The deposed president of Haiti, Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, will visit Dartmouth next month to give the keynote address in a conference on the future of democracy in Haiti.
Aristide's speech is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 24 in Webster Hall. In conjunction with Aristide's speech, three panels will be held to discuss the history of Haiti, U.S.-Haitian relations, the link between social customs and political rule and the current relationship between Haiti and the rest of the world.
The entire Dartmouth community will be invited to the address, said Director of the Dickey Endowment for International Understanding Martin Sherwin.
Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected president in December 1990, when he won 70 percent of the popular vote. After his inauguration the following February, he immediately began purging the military.
Critics say it was this action that provoked the citizens of Haiti to violence. Eight months later, in September 1991, Aristide was overthrown in a military coup and driven into exile.
Since his exile Aristide has been living in the United States, under the guard of the U.S. Secret Service, trying to raise support for his reinstatement.
President Clinton's administration originally promised to help reinstate Aristide.
Recent demands by Aristide that he be reinstated by Feb. 7 have been ignored.
Recently Aristide's support has been falling as confidence in his ability to govern Haiti drops. At a recent conference in Miami that Aristide conducted to raise support for his cause, attendance of influential leaders was lacking.
Aristide's Dartmouth conference will be the third in a series focusing on the future of democracy. The first was held in November and focused on Russia and the third is planned for May to focus on China on the fifth anniversary of the Tienammen Square massacre.
"The opportunity to organize these three conferences on the future of democracy gives us an important series on the post-Cold War world and the transformations that are occurring," Sherwin said.
