Guy Philippe
Encyclopedia
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an politician. When Jean-Claude Duvalier was toppled in 1986, he was 17 years old which makes claims that he was an alleged former Tonton Macoute
Tonton Macoute
Tonton Macoutes was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by President François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. In 1970, the militia was officially renamed the Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale .Haitians called this force the “Tonton Macoutes,” after the Haitian Creole mythological...
leaderpreposterous. he lead the 2004 Haitian rebellion that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide and he was a presidential candidate in the Haitian general election, 2006. He is currently wanted for allegedly participating in the illegal drug trade in Haiti
Illegal drug trade in Haiti
The illegal drug trade in Haiti involves trans-shipment of cocaine and marijuana to the United States. It is a major shipment route. The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, places it in an ideal location for drug smugglers, between Colombia and Puerto Rico...
.
Background
Philippe was born in Pestel, in the province of Nippes. He obtained his primary and secondary education at Saint-Louis de GonzagueSaint-Louis de Gonzague
Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague is a Roman Catholic school in Haiti. It is run by the Freres de l'Instruction Chretienne...
. According to Philippe, he "has a law degree from Ecuador and studied medicine in Mexico for a year."
He obtained a scholarship from FADH to the Escuela Superior de Poilicia General Alberto Enriquez Gallo in Ecuador; however when he returned after graduation, the FADH had been dismantled which is why he was never formally was part of the haitian army.
He has said that the man he most admires is former Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an ruler Gen. Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
He praises him for helping make Chile prosperous through economic market reforms.He also admires Che Guevara, Thomas Sankara and George W. Bush.
Career
Philippe is accused by Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
of being a death squad leader during the reign of Baby Doc Duvalier which is impossible because he was still in high school before receiving training from the U.S. Special Forces in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
in an American bid to reinstate President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
in the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
.
Human Rights Watch reported Friday, February 27, 2004, that during Philippe's term as police chief of the Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
suburb of Delmas from 1997 to 1999, international monitors "learned that dozens of suspected gang members were summarily executed, mainly by police under the command of Inspector Berthony Bazile, Philippe's deputy."
2000s
Following October, 2000 accusations of participation in a coup plot and his subsequent removal from his post as police chief of Cap-HaïtienCap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...
Philippe fled to the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. The Haïtian government accused Philippe of master-minding a deadly attack on the Police Academy in July 2001 and of an attempted coup in December 2001.
In February 2004 he returned from the Dominican Republic to join the 2004 Haitian rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
. Five days after crossing back into Haiti on February 14 and joining former militia leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain
Louis-Jodel Chamblain
Louis-Jodel Chamblain is a military leader in Haïti who has led both government troops and rebels, and is considered a notorious war criminal....
in announcing his support for anti-government forces Philippe was given command of the rebel army.
On March 2, 2004, Philippe and his paramilitaries retook control of the former Haïtian Army headquarters across from the National Palace. Philippe declared to the international press that he himself is now in control of 90% of Haïti's armed forces. In an address on Haïtian Radio, Philippe declared, "The country is in my hands." He summoned 20 police commanders to meet with him the previous day and warned that if they failed to appear he would arrest them.
That same day, Philippe announced he would arrest Haïtian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune was Prime Minister of Haïti from 2002 until 2004. He was appointed by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took office on March 15, 2002...
, who is a top official of Aristide's Lavalas party. Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
heard from sources in Haïti that Neptune's home was burned and looted and that he was being pursued by armed gangs. People close to Neptune reported that he fears for his life. Local radio reported that Neptune was evacuated from his office by helicopter as Guy Philippe led a mob in a march to the office. Meanwhile, there are reports of regular execution-style killings on the Haïtian seaside.
On July 11, 2005, Guy Philippe announced he would run for president for the Front for National Reconstruction (FRN) party. The FRN is also his guerrilla group which was involved in the rebellion of 2004. Early in 2005 the FRN became recognized as a political party. Philippe has been critical of the administration of the interim government, blaming them for the slow process of setting up registration centers throughout the country. Early on he was considered a frontrunner for the Haitian general election, 2006 but later fell behind the main contenders simply because he did not have the money required for a campaign. In the end in spite of his international and local rebellion backers, and in spite of appealing to young Haitians to follow him, Phillippe won less than 1% of the vote, demonstrating that he was no popular hero and was only the leader of a false, mercenary rebel group.
Drug charges
Shortly after dawn Monday, July 16, 2007, five helicopters, two planes and more than a dozen heavily armed DEA and Haitian anti-drug agents surrounded Philippe's yellow, two-story gated home in the hills above Les Cayes, on Haiti's remote southern peninsula.Philippe is being sought because of suspected ties with illegal drug trafficking in the country. Philippe's supporters say the allegations against him are politically motivated, noting he recently threatened to identify powerful Haitians who provided financial support for the 2004 rebellion.