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Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Catholic priest & first democratically elected president of Haiti
The parish priest who rode a popular wave to the presidency — twice toppled, twice returned — and became the symbol of Haiti's unfinished democratic promise.
The rise
Ordained a Salesian priest in 1982, Aristide became the voice of Haiti's poor through his fiery sermons against the Duvalier dictatorship and the military juntas that followed. He survived multiple assassination attempts before winning the 1990 presidential election with 67 percent of the vote — Haiti's first free and fair ballot.