Michel Oreste

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Michel Oreste Lafontant (born April 8, 1859 in Jacmel , † October 28, 1918 in New York City ) was a Haitian politician and President of Haiti .

biography

After finishing school and studying, he worked as a lawyer and teacher. He began his political career as a senator .

Two days after Tancrède Auguste's death , he was elected President of Haiti by the Constituent Assembly on May 5, 1913, for a seven-year term and officially sworn in on May 12, 1913.

In January 1914, a revolution against him broke out in La Plain du Cul de Sac , which was carried out by the brothers Charles Zamor and Oreste Zamor , generals of the pro-German President Cincinnatus Leconte . The brothers, who had excellent relations with the Dominican General Desíderio Arías and obtained arms from him, occupied the customs house of Cap-Haïtien , which led to the fact that the National Bank ( Banque Nationale ), which administered the finances of the state, asked the United States to protect their shareholders. Roger L. Farnham of the National City Bank New York , not only Vice-President of the National Bank and president of the Haitian Railway Company ( Compagnie Nationale des Chemins de Fer d'Haiti ), but also a friend of the Head of the Department of Latin America in the State Department , Boaz Walton Long , was, visited US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan in Washington, DC on January 22, 1914 to urge the protection of the rights and investments of Banque Nationale shareholders . But all efforts of the New York financial circles to keep Michel Oreste, who was dear to them, in office were in vain.

On January 27, 1914, he therefore resigned and went first to the German training ship SMS Vineta in asylum and later by the Hapag-passenger steamer Prince Eitel Friedrich into exile to Colombia brought. He died of uremia almost four and a half years later in New York City while on a boat trip to the United States .

His successor was initially a Committee of Public Welfare ( Comité de Salut Public ) chaired by Edmond Polynice, before Oreste Zamor became new president on February 8, 1914 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Oreste Haitis President; Rioting Signalizes The Election - Gunboat Nashville On Guard" , In: The New York Times, May 5, 1913 (PDF, English)
  2. ↑ Ralf Dietl: "USA and Central America: The foreign policy of William J. Bryan 1913-1915" , dissertation, University of Tübingen, 1995, p. 197 ff., ISBN 3515069143
  3. ^ Edward S. Kaplan: "US Imperialism IN Latin America: Bryan's Challenges And Contributions, 1900-1920" , 1998, p. 58, ISBN 0313304890
  4. ↑ Michel Oreste, Ex Haitian President , message in The New York Times of October 31, 1918 (PDF, English)

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Tancrède Auguste President of Haiti
May 12, 1913-27. January 1914 		Oreste Zamor
personal data
SURNAME Oreste, Michel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oreste Lafontant, Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION President of Haiti
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacmel
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1918
Place of death New York City