Emmanuel Constant (nicknamed "Toto", born on October 27, 1956) is the founder of FRAPH, a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

that terrorised supporters of exiled president

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in ...

. In 2001, a Haitian court convicted him ''in absentia'' and sentenced him to life in prison for his role in the Raboteau Massacre. In 2008, he was convicted of mortgage fraud and sentenced to 12–37 years in prison. As of June 27, 2019, Constant was in custody at the

Eastern Correctional Facility The Eastern Correctional Facility is a state prison for men in Napanoch, Ulster County, New York. Eastern is one of the oldest prison facilities in the state. It has been a maximum security prison for men since 1973. History The site ope ...

, a maximum security prison in New York. He was first eligible for parole on June 30, 2016, but was refused; his next parole hearing eligibility date is in February 2020. He was not among 30 Haitians who were deported from the United States to Haiti on May 26, 2020. If and when he is deported, the government plans to arrest him and give him a new trial.

1991–1994

In mid-1993, two years after the

1991 Haitian coup d'état The 1991 Haitian coup d'état took place on 29 September 1991, when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected eight months earlier in the 1990–91 Haitian general election, was deposed by the Armed Forces of Haiti. Haitian military officers, p ...

, Constant set up paramilitary group known as the

Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti The Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH) (french: Front pour l'Avancement et le Progrès Haitien) was a far-right paramilitary group organized in mid-1993. Its goal was to undermine support for the popular Catholicism, Catholic p ...

(FRAPH) to terrorize supporters of exiled president

. A CIA source implicated Constant in the 1993 assassination of Justice Minister

Guy Malary Guy Malary (10 June 1943 – 14 October 1993) was a Justice Minister of Haiti, appointed by Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991 and continuing in office under the post-1991 Haitian coup d'état regime. IACHRREPORT Nº 78/02 / MERITS CASE 11.335 GUY MALAR ...

, although the agency said the source was "untested". Constant was paid by the CIA from 1992 to 1994, as were several leading members of the military junta. He provided information to the agency for about $500 a month, according to United States officials and Mr. Constant himself.

1994–2005

After the 1994

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and UN-led multinational occupation restored Aristide to power, Constant escaped to the U.S.. He was detained by

INS INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies * INS, the gene for the insul ...

officials in 1995 and prepared to be deported to Haïti to stand trial for involvement in the Raboteau Massacre. In May 1996 the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

ordered the INS to release Constant. In 2001, Constant was convicted ''in absentia'' of his role in the Raboteau Massacre and sentenced to life in prison and hard labor.

2006–present

On July 7, 2006, Constant appeared in a

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York county court to face charges that he participated in a mortgage scheme that defrauded Sun Trust Mortgage Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan of more than $1 million. The purported fraud took place while Constant was employed at Melville Brokerage. On October 28, 2008, Judge Abraham Gerges of the Kings County Supreme Court sentenced Constant to serve 12–37 years in prison.Sentencing Memorandum
October 28, 2008. Judge Gerges concluded his memorandum with a plea that the United States government allow Constant to serve his entire sentence in New York State, rather than return him to Haiti "where he may evade justice due to the instability of the Haitian judicial system." Judge Gerges noted that "it is apparent that the federal authorities may deport him shortly." In early May 2020 it was announced that the

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration th ...

was planning to send Constant back to Haiti on a May 12 deportation flight. The

Center for Economic and Policy Research The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is a progressive American think tank that specializes in economic policy. Based in Washington, D.C. CEPR was co-founded by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot in 1999. Considered a left-lea ...

obtained a copy of the flight's manifest which included Constant's name and categorized him as a “High Profile Removal". The planned deportation caused a lot of controversy and was later reprieved. A new deportation of Constant was planned for May 26, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constant, Emmanuel Haitian expatriates in the United States 1956 births Living people Haitian people convicted of crimes against humanity Haitian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of New York (state) People convicted in absentia People with antisocial personality disorder