
nuns. The Vatican said that Monsignor Guire Poulard, bishop of Les
Cayes, is the new archbishop of Port-au-Prince.
2011 Jan 13, Dominican Republic
authorities resumed mass deportations of Haitian migrants after a
brief lull, and government officers began demanding passports at bus
stations as the country deals with a cholera scare.
2011 Jan 14, In Haiti violence
flared in Port-au-Prince with witnesses reporting gunfire. The
trouble flared the morning after international election experts
formally handed over a report calling for Jude Celestin to withdraw
from the delayed runoff round in the presidential race, because of
alleged vote-rigging. A 30-year-old Haitian was killed during a
gunbattle between police and protesters.
(AFP, 1/14/11)(AP, 1/14/11)
2011 Jan 16, Jean-Claude "Baby
Doc" Duvalier (59) returned to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile.
The human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
issued statements urging Haiti to hold Duvalier accountable for the
torture and killing of civilians during his 15-year rule.
2011 Jan 18, Haitian
prosecutors slapped a slew of corruption charges on Jean-Claude
"Baby Doc" Duvalier, under 48 hours after the ex-dictator's
unexpected return to his homeland. He remained free after four hours
2011 Jan 20, The United States
resumed the deportation of Haitians for the first time since the
devastating earthquake that struck the poor Caribbean nation last
2011 Jan 21, The US State
Department said it has revoked the visas of about a dozen Haitian
officials, increasing pressure on the government to drop its favored
candidate from the presidential runoff in favor of a popular
contender who is warning of renewed protests if he is not on the
2011 Jan 26, Haiti's ruling
party announced that President Rene Preval's chosen successor, Jude
Celestin, is withdrawing from the disputed race for president under
pressure from the US, the Organization of American States and local
2011 Feb 1, Switzerland blocked
Haiti ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's frozen Swiss
millions under new legislation that came into force today to ease
their return to the impoverished country. The "Duvalier law" was
rushed through parliament last year to ease the restitution of
assets stolen by corrupt or greedy politicians to their home
2011 Feb 3, Haitian electoral
officials dropped Jude Celestin, the government-backed candidate
from the upcoming presidential runoff, ending a standoff with
international powers over the results of a first-round of voting
that was marred by fraud and disorganization. Former first lady
Mirlande Manigat and musician Michel Martelly will contest a
presidential run-off next month as the country moved ahead with its
dispute-plagued elections process.
(AP, 2/3/11)(Reuters, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 7, In Haiti President
Rene Prevalís chief of staff said Preval will stay in office for
three more months as his country chooses a successor in a delayed
election. An emergency law passed by members of Preval's former
party in an expiring Senate allowed him to remain in office for up
to three more months because his 2006 inauguration was delayed. The
Haitian government issued a new passport to former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, enabling him to end his exile in South
Africa and return to Haiti.
(AP, 2/7/11)(AFP, 2/8/11)
2011 Feb 9, In Haiti Radio
Kiskeya journalist Garry Desrosiers was fatally shot on a busy
street in Port-au-Prince after withdrawing about $1,000. An off-duty
police officer fatally shot one gunman. Two other suspects escaped.
2011 Feb 18, In Haiti several
thousand supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
protested in the capital, waving photos of their exiled leader and
vowing to derail a runoff election next month unless he returns.
2011 Mar 6, In Haiti raucous
crowds danced in the streets of the capital as the city celebrated
its first Carnival since last year's earthquake forced the
cancellation of the annual festivities.
2011 Mar 15, In Haiti Danny Pye
(29), a Christian pastor who runs an orphanage with his wife in the
southern city of Jacmel, was released from jail held after being
held without charges for five months. Judge Maxon Samdi initially
jailed Pye last October over claims he took property from another
group of missionaries.
2011 Mar 17, American actor
Danny Glover arrived in South Africa to escort former Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide home.
2011 Mar 18, In Haiti former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide received celebrity treatment
following his arrival after seven years in exile.
2011 Mar 20, Haiti held a
presidential runoff election between Mirlande Manigat, the former
first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian
compas music, the top two finishers in a first-round vote in
November. Martelly captured nearly 68 percent of the vote.
(AP, 3/20/11)(AP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 20, In Haiti election
officials declared Michel Martelly, a popular singer known by the
stage name "Sweet Micky," to be the earthquake-devastated country's
next president. The final election results were released late in the
day giving victories to 17 Chamber of Deputies candidates and one
Senate candidate who ended up with far more votes than they had when
preliminary returns were announced April 4. Demonstrations popped up
in the countryside and some turned violent. The ruling Unity Party
expanded its presence in the Chamber of Deputies, taking 46 of the
99 positions, and gained an absolute majority in the upper Senate
with 17 of the 30 seats.
(AP, 4/21/11)(AFP, 4/22/11)
2011 Apr 22, Haiti's
president-elect Michel Martelly urged the international community to
"not recognize the results of legislative elections" tainted by
fraud to benefit the ruling party.
2011 Apr 27, In the Bahamas
more than 100 people were left homeless after a fire wrecked a
crowded shantytown on Abaco Island filled mostly with Haitian
2011 May 8, Haitian lawmakers
amended an article in the old constitution to do away with a law
banning dual nationality. It would become official after it is
published in The Monitor, a government publication.
2011 May 11, Haitian officials
reversed their findings on election results for all but four of 19
legislative races contested by the international community because
of concerns about possible fraud.
2011 May 14, In Haiti Michel
Martelly took the oath of office as the new president, assuming the
leadership of an impoverished country still in ruins from one of the
most destructive earthquakes of modern times.
2011 Jun 2, In Haiti relief
organization Oxfam said clinics in the Carrefour area west of
downtown Port-au-Prince are seeing a sharp rise in cholera, with
over 300 new cases per day.
2011 Jun 7, In Haiti 7 days of
heavy rains led to 23 deaths as mudslides and floods battered parts
of the south.
2011 Jun 21, Haitian lawmakers
rejected Daniel-Gerard Rouzier, President Michel Martelly's choice
for the next prime minister of Haiti, plunging the chronically
troubled country into political uncertainty as a new government
struggles to get its footing.
2011 Jun 27, In Haiti high
waves flipped a ferry over after it left La Gonave about 50 miles
(80 km) west of Port-au-Prince. 5 people died, 7 people were
missing, and five people were rescued.
2011 Jun, In Haiti the number
of cholera cases each day spiked to 1,700 in Mid-June.
(SSFC, 7/10/11, p.A6)
2011 Jul 15, In Haiti four
pilgrims died when a boulder fell on them on the peak day of a
three-day Voodoo festival at the sacred site of Saut d'Eau.
2011 Jul 20, In Haiti a man
(18) was sexually assaulted by peacekeepers from Uruguay on a UN
base along the southern coast. The alleged attack only became public
in late August when a video taken by cell phone was circulated and
the UN announced an investigation. The six Uruguayan marines were
expelled from Haiti in September and jailed at home while military
and civilian prosecutors investigated allegations. The former
peacekeepers were freed in January, 2012, pending a military trial
on charges of violating rules against fraternizing with civilians
inside military bases.
(AP, 9/6/11)(AP, 1/9/12)
2011 Jul 26, In Haiti a
sailboat that sank off the country's northern coast killing at least
12 people. Police rescued at least 19 people, but 21 passengers
2011 Aug 2, Haitian lawmakers
rejected President Michel Martelly's second pick for prime minister.
16 senators voted against the nomination of Bernard Gousse, a
controversial former justice minister. The rest of the 30-member
Senate refrained from voting.
2011 Aug 4, Tropical Storm
Emily brushed the southern coast of Hispaniola leaving one person
dead in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic.
2011 Aug 5, In Haiti
Jean-Claude Bajeux (79), a former culture minister, scholar and
steadfast human rights activist who targeted both Haiti's
long-ruling family dictatorship and the governments that followed,
2011 Aug 26, Haitian notary
Emile Giordani was snatched while driving his BMW on a sidestreet
near downtown Port-au-Prince. Passers-by found his body the next
morning dumped on a hilly road in the Canape Vert neighborhood of
(AP, 8/27/11)(AP, 8/31/11)
2011 Sep 4, Haitian President
Michel Martelly "vigorously condemned" an alleged sexual assault by
UN troops against an 18-year-old man. The incident aggravated
mistrust between Haitians and the peacekeeping mission. The UN was
investigating allegations that five Uruguayan naval personnel at a
UN base in the south sexually molested an 18-year-old man in an
attack reportedly captured by a cell phone camera.
2011 Sep 14, In Haiti
protesters calling for the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers clashed
with police outside the earthquake-damaged Haitian National Palace.
2011 Sep 20, In northern Haiti
3 people died when a small, twin-engine turboprop aircraft used by a
domestic Haitian airline crashed while trying to land during heavy
rain. The single passenger was a regular customer from
2011 Oct 4, Haitiís Senate
approved Garry Conille as prime minister, hopefully jump-starting
stalled earthquake reconstruction efforts.
2011 Oct 7, Spain's Queen
Sophia started a rare royal visit to Haiti to see some of the aid
projects that her country has helped finance in the
2011 Oct 10, In Haiti an
official with Doctors Without Borders said the number of cholera
cases seen in Port-au-Prince has jumped about threefold in recent
2011 Oct 13, Haitian President
Michel Martelly said he's determined to move forward with a
controversial plan to bring back the army to the Caribbean nation.
2011 Oct 18, In Haiti Dr. Paul
Farmer said the local cholera outbreak is now the worst in the world
with over 6,000 people killed and over 450,000 people sickened.
(SFC, 10/19/11, p.A2)
2011 Oct 21, Haitian
authorities closed the Son of God orphanage where the director was
accused by US missionaries of not feeding children and selling
2011 Oct 25, In Florida Joel
Esquenazi (52), the former boss of Terra Telecommunications Corp.,
was sentenced to 15 years in jail for paying over $890,000 in bribes
to Haitiís national telephone company (2001-2005). He and executive
Carlos Rodriguez (55) were convicted on Aug 4. Rodriguez was
sentenced to 7 years.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.72)(http://tinyurl.com/7tdxara)
2011 Nov 8, The Boston-based
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti said it has filed
claims with the United Nations seeking damages on behalf of more
than 5,000 Haitian cholera victims and their families.
2011 Nov 11, Haitian Culture
Minister Choiseul Henriquez (51), a former journalist and newly
appointed, died of a brain hemorrhage while in Canada.
2011 Nov 27, Haiti hip hop star
Wyclef Jean said he's proud of the way his charity responded after
the earthquake almost two years ago. His comments followed reports
published by The New York Post saying his foundation collected $16
million in 2010 but less than a third of that went to emergency
2011 Dec 24, A boat carrying
Haitian migrants sank off Cuba's eastern coast. 38 migrants were
killed and 87 others rescued by Cuban civil defense forces.
2011 Dec 27, UN human rights
officials in Haiti issued a report accusing the national police
department of excessive force, saying there is evidence officers may
have killed at least nine people in the capital.
2011 Paul Farmer, UN Deputy
Special Envoy to Haiti, authored ďHaiti: After the Earthquake."
(Econ, 7/30/11, p.78)
2012 Jan 10, Brazilís Justice
Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said Brazil will grant work visas to
2,400 Haitians who are stuck in two Amazon border towns. He said
another 1,600 Haitians in Brazil have been given visas already.
2012 Jan 16, In Haiti 29 people
died and 67 were injured after a truck's brakes failed and the
vehicle crashed on Route Delmas, one of the busiest streets of
2012 Jan 18, In Haiti the
driver for a French journalist was killed in a robbery. Haitian
driver Maxime Alcius died of gunshot wounds but Anthony Lapeyre and
his wife escaped unharmed.
2012 Jan 19, A Haitian judge
convicted seven police officers on a range of charges for their role
in a prison riot in which at least 10 prisoners were shot to death
on Jan 19, 2010.
2012 Jan 20, In Haiti Pakistani
peace-keepers raped a 14-year-old boy in Gonaives. In March a
Pakistani military tribunal convicted two soldiers and sentenced
them to one year in prison.
(Econ, 4/28/12, p.41)
2012 Jan 25, The Haitian
government and European Union signed an agreement for building a
road to connect the capital with the country's second largest city.
2012 Jan 31, Haitiís Pres.
Michel Martelly awarded actor Sean Penn the honor of ambassador at
(SFC, 2/1/12, p.A2)
2012 Feb 1, In Haiti visitng
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Brazil will offer 6,000
visas to Haitians over a five-year period as one of several efforts
that look to help the troubled Caribbean nation get on its feet.
2012 Feb 24, Haitian PM Garry
Conille abruptly resigned his post, giving the country a new
political crisis that is likely to distract the government and
further delay efforts to rebuild from the devastating January 2010
earthquake. His resignation was thought to have stemmed from
disagreements with Pres. Martelly and his inner circle.
2012 Feb 29, In Haiti thousands
of supporters of two-time President Jean-Bertrand Aristide rallied
in the capital on the eighth anniversary of the former leader's
ouster. The demonstrators accused current President Michel Martelly
of not doing enough to improve their lives and pressed for the
departure of the country's UN peacekeeping mission.
2012 Mar 6, In Haiti Venel
Joseph, a prominent banker whose son recently pleaded guilty in a US
federal bribery case, was shot and killed in Port-au-Prince. Joseph
was director of Haiti's Central Bank during former Pres.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's 2nd term from 2001 to 2004.
2012 Apr 16, Haiti, the United
States and international partners launched a nationwide vaccination
campaign seeking to curb or prevent infectious diseases.
2012 Apr, Prospectors in Haiti
found the first significant silver ever reported there: between 20
million and 30 million ounces. A flurry of exploratory drilling in
the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20
billion below the ridges in the country's northeastern mountains.
2012 Jun 1, In the Dominican
Rep. new work requirements took effect, but the government said the
rules won't be enforced until month's end. A large number of Haitian
workers were particularly impacted.
2012 Jun 19, In southern Haiti
a bus overturned in a rain-swollen river. Officials differed about
the number of people who died. Local civil protection officials were
said to have recovered the bodies of 40 people. The bus owner said
there were 27 people aboard and that only eight people are missing.
2012 Jul 23, In Haiti 4
squatters were shot to death as police and other officials forced
them to vacate a woodland in La Visite National Park. Haiti was down
to about 2% of its original forest cover.
(SFC, 8/31/12, p.A4)
2012 Aug 25, Tropical Storm
Isaac swept across Haiti's southern peninsula killing 8 people and
another two in neighboring Dominican Republic.
(AP, 8/25/12)(AP, 8/26/12)
2012 Sep 30, In Haiti thousands
of people in Port-au-Prince, complaining of the high cost of living
and alleged corruption, protested against the government of Pres.
(SFC, 10/1/12, p.A2)
2012 Oct 13, In Haiti visiting
Nobel peace laureate Mohammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker, announced
that his pro-business development group is financing several
endeavors through a mix of loans and equity.
2012 Oct 24, Hurricane Sandy
crossed over Jamaica. An elderly man was killed by a boulder that
crashed into his clapboard house. Sandy killed 51 people in Haiti.
At least 65 people were left dead as Sandy left the Caribbean.
(AP, 10/25/12)(AP, 10/26/12)(AP, 10/28/12)
2012 Nov 16, Haitian officials
confirmed 3,593 cases of cholera and 837 more suspected cases since
Hurricane Sandyís passage.
(SFC, 11/17/12, p.A2)
2012 Dec 21, Haitiís government
announced that it has awarded permits for the first time in its
history to allow two companies to openly mine for gold and copper.
(SFC, 12/22/12, p.A2)
2012 Laurent Dubois authored
ďHaiti: The Aftershocks of History."
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.85)
2012 Jonathan Katz authored
ďThe Big Truck That Went by: How the World Came to Save Haiti and
Left Behind a Disaster."
(SSFC, 12/30/12, p.F1)
2013 Jan 25, In Haiti up to 20
people were killed after their truck plunged into a canal.
(SSFC, 1/27/13, p.A4)
2013 Feb 18, US Attorney
General Eric Holder discussed regional crime with Caribbean leaders
during a summit in Haiti.
2013 Feb 21, A Haitian judge
summoned Jean-Claude Duvalier (61) to appear in court after the
former dictator defied an order to attend a hearing to determine
whether he should again face charges for human rights abuses
committed during the nearly 15 years of his brutal regime.
2013 Mar 11, The Clinton
Foundation announced that grants for over $700,000 will go toward
efforts in Haiti to plant trees, build a coffee farm and train
farmers. Heineken NV announced that it would invest $40 million to
expand a brewery and help farmers who supply it with sorghum.
2013 Mar, Deaths from Haitiís
cholera epidemic, which began in 2010, reached 8,205.
(Econ, 3/2/13, p.38)
2013 Apr 3, George Corvington
(88), a prominent Haitian historian, died in Port-au-Prince. His
8-volume, French-language "Port-au-Prince Through the Ages"
chronicled the political and social history of Port-au-Prince, from
its founding under French colonial rule in 1749 to the departure of
President Paul Magloire in 1956.
2013 Apr 23, Amnesty
International said Haiti has violated international human rights
obligations by failing to protect people who have been forced to
leave the impromptu settlements that sprang up in the Caribbean
nation after the 2010 earthquake.
2013 Apr 25, In Haiti Richard
Joyal (62), a Catholic missionary from Manitoba, Canada, was shot to
death as he left a bank in Port-au-Prince.
2013 Jun 3, Haiti brought in
mining experts from around the world in hopes of developing precious
metals in one of the world's poorest countries. Testing has
indicated that gold, copper and silver in the country's northeastern
mountains could be worth $20 billion.
2013 Jul 1, Connecticutís
Fairfield Univ. and others that supported a charity, designed to
help feed and educate boys in Haiti, reached a $12 million
settlement with children who were sexually abused by Douglas
Perlitz, a founder of the group. Perlitz was sentenced to
nearly 20 years in prison in 2011 for the assaults at the Project
Pierre Toussaint School.
(SFC, 7/2/13, p.A4)
2013 Jul, Haitiís government
signed a deal with Vietnam to expand cooperation in energy,
textiles, food and electronics.
(Econ, 8/24/13, p.36)
2013 Sep 26, The Dominican
Republic's Constitutional Court stripped citizenship from thousands
of people born to migrants who came illegally, a category that
overwhelmingly includes Haitians brought in to work on farms. The
court retroactively stripped the citizenship of people born after
1929 to parents without Dominican ancestry.
(AP, 9/26/13)(SSFC, 12/1/13, p.A22)
2013 Oct 16, A boat with more
than dozen people, including Jamaicans and Haitians, capsized off
the coast of South Florida. 4 women died and 11 people were taken
into custody. On May 15 Bahamian national Naaman Davis pleaded
guilty in Miami federal court to charges of smuggling. He was paid
to drive the migrant-filled boat and was drinking rum and smoking
crack-cocaine the night it capsized.
(SFC, 10/16/13, p.A7)(AP, 5/16/14)
2013 Nov 18, In Haiti police
fired tear gas in the two main cities to disperse thousands of
protesters demanding better living conditions and the resignation of
President Michel Martelly.
2013 Nov 24, Dominican Rep.
soldiers expelled 244 Haitians following the deaths of 3 people
killed near the border.
(SFC, 11/25/13, p.A2)
2013 Nov 25, A sailboat passing
through the southern Bahamas islands with about 150 Haitian migrants
on board capsized after running aground, killing up to 30 people and
leaving the rest clinging to the vessel for hours.
2013 Nov 29, Thousands of young
Haitians demonstrated in several cities demanding that President
Michel Martelly step down.
2013 Dec 25, A boat capsized
off the Turks and Caicos islands and 17 Haitian suspected illegal
migrants died. 33 people were rescued.
(AFP, 12/25/13)(SFC, 12/26/13, p.A2)
2013 Haitiís government claimed
the 17.3-square-mile Ile-ŗ-Vache, a former pirate lair, as "a public
utility," potentially stripping the 14,000 residents of their land
to develop a high-end tourist resort.
2014 Jan 11, Sean Pennís 3rd
annual Help Haiti Home benefit in Beverly Hills raised nearly $6
(SFC, 1/13/14, p.A4)
2014 Jan 17, In Haiti a judge
concluded the investigation into one of the countryís most notorious
political assassinations, accusing nine people of having a hand in
the 2000 killing of radio journalist Jean Dominique, including
several close associates of former Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
2014 Feb 13, US federal
authorities said they have detained 57 migrants from Haiti, the
Dominican Republic and Brazil in separate incidents near Puerto
Rico's west coast. Authorities planned to prosecute 19 of those
migrants, five of them on human smuggling charges.
2014 May 3, In southwest Haiti
a bus crash killed 17 people and injured 17 near the coastal town of
2014 May 13, In Haiti American
missionary George Knoop (77), who came to Haiti in the wake of the
January 2010 earthquake, was stabbed to death in Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 5/16/14)(SSFC, 5/18/14, p.A4)
2014 May 16, Dominican Rep.
legislators unanimously approved a bill they say would allow
thousands of people of Haitian descent born in the Dominican
Republic the opportunity to obtain naturalized citizenship. Pres.
Danilo Medina singed the legislation on May 23. Some 200,000
(AP, 5/16/14)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.31)
2014 May 23, A Haitian
government official said health authorities will distribute pain
medication to clinics around the country amid a surge in suspected
cases of a mosquito-borne virus that is new to the region. More than
5,500 suspected cases of the chikungunya virus have been reported in
Haiti, up from 1,500 cases a week earlier.
2014 Jun 14, In Haiti Jules
Lionel Anelus, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, lost control of
his car and slammed into a small passenger bus killing 11 people in
Saint Marc. Anelus was injured in the crash.
(SFC, 6/16/14, p.A2)
2014 Aug 10, In Haiti 15 gunmen
in two SUVs opened fire on guards at the Croix-des-Bouquets prison
and facilitated the escape of 329 prisoners. On Aug 12 police
recaptured Clifford Brandt, believed to be responsible for the mass
breakout, along with two others. After a month only some 75
prisoners were recaptured.
(SFC, 8/12/14, p.A2)(SFC, 8/13/14, p.A2)(SFC,
2014 Aug 14, In Haiti
supporters of former Pres. Jean-Paul Aristide clashed with UN
peacekeepers as he faced possible arrest for not providing
court-ordered testimony in a criminal investigation.
(SFC, 8/15/14, p.A2)
2014 Oct 4, In Haiti former
dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier (63), who ruled the
impoverished Caribbean nation with an iron fist from 1971 until his
ouster in 1986, died of a heart attack. He was said in reports to
have looted as much as $300 million before being forced to flee.
(AFP, 10/5/14)(Econ, 10/11/14, p.102)
2014 Oct 26, Haiti's government
announced it is postponing long delayed legislative and municipal
elections. Pres. Martelly had decreed in June that there would be an
election on October 26, but the National Assembly did not pass an
electoral law in time because of a political impasse.
2014 Nov 5, Haiti reported that
12 people have died so far as a result of heavy rains unleashed by a
cluster of storms in the northern Caribbean.
2014 Dec 1, In Haiti about 30
inmates escaped overnight from a prison in Saint Marc.
2014 Dec 12, Haitiís President
Michel Martelly said that he accepted all the findings of a report
this week from a government-appointed commission, including its
recommendation that the prime minister resign.
2014 Dec 14, Haitiís PM Laurent
Lamothe announced that he was resigning along with several ministers
in the wake of violent anti-government protests and a commission's
call for him to step down.
2014 Dec 21, Haiti's Health
Minister Florence Duperval Guillaume, was named interim prime
minister to replace Laurent Lamothe who resigned a week ago
following several weeks of protests.
2014 Dec 25, Haitian President
Michel Martelly named veteran politician Evans Paul prime minister
to lead a new government.
2015 Jan 16, In Haiti Evans
Paul, formerly in the moderate opposition to Pres. Martelly before
becoming his No. 2 official, was formally installed as prime
2015 Jan 24, UN Security
Council members arrived in Haiti for a three-day visit to urge the
government to hold long-delayed elections in order to stem a
mounting political crisis.
2015 Feb 7, In Haiti at least
6,000 protesters marched through the capital to demand lower gas
prices and the ouster of President Michel Martelly.
2015 Feb 17, In Haiti a
high-voltage cable fell on a float during a Carnival parade in
Port-au-Prince early today, killing at least 15 people.
2015 Apr 20, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded in San Francisco to six activists.
They included: Marilyn Baptiste (44) of Canada, for her work to stop
the development of an open pit gold and copper mine that threatened
lakes in British Columbia; Berta Caceres (42) of Honduras for her
efforts fighting the Agua Zarca Dam, which threatened to cut off the
water and hunting grounds of the Lenca people; Phyllis Omido (35) of
Kenya for her work exposing lead fumes from a smelting plant; Jean
Wiener of Haiti (50) for his efforts to protect and restore marine
wildlife; Howard Wood (60) of Scotland for his efforts to restore
undersea ecology; and Myint Zaw (39) of Myanmar for halt the
construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Irrawaddy River that
would submerge 50 villages and displace 18,000
(SFC, 4/20/15, p.A6)
2015 May 12, French President
Francois Hollande arrived in Haiti to sign cooperation agreements
and support reconstruction efforts that continue since the deadly
2015 Jun 26, Dominican Republic
officials said more than 17,000 undocumented Haitians have
voluntarily left the Dominican Republic since the end of a
controversial registration process that left thousands of people
facing deportation. More than 180,000 people were still unregistered
by the June 17 deadline.
2015 Aug 9, Haiti staged
legislative elections in a vote overshadowed by fears of violence
and poor turnout in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
2015 Aug 14, The Dominican
Republic said it has resumed the detention of people deemed to be
illegal migrants after the expiration of a deadline for undocumented
foreigners to apply for temporary residence. Haitian officials
recently estimated the population at four camps in the south of
Haiti as at least 2,000 and growing.
2015 Aug 15, In northern Haiti
16 people died in a truck accident near Cap-Haitien.
2015 Aug 18, Haitian electoral
officials disqualified nine candidates for engaging in violence or
inciting chaos during the August 9 parliamentary elections.
2015 Sep 12, Max Beauvoir (79),
Haitian biochemist and voodoo high priest, died.
(Econ, 9/19/15, p.90)
2015 Sep, Haiti imposed a ban
on 23 imports from the Dominican Rep. in response to that countryís
expulsion of Haitian immigrants.
(Econ, 1/30/16, p.29)
2015 Oct 25, Haitians began
voting for a new president with a choice of 54 candidates. Jude
Celestin, of the Lapeh party, garnered 25 percent of the vote,
according to results. He will face ruling party candidate Jovenel
Moise, the frontrunner at 32 percent, in a December 27 runoff.
(AFP, 10/2515)(AFP, 11/6/15)
2015 Nov 12, Haitians angered
by a series of rapes and robberies in Port-au-Prince burned alive a
man early today they suspected of criminal connections in an upscale
suburb of the capital.
2015 Nov 20, In Haiti one
person was shot dead and another was wounded by a machete blow to
the head during post-election skirmishes that erupted in
2015 Dec 18, In Haiti several
government buildings were set ablaze in scattered sections of the
country and one demonstrator was killed in violent protests ignited
by the release of final legislative election results.
2015 Dec 29, In Haiti 2 UN
police officers from Rwanda were fatally shot at their residence in
2016 Jan 22, Haiti called off
its presidential election, two days before it was due, over concerns
of escalating violence sparked by the opposition candidate's refusal
to take part in a process he said was riddled with fraud.
2016 Feb 5, A band of former
Haitian soldiers clashed with a far larger gathering of
anti-government demonstrators in Port-au-Prince, resulting in the
killing of an ex-member of the abolished military amid an ongoing
2016 Feb 6, Top Haitian leaders
negotiated an agreement to install a short-term provisional
government less than 24 hours before President Michel Martelly was
scheduled to step down.
2016 Feb 12, Haitian police
Officer David Dume was killed by multiple gunshots as he patrolled a
rough section of the country's capital on a motorcycle.
2016 Feb 14, Haitian lawmakers
chose the country's Senate chief to lead a caretaker government that
will fill the void left by last week's departure of former President
2016 Feb 26, Haiti's interim
leader Jocelerme Privert named economist Fritz Jean, a former
Central Bank governor, as prime minister to help pull the country
out of a paralyzing electoral crisis.
2016 Mar 19, In Haiti three
deaf women were beaten, stabbed and burned after setting off on a
20-mile trip from Port-au-Prince to their village of Leveque. Their
bodies were found in a ditch with their tongues cut out.
(www.haitideafacademy.com/memorial-fund.html)(SFC, 4/26/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 29, The European Union
said it was giving an additional 38 million euros in cash aid to
Haiti, which is combatting drought and a migration crisis with
neighboring Dominican Republic.
2016 May 14, In Haiti
protesters marched in the capital demanding the departure of an
interim president who was supposed to leave office this weekend. The
demonstration of ex-President Michel Martelly's Tet Kale political
faction reached a peak of a few thousand in downtown Port-au-Prince.
2016 Aug 17, Haitian electoral
authorities released details of a $55 million budget to organize a
redo of an annulled presidential election that will not be
underwritten by the US or monitored by EU observers.
2016 Aug 18, The United Nations
said for the first time that it was involved in the introduction of
cholera to Haiti in October 2010 and needs to do "much more" to end
the suffering of those affected, estimated at more than 800,000
2016 Oct 3, Two Haitian
fishermen died in rough water churned up by the approaching Category
4 Hurricane Matthew.
(AP, 10/3/16)(SFC, 10/4/16, p.A3)
2016 Oct 4, Haiti's
southwestern peninsula early with 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds
and storm surges. Tens of thousands were left homeless and outbreaks
of cholera soon claimed more lives. By Oct 10 the confirmed death
toll reached 372, but an official with the Civil Protection Agency
said at least 522 deaths were confirmed just in the Grand-Anse
Department. The official toll was later put at 546 dead and 128
(Reuters, 10/4/16)(AP, 10/6/16)(AFP,
10/10/16)(SFC, 10/10/16, p.A2)(SFC, 10/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Oct 5, Rescue workers in
Haiti struggled to reach cutoff towns and learn the full extent of
the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew as the storm
began battering the Bahamas and triggered evacuations along the US
2016 Nov 7, Authorities in
Haiti said flooding has killed at least 10 people in three northern
provinces following heavy rain over the last 48 hours.
2016 Nov 20, Haitians voted in
a long-delayed presidential election, hoping a new government will
lift the economy after a devastating hurricane and more than a year
of political instability. Jovenel Moise won with 56% of the vote in
a field of 27 candidates. The turnout was only 21%.
(Reuters, 11/20/16)(SFC, 12/1/16, p.A3)(Econ
2017 Jan 3, Haitian officials
said an electoral tribunal has rejected claims that massive voter
fraud marred the November presidential election victory of
first-time candidate Jovenel Moise.
2017 Jan 5, In Haiti Guy
Philippe (48) a key figure in the 2004 ouster of then-President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and later ran for president himself, was
arrested. He had been indicted in 2005 on US cocaine trafficking
charges but managed to elude capture.
2017 Jan 8, In Haiti 11 people
died at the scene of a bus and truck crash outside of the
northwestern town of Port-de-Paix. Another nine people were declared
dead after being transported to hospitals in Gros Morne and
2017 Jan 24, At least 15
Haitian migrants drowned in the Turks & Caicos Islands after
their small and crowded boat capsized near the British Caribbean
territory. 69 people were on the boat.
(AP, 1/25/17)(AP, 1/27/17)
2017 Jan 29, Haiti held a final
round of legislative contests that close a repeatedly derailed
election cycle that started in 2015.
2017 Jan, In Haiti
overcrowding, malnutrition and infectious diseases that flourish in
jammed quarters have led to an upsurge of inmate deaths, including
21 at the Port-au-Prince penitentiary just this month.
2017 Feb 7, Jovenel Moise (48)
was sworn as Haiti's 58th president, ending a protracted electoral
crisis that had created a vacuum of power in the impoverished,
disaster-prone Caribbean nation.
2017 Feb 22, Haitiís President
Jovenel Moise and two legislative leaders agreed upon the nomination
of Dr. Jack Guy Lafontant as prime minister.
2017 Mar 3, Former Haitian
Pres. Rene Preval (b.1943) died. He was the only leader of the
country to win and complete two terms (1996-2001 and 2006-2011).
(SFC, 3/4/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 12, In Haiti a bus
plowed into a crowd in Gonaives early today killing at least 34
(SFC, 3/13/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 20, Uruguay's Pres.
Tabare Vazquez said his country is pulling its soldiers out of a UN
peacekeeping mission in Haiti, where they have served since 2004.
The mission will end this month and the roughly 250 soldiers will
return home in early April.
2017 Mar 21, Haitiís Chamber of
Deputies voted to approve Dr. Jack Guy Lafontant as prime minister.
2017 Apr 13, The Security
Council voted unanimously to end the UN peacekeeping mission in
Haiti in mid-October after more than 20 years. The resolution also
creates a follow-on peacekeeping mission for an initial period of
six months comprising 1,275 police who will continue training the
national police force.
2017 Apr 28, Haitian officials
said flooding in the southwest has wiped out as much as 80 percent
of the spring harvest in a beleaguered region that is nearly
completely dependent on farming.
2017 Jul 27, Haiti announced a
slight minimum wage increase for garment workers that fell well
short of their demands, prompting union calls for a strike.
2017 Sep 5, Irma strengthened
into an "extremely dangerous" Category Five hurricane,
meteorologists warned, sparking alarm and flooding alerts as it
barreled towards the Caribbean. It was expected to make landfall
along the string of French islands including Guadeloupe late today
before heading to Haiti and Florida.
2017 Sep 18, Much of Haiti came
to a halt because of a transportation strike over new taxes proposed
by the government.
2017 Nov 18, Haiti's President
Jovenel Moise heralded the re-establishment of the country's
military after 22 years, a divisive issue in the impoverished
Caribbean nation which has a history of bloody coups and political
2017 Nov 20, The Trump
administration said it is ending a temporary residency permit
program that allowed almost 60,000 citizens from Haiti to live and
work in the US following a 2010 powerful earthquake. Advocates and
members of Congress asked for an 18-month extension of the program,
known as Temporary Protected Status.
(SFC, 11/21/17, p.A6)
2018 Jan 11, US Pres. Donald
Trump questioned why the US would accept more immigrants from Haiti
and "shithole countries" in Africa rather than places like Norway in
rejecting a bipartisan immigration deal. The next day he denied
using that language.
2018 Jan 12, Haitians reacted
with outrage to reports that President Donald Trump used a vulgar
remark to describe the country on the eve of the anniversary of the
2010 earthquake, one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.
2018 Feb 9, The Times of London
reported that misconduct allegations against seven former Oxfam
staff in Haiti included the use of prostitutes ó some of whom may
have been under 18 ó and downloading pornography following the 2010
2018 Feb 12, Penny Lawrence,
Oxfam's deputy chief executive resigned, saying she took "full
responsibility" for failing to act immediately in the sexual
misconduct scandal involving the charity's workers in Haiti
following the 2010 earthquake.
2018 Jul 6, Haiti's capital
Port-au-Prince and its environs stood paralyzed with major routes
blocked by barricades, some made of burning tires, and some
protesters even calling for a revolution. Late today the bodyguard
of an opposition-party politician died in an altercation with
demonstrators in central Port-au-Prince as he attempted to force a
passage through a roadblock. His body was then burned in the road.
2018 Jul 7, Haiti's President
Jovenel Moise called on protesters to "go home," saying the
about-face on prices had "corrected what had to be corrected." PM
Jack Guy Lafontant called for calm and patience from residents amid
deadly protests in several cities over an unpopular fuel price rise.
(AFP, 7/7/18)(AFP, 7/8/18)
2018 Jul 8, In Haiti fresh
looting broke out on the streets of Port-au-Prince, despite calls
for calm after two days of deadly protests over ultimately suspended
fuel price hikes.
2018 Jul 14, Embattled Haiti PM
Jack Guy Lafontant resigned following deadly violence and looting
sparked by a now-abandoned plan to raise fuel prices, triggering a
fraught process to form a new government.
2018 Oct 6, A magnitude 5.9
earthquake hit Haiti late today killing at least 14 people with135
injured. At least seven people died in the coastal city of
Port-de-Paix and three people died in the nearby community of
Gros-Morne in the province of Artibonite.
(AP, 10/7/18)(Reuters, 10/8/18)
2018 Oct 17, In Haiti at least
two people were killed and dozens injured during large protests over
alleged misuse of government funds.
2018 Nov 26, Chile said it is
returning a second planeload of Haitian immigrants to their native
country and will make use of the return flight from the Caribbean
island to bring home Chileans stranded in crisis-stricken Venezuela.
2019 Jan 19, In Haiti the 13th
PaPJazz festival opened in Port-au-Prince.
2019 Jan 25, In Connecticut
more than 130 people who say they were sexually abused as children
at a now-defunct charity school in Haiti reached a $60 million
settlement with a Jesuit university in Connecticut and other
2019 Feb 9, It was reported
that shantytowns across the Turks and Caicos grow every day as
thousands of young Haitians try to escape the poorest economy in the
Caribbean, where 60 percent of the population of 11 million people
live on less than $2 a day.
2019 Feb 14, Haiti's Pres.
Jovenel Moise said he would not surrender the country to armed gangs
and drug dealers, as protesters continued to demand his resignation.
(SFC, 2/15/19, p.A2)
2019 Feb 16, Haiti's PM
Jean-Henry Ceant, after days of deadly protests, announced that
government officials will lose their perks under emergency economic
and anti-corruption measures.
2019 Feb 17, In Haiti five US
citizens were among eight men arrested while carrying automatic
weapons and other arms and driving in cars without license plates.
They returned to the United States on Feb. 20 before a scheduled
court hearing in the Caribbean nation.
2019 Mar 8, The International
Monetary Fund said it has reached a tentative deal to extend a $229
million loan to Haiti.
2019 Mar 22, US President
Donald Trump met with five Caribbean leaders who have sided with the
United States and most Western countries in backing Venezuelan
opposition leader Juan Guaido as head of state. Trump met with
leaders from the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and
Saint Lucia at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida.
2019 Apr 9, Haiti's President
Jovenel Moise confirmed Jean-Michel Lapin as the country's new prime
minister. Lapin, the former culture and communications minister, was
named acting prime minister on March 21, three days after the
Chamber of Deputies voted to censure the government of former prime
minister Jean-Henry Ceant.
2019 Apr 30, Authorities in
Haiti said they have killed the leader of a gang suspected of
fatally shooting five people and injuring seven others last week.
Jean Sony, the suspected leader of the Savane Pistache gang, died
after exchanging gunfire with police in the capital of
2019 May 31, In Haiti a panel
of judges accused President Jovenel Moise of being at the center of
an "embezzlement scheme" that siphoned off Venezuelan aid money
meant for fixing roads.
2019 Jun 9, In Haiti thousands
of protesters denouncing corruption blocked roads and paralyzed much
of Port-au-Prince as demanded the removal of Pres. Jovenel Moise.
(SFC, 6/10/19, p.A2)
2019 Jun 10, In Haiti
unidentified gunmen shot and killed journalist Rospide Petion (45)
as he drove home in a car owned by Radio San Fin.
(SFC, 6/12/19, p.A2)
2019 Jun 25, The UN Security
Council has approved a resolution establishing a political mission
in Haiti starting on Oct. 16 to advise the government on promoting
political stability and rule of law in the Western Hemisphere's
2019 Oct 4, Thousands of
Haitian protesters marched through Port-au-Prince to the UN
headquarters in one of the largest demonstrations in a weekslong
push to oust embattled President Jovenel Moise. The unrest came
after almost four weeks of protests in which 17 people have been
2019 Oct 7, In Haiti stones
flew and barricades burned in Port-au-Prince as the country entered
its fourth week of protests that have paralyzed the economy.
2019 Oct 15, The UN Security
Council ended 15 years of peacekeeping operations in Haiti, voicing
regret that the country is still saddled with huge economic,
political and social woes.
2019 Nov 1, The US Department
of Homeland Security announced it is extending temporary protected
status coverage for migrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras,
Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through Jan. 4, 2021.
2019 Nov 12, Haitian police
arrested Jacques Yves Sebastien Duroseau, an active-duty US Marine
and Haiti native, when he landed in the capital, Port-au-Prince. He
landed with boxes filled with guns, ammunition and body armor.
Federal prosecutors later indicted Duroseau in North Carolina on gun
smuggling charges. On Dec 10, 2020, he was found guilty of
weapons smuggling in US federal court.
(Miami Herald, 12/2/19)(Miami Herald, 12/11/20)
2019 Nov 19, Haitiís embattled
leader, Jovenel Moise, said he will not resign despite months of
protests calling for his ouster, which he said are partially a plot
by groups holding the crisis-torn Caribbean nation ďhostage" and
trying to thwart his reforms.
2019 Dec 6, The World Food
Program (WFPP issued an appeal for $62 million in emergency food
assistance in Haiti, where a protracted political and economic
crises are fanning a humanitarian disaster.
(Miami Herald, 12/7/19)
2020 Feb 13, In Haiti a fire
outside Port-au-Prince killed 13 children and two adult caretakers
at a home run by the US-based Church of Bible Understanding.
(SFC, 2/15/20, p.A2)(AP, 4/23/20)
2020 Feb 18, The UN issued a
scathing report that accused Haitian police of not protecting an
impoverished neighborhood from corrupt officers and gang leaders
they say shot at people and set fire to homes and cars in a recent
2020 Feb 20, The UN envoy for
Haiti said the political impasse that has paralyzed Haiti is sending
its economy deeper into recession, with 4.6 million people needing
humanitarian aid with no immediate end in sight.
2020 Feb 23, Haitian police
officers exchanged gunfire for hours with soldiers of the newly
reconstituted army outside the national palace, in a dangerous
escalation of protests over police pay and working conditions.
2020 Mar 5, The US State
Department raised its Haiti travel advisory to Level 4: Do Not
Travel, in the wake of what Haiti National Police have described as
a ďspectacular rise" in kidnappings for ransom, along with other
violent crimes including car jackings and robberies, carried out
mostly by armed criminal gangs.
(Miami Herald, 3/8/20)
2020 Mar 19, Haiti declared a
state of emergency, closing its borders and imposing a curfew, after
the country's first two cases of coronavirus were detected.
2020 Apr 20, A Haitian health
ministry source said three migrants the United States deported two
weeks ago to Haiti, on a flight that raised objections from human
rights advocates, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus
while in quarantine in the Caribbean country. Haiti now has 47
confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
2020 May 26, The US deported 30
people to Haiti.
(SFC, 5/27/20, p.A2)
2020 Jun 11, In Haiti
coronavirus infections spiked to 3,334 with 51 deaths.
(SFC, 6/12/20, p.A6)
2020 Jun 19, Haiti's government
announced that Fritz Gerard Cerisier, an assistant to the government
prosecutor, was assassinated in Port-au-Prince. Haiti reported 4,916
confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 84 deaths.
(Miami Herald, 6/20/20)
2020 Jun 23, The US extradited
former Haitian paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant. He was
immediately arrested as he landed in Haiti, where he faced murder
and torture charges from the 1990s. constant has alleged that he was
on the CIA payroll.
(SFC, 6/24/20, p.A4)
2020 Aug 23, Hurrican Laura
made landfall in the southeastern Dominican Republic and then
traversed Haiti, where at least 31 people died. Four deaths were
reported in the Dominican Republic,
2020 Oct 5, The UN envoy for
Haiti warned that Latin Americaís poorest country has seen
increasing violence in recent months, with gangs challenging the
authority of the state and political divisions blocking movement
toward legislative elections.
2020 Dec 10, The United States
sanctioned alleged human rights abusers in Russia, Yemen and Haiti
including Ramzan Kadyrov, who is the leader of Russia's
Muslim-majority Chechnya region and a close ally of Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
2020 Haiti recorded 234
reported kidnappings this year, up from 78 a year earlier. 1,378
homicides were reported, a 20% increase from the prior year.
(SFC, 4/19/21, p.A2)
2021 Feb 7, Haitian President
Jovenel Moise refused to step down, the day the opposition, backed
by the judiciary branch, said his five-year term ended. Moise has
ruled by decree since last year, when he suspended most of the
country's lawmakers. Moise announced the arrests of 23 people
including a former presidential candidate, a high-ranking police
inspector and a judge on the countryís highest court, all accused of
plotting a coup to overthrow him and take his life as the nationís
political crisis deepens. Supreme Court Judge Yvickel Dabrťsil (53)
was arrested shortly before 3 a.m. for allegedly trying to overthrow
and kill Pres. Jovenel Moise. Dabrťsil, along with two other
justices, was soon removed from the bench by Moise.
(NY Times, 2/7/21)(Miami Herald, 2/8/21)(Miami
2021 Feb 25, In Haiti more than
400 inmates escaped from a prison in Port-au-Prince. 25 people died
in the breakout. Gang leader Arnel Joseph was killed the following
(SFC, 2/27/21, p.A4)
2021 Feb 27, President Luis
Abinader said the Dominican Republic will begin constructing a fence
along its 376-km (234 mi) border with Haiti later this year to curb
unauthorized migration and illicit trade.
2021 Mar 12, In Haiti four
members of the security forces in Village de Dieu, Village of God,
were killed and 8 wounded during a police operation. The Officers
were ambushed by an armed gang under the command of a leader in a
slum run by a guy who goes by the name ďIzo" and ď5 Seconds."
(Miami Herald, 3/13/21)
2021 Mar 24, The UN Security
Council criticized ďthe protracted political, constitutional,
humanitarian and security crises in Haiti" and again urged the
government to hold long-delayed legislative elections and prepare
for presidential elections this year.
2021 Apr 21, In Haiti Roman
Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed
across the country in a three-day protest to demand the release of
five priests, two nuns and two other people kidnapped more than a
2021 May 22, The Department of
Homeland Security announced that the Biden administration will grant
temporary protected status to tens of thousands of Haitian
immigrants living in the United States without legal status.
(CBS News, 5/22/21)