Prosper Avril

Prosper Avril (born December 12, 1937 in Thomazeau , Ouest department ) is a Haitian lieutenant general , politician and former President of Haiti .

biography

Military career and fall of Duvalier

Avril joined the Haitian Army ( Forces Armées d'Haïti ), where he was also a graduate of the military academy and member of the presidential guard of dictator François Duvalier . He spent most of his military career in the presidential palace ( Palais National ), where he was ultimately responsible for supplying the army with material and weapons. At the same time, he was one of Duvalier's military advisers, who first dismissed him in 1983, but then promoted him to colonel in January 1986 . At that time he was again one of the President's closest advisers and jointly responsible for the transfer of millions to Duvalier's accounts in France.

After President Duvalier was overthrown on February 6, 1986, he was a member of the National Government Council for a short time, chaired by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy . However, he was forced to resign on March 21, 1986 because of his close ties to the Duvalier family. On February 7, 1988 he was appointed inspector of the Presidential Guard by the new President Leslie Manigat, however, with the rank of Colonel. On June 20, 1988, he was one of the supporters of General Namphy, who ousted President Manigat in a renewed coup. Avril was then promoted to brigadier general and appointed adjutant general of the armed forces.

President of Haiti from 1988 to 1990 and later years

After Namphy's dismissal on September 17, 1988, he succeeded him as President of Haiti . At the same time he became the rank of lieutenant general and commander in chief of the armed forces. However, the election he had announced did not take place. He held these offices until March 10, 1990, when he resigned due to emerging street protests and passed his powers to Major General Hérard Abraham . He then went into exile , where, with the support of the governments of France and the United States, he put pressure on the incumbent government. After returning to Haiti in 1993, he retired from political life.

Shortly after the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as President in February 2001, he was arrested and imprisoned in May 2001 for alleged attempted coup. Despite two court decisions ordering his release, he remained in custody and was not released until after Aristide was ousted in February 2004.

Publications

Since his release he has worked as a writer as before and was the author of the books:

• "Appeal To History," 1999, ISBN 1-58112-784-7
• "Haiti 1995–2000: Le Livre Noir de l'Insécurité" (Haiti 1995–2000: The Black Book of Uncertainty), ISBN 978-1-58112-533-7
• "L'Armée d'Haiti: Bourreau ou Victime?" (The Army of Haiti: Executioner or Sacrifice)

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Namphy Cabinet ( Memento of November 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Birnbaum, Jesse: "Haiti Deja Vu, All Over Again" , TIME Magazine February 5, 1990
3. ^ "Former Dictator Prosper Avril Arrested" , TANBOU, spring 2001
4. ^ "Former Haiti President Avril Arrested" , CNN May 26, 2001
5. ↑ Colon, Yves: "Ex-General Once Ruled Haiti, Now Is Held In Jail There" , Miami Herald May 31, 2001

Web links

• Biographical notes in rulers.org
• Terry, Don, "Man In The News; Artful Career Officer: Prosper Avril," New York Times, September 19, 1988
• Frauke Gewecke: The Caribbean: on the history, politics and culture of a region . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Iberoamericana Editorial, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-86527-314-7 , p. 53 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• King, Alexander: "The War in the Caribbean? Background to the Crisis in Haiti" , IMI Magazine April 2004 (PDF, 79 KiB)

predecessor	Office	successor
Henri Namphy	President of Haiti September 17, 1988-10. March 1990	Hérard Abraham