Emile Jonassaint Dies At 82 In Haiti

Emile Jonassaint, the military-backed president whose surrender to a U.S.-led intervention force paved the way for a bloodless return to democracy, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Jonassaint died at his home of unspecified natural causes, the private Radio Metropole reported.

With the backing of Haiti’s then-ruling military regime, Jonassaint, the supreme court justice, was appointed president on May 11, 1994. The army had ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a September 1991 coup. Jonassaint’s regime was denounced abroad as illegal.