Joseph Raoul Cédras (born July 9, 1949) is a Haitian former

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

who was the '' de facto'' ruler of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

from 1991 to 1994. Cedras was the last military ruler of Haiti.

Background

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

, Cédras was educated in the

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at the

School of the Americas The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense school located at Fort Benning (briefly known as Fort Moore) in Columbus, Georgia, the school bein ...

and was a member of the U.S.-trained ''Leopard'' Corps. He also trained with the Spanish military. Cédras was chosen by the US and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to be in charge of security for the

1990–91 Haitian general election Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno ...

, and subsequently named Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces by

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 in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theo ...

in early 1991. Under Aristide, Cédras "was one important source for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, providing reports critical of President Aristide."

De facto leader of Haiti (1991–1994)

Cédras, Lieutenant General in the Forces Armées d'Haïti (FAdH; the

Armed Forces of Haiti The Armed Forces of Haiti (, ) are the military forces of the Haiti, Republic of Haiti, is composed of the Haitian Army, the Haitian Navy, the Haitian Aviation Corps and also the BSAP. The Force has about 2000 active personnel as of 2023, with t ...

) at the time, was responsible for the 1991 Haitian coup d'état which ousted President Aristide on 29 September 1991. Some human rights groups criticized Cédras's rule, alleging that innocent people were killed by the FAdH military and FRAPH paramilitary units. The

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

said in 1995 that in the three years following the coup "international observers estimated that more than 3,000 men, women and children were murdered by or with the complicity of Haiti's then-coup regime." While remaining the ''de facto'' leader of Haiti as commander of the country's armed forces, Cédras did not retain his position as head of state, preferring to have other politicians as official presidents. As required by Article 149 of the 1987 Haitian Constitution, Haiti's Parliament appointed Supreme Court Justice Joseph Nérette as provisional President, to fill in until elections could be held. The elections were planned for December 1991, but Nérette resigned and was replaced undemocratically by Supreme Court Justice Émile Jonassaint. Under the delegation of U.S. president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

, the former US president

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, accompanied by

Sam Nunn Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. (born September 8, 1938) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party. After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initi ...

and

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

, urged Provisional President Émile Jonassaint to relinquish his control in 1994, in order to avoid a potential invasion. Jonassaint resigned. Cédras had indicated his desire to remain in Haiti. However, the Americans did not think this was the best solution and convinced the General that in the national interest, he should consider departing for Panama. The United States reportedly gave Cédras $1 million and rented three properties as incentive to leave power.

Later life

After leaving Haiti, Cédras went to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, where he remains. In Panama, he dedicated himself to private enterprise, setting up a color-separation company that he himself directed.https://elpais.com/diario/1994/10/14/internacional/782089218_850215.html Aristide returned to power in Haiti in 1994, was re-elected to the presidency in 2000, and was forced into resigning again in a 2004 coup.

Documentary

Uden titel (1996)

References

External links