PETION AND BOLIVAR

Alexandre Pétion (1770-1818, HAITI)

At that time the U.S. begins to look like a new power. Napoleon Bonaparte is still in France and in Latin America begins the time of liberation struggles.

The island of Saint-Domingue was divided between Spain and France.

The United States bans trade with the new Haitian republic.

The French Revolution of 1789 had brought a wave of optimism to their colonies, the banners of equality, liberty and fraternity were fervently championed by the Haitian people, but France did not apply these principles to their colonial possessions.

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, many men fought for the independence of Haiti, among them was Alexandre Pétion.

Pétion is known as the founder of the Republic of Haiti. Born in Port-au-Prince on April 2, 1770 of French father and a mulatto mother. At 18 he studied at the Military Academy of Paris. He participated in the expulsion of Britain from the island (1798). He returned from exile in 1802 with the French troops of Leclerc, sent by his brother in law Napoleon Bonaparte to return the revolutionary situation. But, instead he joined the patriots because he feared the return of slavery. Along with Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Petion organized the mulattoes and African slaves to fight against the French army and achieve the independence of Haiti, the first of Latin America, he declared it on 1 January 1804. After the assassination of Dessalines, Petion was elected president of the first black and mulato republic in the world. a position he held until his death on 29 March 1818. During his government, Haiti began to help their neighbors in South America to gain freedom.

During his presidency he confiscated the French plantations, divided the land among his soldiers and peasants; lowered the selling price of the remaining lands and gave unprecedented freedom to its people.

Petion gave Bolivar the means needed to continue its campaign of liberation: money, weapons, food, ammunition and even Haitian volunteer soldiers to help in their struggle. But he avoided the spotlight. He feared that the Spanish would encouraged a retaliation of the French in Haiti.

Pétion not only gave the military support, but the political strategy for success when he stated that his condition given to Bolivar was the abolition of slavery. Bolivar kept his promess to Pétion. During the Angostura Congress the legislator said, "I cry for the abolition of slavery as it would for my life". All the blacks who were before opposing the Liberator, immediately joined the rebel army.
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PETION AND BOLIVAR

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The spirit of Alexandre Pétion lived his quest for emancipation from start to finish. The Haitian soldiers integrated Bolivar's army in Upper Peru and had a prominent role in the Battle of Ayacucho.

Pétion righteous fervor led him to send loads of coffee and food to the resistance of the Greek people who fought against the domination of the Turkish Empire. He received political exiles from across the continent, including Colonel Manuel Dorrego Argentina, driven from their land by civil strife in the Rio de la Plata. Correspondence between Bolivar and Pétion showed that the latter refused to accept, as Bolivar wanted to tell the World, that he was the author of liberty in Latin America.

After his trip to Haiti, Simón Bolívar joined the cause of independence, the struggle for equality, strengthening the social content of its program and adding the support of the most neglected. Material support was important, but the ideological contribution of Pétion was decisive: uniting the flags of equality and freedom.

Since then, the Bolivarian saga assuming national and social content, shook the continent. Petion, beset by great powers, was convinced that only the independence of all America would ensure that of Haiti.

The Liberator Simon Bolivar, to pay homage, says in his proclamation to the people of Venezuela, on 22 October 1818, ... "When I lost Venezuela and New Grenada, the island of Haiti received me with hospitality: the magnanimous President Pétion gave me his protection and under his auspices formed an expedition of 300 men comparable in value to the patriotism and virtue of the companions of Leonidas..."

The Haitian leader is a precursor to the cause of emancipation and his egalitarian ideas are the basis for the construction of socialist ideals.
ALBA

A LAWYER AND A GENTLEMAN

A LAWYER AND A GENTLEMAN

François Alain Clérié was born in Jérémie Haiti on August 19, 1818.
As a young man, just out of his adolescent years, he was enrolled in the army as a soldier and served his country under the flag. It was in the aftermath of the epic struggle for the Independence of Haiti. At that time, every Haitian was conscious of his duty, of the tight sentiment of solidarity that should unite the children of a same nation.
In addition, all, young and old were advancing with enthusiasm and confidence to conquer the destiny they dreamed for Haiti.
Alain Clérié, raised in the school of Civism, learned early to love his country like one love his mother without words or fantasy. He learnt to love his nation with no self-interest; rare quality that can only be found among special people.
Well granted with intelligence, his aspirations were inclined toward the uppermost, meaning Beauteousness, Goodness and Truthfulness in their purest significance.
He taught of providing himself with a solid education. Poor, he did not have the means to go abroad to spend years on a College bench in order to saturate his mind with Latin and Greek, all filled with the philosophy of Sophocles, Homer, Horace or Cicerone. He only had to his reach, the school that Cléverain Hilaire had just opened in Jérémie in the beginning of the 19th century.

A LAWYER AND A GENTLEMAN (Continued)

Hilaire was a mulatto, officer in the French army, who had obtained the cross of the "Légion d’Honneur". He was part of Maréchal Neys staff, of whom he was also the secretary. Hilaire, who was with the Maréchal at the "campaign of Spain" also received "L’Etoile des Braves", for his participation.

Clérié received also the precious lessons of Honoré Fery the most educated man in Haiti at that time, who will become provisory president of Haiti.

He was holding in his well-shaped and well fecund soul the germs of an evolution that would make him one day, the Man of his family, of his town and in addition, one of the glories of his country but ignored nevertheless.

This is due to the supreme power of willingness. Due to his elitist nature, he became, after ending an incomplete circle of study, by his personal efforts, by work and self-study, a man eminently educated; he was an autodidactic.

As a Lawyer, a Magistrate, an Orator, a Preacher, his words were as deep as they were luminous.

Tall, a large forehead, Alain Clérié had the look of an orator. He was a giant, shaped for the sacred ministry of speech. He was dignified to incarnate the great eloquence. Did the charm and the great power of the Verb sustain those exterior advantages? Ask the survivors of the 1850 to 1875 generations, who had the exquisite pleasure to listen to him either in court, or during his speeches on moral, philosophy and his sermons that inaugurated the Wesleyan Methodist church in Jérémie. He inflamed the zeal of the first converted during so many years that he built a strong base for his Church, an achievement as respectable as holly.

He will become the President of the National Constituent Assembly of Haiti in 1889.

He had cumulated the three forms of eloquence: the judiciary, the political and the sacred eloquence.

His written-discourses were pieces of literature that would not unequaled any anthology. The qualities of his style were precision, vigor, and clarity, refreshed by elegance that he, only, had the secret. Furthermore he was fortified particularly by the deepness of Thoughtfulness. He had to a high degree the utilization of the right terms that would come under his pen without effort.

His conclusions in Criminal Court were as outbreaking as strokes and were making the villains shacked. It was because his words had the double authority of the law and of the morality that he was preaching.

He only practiced as a lawyer for a short time, but he spent more than thirty years as a Judge. His character was marked with two qualities: goodness and lack of self-interest. He pleaded in Court, all his first causes without any interest for his honorary.

He handled his cases graciously, only for the art and his love for Humanity. All his life, he discreetly opened his purse, when it was filled, to all that were in need. He would lend his money, knowing that he would not be paid back, but he could not refuse. He pity all sufferings, he associated himself with the despair of every one; he wanted to help some, comfort others; he wanted to dry all tears. He forget his own problems; his exile, his ruin after a fire that destroy his house and belongings, the death of his high hearted and highly educated wife that gave him so much pains and sadness.

Clorinde Sansaricq married him and gave him sixteen children: two boys and fourteen girls who will make alliances with most of the families forming the Jérémie bourgeoisie.

A HAITIAN GAL AS VICE QUEEN OF CANADA

This remarkable woman, in August 2005, was appointed Governor General of Canada, this decision was a surprise to many people, she was not on the list of potential candidates and was not a known personality outside the province of Quebec.

Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, presented her as follows:

"She is a woman of talent and achievement. Her personal history is nothing less than extraordinary. And extraordinary is precisely what we seek in a Governor-General - who, after all, must represent all of Canada to all Canadians and to the rest of the world as well. "

On September 27, 2005 she took oath and served as the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II.

The speech she gave that day, when she began her duties, was decisive and very good, it served to consolidate her position and gave a clear answer to her critics:

"In this position I assume the role of Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, representing Canada abroad. My duty is to award outstanding Canadians, and to pronounce the" Throne Speech "on the day of the first day of each parliamentary session. I am responsible for calling to form a government if the incumbent government is deposed by a vote of no confidence by Parliament, among other responsibilities.

Since 1932 the Governors-General have been Canadians, before they were all British.

Michaëlle Jean was born in Port au Prince, Haiti. When she was 10 her parents fled the Duvalier dictatorship after his father was arrested and tortured by the repressive forces.

They were welcomed as political refugees in Canada and settled in Montreal, leaving everything behind and on arrival began a new life from scratch.

Her academic training was conducted in the province of Quebec, she studied at the University of Montreal and hold a BA in Hispanic Literature and Italian.

She developed a successful career as a journalist and as a television commentator on Radio-Canada.

Michaëlle Jean symbolizes this new multicultural identity that exists across Canada and the opportunities that are available for people in this country where a refugee girl, a descendant of slaves, born into the poorest country in the Americas is able to advance forward, and demonstrate her ability to achieve this most important position, representing Canada internationally.