Cincinnatus Leconte
Jean Jacques Dessalines Michel Cincinnatus Leconte ( born September 29, 1854 in Ouanaminthe or Saint -Michel -de- l'Atalaye; † August 8, 1912 in Port -au -Prince ) was a Haitian politician and President of Haiti.
Biography
Professional and political career
The great-grandson of Jean -Jacques Dessalines, the first President and Emperor of Haiti, graduated abroad. After his return, he worked as an engineer and a teacher before he became director of the customs authority of Cap- Haïtien.
Already during the tenure of President Florvil Hyppolite ( 1889-1896 ), he was Minister. On 13 December 1897 he was appointed by President Tiresias Simon Sam to the Minister of Public Works and Agriculture.
Leconte, who after the resignation of Simon- Sam should be president in 1902, was accused of involvement in the so-called Konsilidierungsskandal (Process de la Consolidation) and only pardoned by President François C. Antoine Simon 1908.
Leconte was then an important entrepreneur who decisive influence on the workers employed by him exercised. Concerned that the construction of the railway line between Port -au -Prince and Cap- Haïtien would reduce this influence, he drove to the revolt of the peasants ( Cacos ).
President from 1911 to 1912
After he gained control of the city Ouanaminthe on 2 February 1911 he has been proclaimed by the revolutionary committee in Gonaïves as president, but it came in the following months even to conflicts between the various revolutionary army, such as the followers of Leconte and General Antenor Firmin, the former ambassador to Great Britain.
This proclamation was then confirmed on August 5, 1911 with his election as successor of François C. Antoine Simon for President of Haiti by the National Assembly. He could especially count on the support of German merchants and the like in previous changes of power also often sent to foreign soldiers, as this time of German marines. On August 7, 1911, he presented to the public for his new government.
Despite his involvement in the Konsoliderungsskandal connection with which he was regarded by the people, first little, he succeeded soon the confidence of the people through the establishment of public foundations to obtain. In the following months, there was a return of peace, honesty and progress. At the same time it was during his reign a reform of the army and the construction of the Dessalines barracks and a restoration of order in public service. During a visit to Haiti by U.S. Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, relations with the United States of America were also improved. During his short tenure, the anti -Arab, in particular anti -Syrian dislikes continued, after the economic crisis has been pushed into this group of foreigners who in a relatively short time, the control of the majority of the middle class in the capital Port -au had attained -Prince and several major cities.
On August 8, 1912, he died along with three hundred officers and soldiers of the Presidential Guard after more than one year of tenure with an explosion that completely destroyed the presidential palace in Port -au -Prince. The successor as President Tancrède Auguste was elected on the same day.