Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristideis a Haitian politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a Roman Catholic parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Salesian order. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement first under Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and then under the military transition regime which followed. He won the Haitian general election between 1990 and 1991, with 67% of the vote...
NationalityHaitian
ProfessionStatesman
Date of Birth15 July 1953
CountryHaiti
Love is the air that I breathe, like oxygen. When I lack it, I feel atrophied, asphyxiated. When I have it, I feel I am growing. And so this growth is linked to others, or to a collective other. If I realize that I do not love you, my faith diminishes, and I breathe less and less of the oxygen of life. When I feel linked to you, in communion with you, there is a current of love that passes between us, and the intensity can multiply. And the more this love grows, the more the faith becomes luminous, the more I feel linked to the collective other. I am speaking of God.
Haiti, Haiti, the further I am from you, the less I breathe. Haiti, I love you, and I will love you always. Always.
Far from home, I am living here, but always in deep communion with my people.
Blood has flowed in Hinche, ... It may be that the police cannot cope with this kind of attack.
I am ready to give my life if that is what it takes to defend my country,
None of these difficulties can be invoked by state agents to justify violations of human rights committed in total impunity.
If we wish to maintain peace, then we cannot accept that impunity be provided to these international criminals and drug dealers.
If wars are expensive, peace can be even more expensive,
Before the elections of the year 2000 which led me for the second time to the National Palace in Haiti, I had talked about peace, ... And throughout in the National Palace, throughout my tenure, I talked about peace. And today I continue to talk about peace.
Haitians don't like to say they are hungry because we are proud.
As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the country, moving from misery to poverty with dignity.
We are all equal, rich and poor, and we need a society where the people enjoy their rights.
Of course, learning is strengthened and solidified when it occurs in a safe, secure and normal environment.
I respect religion and will respect any religion.