Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas (FL, Creole : Fanmi : family, Lavalas : waterfall or avalanche (in relation to the biblical flood)) is a left-wing party in Haiti . Its chairman is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
The party has been a major force in Haitian politics since its founding in 1991. Fanmi Lavalas claims that its governments support a policy of "growth with equity" based on Caribbean and Western European social democratic principles. Fanmi Lavalas governments have invested in education and health and opposed the austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund .
Creation and split
Lavalas was a political movement in Haiti and the first party of the movement was the Organization du peuple en lutte (OPL, French for "Organization of the Struggling People"), founded in 1991. In the course of the 1990s, the OPL and Lavalas grew more and more apart , among other things because of the economic-liberalist tendencies of the OPL. Therefore, in 1996, under Aristide's leadership, the FL split off as a party for the poor masses.
Two main reasons for the split are known: (1) to remain loyal to the Lavalas movement, against the neoliberal policies of the foreign-influenced OPL; (2) to prevent rival politicians from taking over leadership of the movement to the disadvantage of Aristides and other more left-wing politicians. The Haitian military brought down Aristide's first government in 1991 with the support of the USA, and in 2004 the incumbent President Aristide was taken out of the country under dubious circumstances during a coup.
elections
In the free elections in which the party of the Lavals movement was allowed, in 1990 and 1995 (as OPL) and 2000 (as Fanmi Lavals ) it won clear majorities. After Aristides' second fall in 2004, the party was not allowed to participate in the 2006 and 2010/11 elections.