Yvon Neptune, Former Prime Minister, Born 80 Years Ago

Eighty years ago, on November 8, 1946, Yvon Neptune, who served as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2004, was born in Cavaillon.

From Architect to Politician

He attended secondary school with the Brothers of Christian Instruction, then the Philippe-Guerrier lycée in Les Cayes and the Alexandre-Pétion lycée in Port-au-Prince. He also studied at the Faculty of Sciences of the State University of Haiti and at the New York Institute of Technology. Based in the United States for almost twenty years, he worked as an architect for the firm Emery Roth and Sons. On the radio, he denounced the coup d'état of September 30, 1991 and became one of the advisers to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whom he accompanied on his return on October 15, 1994.

President of the Senate and Prime Minister

A spokesperson for the Lavalas party, he was elected to the Senate in 2002 and became its president. Chosen by Aristide on March 4, 2002 to succeed Jean-Marie Chérestal, he took office on March 15. He remained in the post until the appointment of Gérard Latortue on March 9, 2004.

Two Years in Detention Without Trial

On June 27, 2004, he gave himself up to the police and was held without being charged. On April 18, 2005, he began a hunger strike. Accused on September 14, 2005 of taking part in the "Massacre de la Scierie" in Saint-Marc, he was released on July 28, 2006 for health reasons, without having been tried. He became the first Haitian to be heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.