Émile Jonassaint

Who was Émile Jonassaint?

Émile Jonassaint was a Haïtian Supreme Court Justice and political figure.

He served as Haiti's President of the Constituent Assembly during the 1987 Constitution.

He served as Head of the Provisional Government of Haiti president of Haiti for five months in 1994 after the military regime had forced Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the elected president, out of the country in 1991. It is alleged by President Aristide sympathizers that during his presidency, the military conducted some of the harshest human rights abuses. Though some members of the Haitian Army have been accused of horrible crimes, one should not condemn the entire Army of Haiti with one brush. It is important to distinguish between the behavior of a few army officers and the entire Haitian Armed Forces which also at the time include the police force.

Throughout 1994 the U.S. government put pressure on the repressive Haitian military Leaders to resign and allow the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to return to the country. Under the Haitian Constitution of 1987, if for whatever reason the president cannot discharge of his duties, his authority will be vested unto the Cabinet presided by the Prime Minister. It so happened that the Prime Minister at the time, His Excellency, Mr. Rene Preval had left the country under a tumultuous series of convocation by the Parliament requesting that he comes to their chambers to answer allegations of fraud and abuses of power among other things. Parliamentary leaders wanted to give the Prime Minister a vote of no confidence, asking for his resignation, de facto. Instead of appearing in front of the Parliament, the Prime Minister decided to defy the third branch and its power and his good friend, President Aristide, usurping the powers not delegated to the Executive branch or him under the Constitution, went to the Parliamentary chambers and threaten the leaders of that body. Some of them got beaten by his supporters, their houses ransacked and their lives threaten. Some had to go in hiding. The police did not do anything to protect these elected officials. The fragile, burgeoning democratic republic of Haiti was in another crisis. President Aristide became a destabilizing force. Some military leaders decided to arrest the President for cause and deport him to Venezuela. Of course, this is not new to Haiti. The military has often interfere in civilian life for their own purpose. It was not different this time. Therefore, article 148 of the Constitution could not be enforced and under article 149, a Provisional government was formed with a senior member of the Cour de Cassasion. That is Constitutional order. In May, the United Nations Security Council called for all necessary means to be taken for the return of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power --. About 100 UN monitors went to the Dominican Republic-Haiti border in mid-August to stop oil smuggling, which was sustaining the Haitian military leaders.