Description
Inscribed to General Colin Powell, whose diplomacy returned President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti, this is Aristide: An Autobiography of the first democratically elected president of Haiti. This copy was inscribed to General Powell a few days before Aristide’s triumphant return to Haiti in 1994.
Octavo, vii, 205pp. Maroon leather, title in silver on spine. Stated “Second Printing, April 1993” on copyright page. Lightly read, free of notes or marks. In the publisher’s near fine dust jacket, price clipped, faint sunning to spine, bright illustrations. Housed in custom blue cloth clamshell. Inscribed on the title page: “General Powell, I thank you on behalf of my nation. Best wishes to you and to your family, Jean-Bertrand Aristide / Sept 28, 94.” Provenance: Potomac Auction House, Lot 652 , Estate of Colin Powell.
Operation Uphold Democracy was a military operation in response to the 1991 Haitian coup d’état, where the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed by Army General Raoul Cédras. In 1994, a delegation led by former President Jimmy Carter, General Colin Powell and Senator Sam Nunn, urged Provisional President Émile Jonassaint and General Cédras to relinquish control or face an invasion by the 82nd Airborne Division. Hours before the invasion was set to commence, the delegation negotiated the return of President Aristide, with a UN peacekeeping force remaining in Haiti until 2000. While Colin Powell (1937-2021) served as the United States Secretary of State during the George W. Bush administration, he called for the ouster of President Aristide, who “governed in a way that allowed thugs to take over…. He essentially had allowed conditions of chaos to exist.”
