Brief History of Haiti continued from Part Two...

Democracy continued to falter in Haiti for the next two decades until 1957, when Doctor François “Papa Doc” Duvalier was elected president. In 1964, Duvalier consolidated power, naming himself President-for-Life. Using his notorious enforcement squad, the Tonton Macoutes, thousands were imprisoned, exiled, and murdered.

Before his death, Papa Doc named his son Jean-Claude as his successor. When he assumed the presidency, Jean-Claude was only nineteen years of age, earning the nickname “Baby Doc”. In 1972, one year after Baby Doc came to power, the first refugees fleeing Haiti began to arrive in the United States.

Baby Doc’s period in office was marked by widespread corruption. While the country was promoted as a vast market of cheap labor for textiles, attempts by laborers and politicians to organize were quashed by Duvalier. Within a decade Baby Doc exiled hundreds of human rights workers, lawyers, and journalists.

In 1986, widespread anti-government protests wracked the capital and countryside. Baby Doc was forced into exile, and the nation was left under the control of General Henri Namphy. Elections were ordered after a new constitution was overwhelmingly passed by the population. Shortly after the polls opened, elections were halted as scores of voters were massacred by the Haitian military and the Tonton Macoutes. The following year, the military ordered a new election, which was largely ignored by the population and Leslie Manigat was elected President. Four months into office, General Namphy usurped power, only to be forcibly removed himself by General Prosper Avril a short time later.

President Avril consolidated power by ruthlessly suppressing political parties, labor unions, and student organizations. In 1990, Avril declared a state of siege after suspending twenty seven articles of the 1987 Constitution. Rising protests swept the county and Avril was ultimately persuaded to resign.

With international supervision, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President in 1990. In the fall of the following year, Aristide addressed the UN General Assembly, only to be deposed by a military coup d’état three days after his return. Aristide was exiled to the United States.

The Organization of American States called for a hemisphere-wide embargo against the military junta, and Haiti fell deeper in economic despair. The ensuing poverty drove tens of thousands of people to risk their lives to come to the U.S. By 1994, the United Nations had declared that all diplomatic resources were exhausted, and approved U.S. military intervention. In September 1994, President William Jefferson Clinton ordered twenty thousand Marines to take control of the country. Haitian military leaders conceded to leave the country, and President Aristide was returned to office.

In accordance with the Haitian Constitution, free elections were held in 1995 and René Préval, the former Prime Minister to Aristide, was elected.

In 2000, elections were held again for both the presidency and senate. A boycott of the election by Aristide’s political opponents raised questions of the legitimacy of the results amongst international observers.

Conflict resulting from the 2000 election continued for years and ultimately manifested in the 2004 ouster of President Aristide. Since March of 2004, the Interim Government of Haiti, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, has run the country. The UN currently has 7,400 troops deployed under a Brazilian led peacekeeping force. After a number of setbacks, elections that were scheduled for November of 2005 were held in February of 2006. René Préval was made the President of Haiti.

The majority of this information comes directly from:

Haiti Innovation

I also gleaned information, as well as the photo of the map of Haiti from:

The Art of Haiti

You can read a more in depth version of Haiti's history here:

History of Haiti