Émile Jonassaint

Émile Jonas Saint ( born May 20, 1913 in Port-de- Paix, † October 24, 1995 in Port -au -Prince ) was a Haitian judges, politicians and Acting President of Haiti.

Biography

Studies, political and professional career

Saint Jonas holds a degree in law. He began his political career in 1950 as a senator during the presidency of Paul Eugène Magloire. With the start of almost thirty years of dictatorship of François Duvalier and Jean -Claude Duvalier, he withdrew completely from politics, however, to take a job as a lawyer. As François Duvalier, he was a follower of Voodoo, claiming to be in contact with the particular voodoo deity Dambal Euzulie.

After the fall of Duvalier, he was elected in February 1986 as President of the Constituent Assembly and eventually rose to the Supreme Court ( Cour suprême ) on. In 1991 he was dismissed as a judge due to his age of President Jean -Bertrand Aristide. After the overthrow of Aristide however, he was appointed in September 1991 by the military government of Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras turn to the judge.

Acting President of Haiti 1994

As a figurehead of the military government of Cédras he was appointed after the new fall of President Aristide on 11 May 1994 as Acting President of Haiti. As such, he overlooked during his last until October 12, 1994 interim tenure substantial human rights violations of the military government.

During the months of his tenure, the U.S. government exerted pressure on the military regime to achieve his resignation, the return of elected President Aristide and the restoration of democracy. On 31 July 1994, the United Nations Security Council adopted UN Resolution 917, the U.S. invasion in Haiti allowed to depose the regime Cédras. Mid- August 1994 went more than 100 UN observers to the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti to stop the oil smuggling, which supplied the military regime.

In response, Jonas Saint declared a state of emergency and accused the world of a declaration of war against the poor in Haiti, the suffering inflicted on anyone. During the rest of the month of August the army and the paramilitary units of the Front for the Rise and Progress of Haiti continued the murder of Aristide supporters. At the same time marches were organized by volunteers to combat an invasion.

On September 18, 1994, there came by a U.S. peacekeeping mission under former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell and U.S. Senator Sam Nunn to the successful negotiation of a compromise that an invasion to oust the regime under Cedras and Jonas Saint prevented.

On 12 October 1994, Jonas Saint handed the office of the President then back to the incumbent legally elected Aristide.