Micha Gaillard

Michel "Micha" Gaillard (* 1957 ; † January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince ) was a Haitian university professor and politician .

biography

Gaillard was born the son of the historian Roger Gaillard, who wrote the standard work on the history of the US intervention in Haiti between 1915 and 1934 . He himself studied biology in France and on his return to Haiti took on a teaching position for biology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Haiti . It was around this time that he became politically active for the first time during the immediate aftermath of the fall of dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in 1986. At the time, his father was briefly rector of the University of Haiti. At that time he joined the Social Democratic at the National Congress of the Democratic Party movement (Konakom) and later became a supporter of the Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide on his election as the first freely elected president of Haiti in February 1991. After his overthrow in September 1991 by a military coup under under the leadership of General Raoul Cédras , he stood up for the return of Aristides, accepting his own risk.

After Aristides took office again, he was soon disappointed by this. After the highly controversial elections in 2000, in which Aristide became president for the fourth time, Gaillard became spokesman for Democratic Convergence (CD), a multi-party opposition front from the political center . This was formed to resistance against Aristides increasing authoritarian arbitrariness. In the 2000 elections, he ran for the office of mayor of Port-au-Prince . During the election campaign his campaign office was set on fire by supporters of Aristides .

When Aristide's government was more and more dependent on the support of armed gangs and some of his opponents also took up arms, Gaillard tried to persuade Aristide to resign in 2004 to avoid bloodshed and pave the way for new elections under the direction of the judge at the constitutional court Boniface Alexandre to free as interim president. This did not happen, however, as the president remained in power until he was forced to flee Haiti in February 2004 following the relocation of the capital by armed rebels. The subsequently deployed UN stabilization mission took nearly two years to establish a minimum of stability and order and to organize acceptable conditions for holding elections.

Gaillard thus played a leading role in the nonviolent opposition to President Aristide during the rebellious months that ultimately led to Aristides' flight into exile in February 2004. In the years that followed, he was a staunch defender of democracy , advocating an end to the party splitting and personal rivalries that made public life difficult, thereby strengthening the shaky legislative and judicial institutions .

Gaillard dismissed any involvement in the armed rebellion led by former police and army officers and linked to General Cédras' regime from 1991 to 1994. On the other hand, neither he nor other leading politicians of the CD were appointed to the transitional government formed with the help of the United Nations after the fall of Aristide.

As a result, he again went into the opposition and was one of the founders of the social democratic merger party, which became the second largest party in the governing coalition after René Préval was elected president in February 2006. Because of different political views, however, Gaillard turned down Préval's offer to take over the office of Minister of Justice and Public Security. Nevertheless, he agreed to lead a working group on reform of the legal system. In this capacity, he was at a meeting at the Justice Department when it collapsed in the Haiti earthquake on January 12, 2010 . Although he was initially rescued alive, he succumbed to his injuries two days later.

Web links

• THE TIMES: "Micha Gaillard: Haitian politician and university teacher" (February 1, 2010)