The Haitian government announced it will issue a passport to former democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide should he request a passport. The measure would pave the way for his return from a forced exile of nearly seven years in South Africa. Aristide’s representatives state the former President has requested a passport but has gotten no response from Haitian officials.
Aristide was removed in 2004 in a U.S.-backed junta. On Nov 7, 2010, in an exclusive interview with independent reporter Nicolas Rossier in Eurasia Review and the Huffington Post, Aristide declared that the 2010 post-earthquake elections were corrupt because they were not inclusive of his party fanmi Lavalas. He also confirmed at the time that he was not allowed to travel out of South Africa.
In 1990, Aristide, a former Catholic priest, became Haiti’s first freely elected president. He remains very popular with the Haitian masses. His return to Haiti, if timed right, could add a wrinkle to developed world’s plans to rush elections and install someone friendly to American and Western European corporate interests. Election officials are expected to end months of political uncertainty on Wednesday by announcing definitive presidential vote results and revealing who will be on the final runoff ballot next month. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Haiti and said President René Préval’s chosen successor Jude Célestin should withdraw from the runoff vote amid evidence of election fraud in his favor in the first round in November.