Daniel Fignolé, president in 1957, was born 113 years ago

113 years ago, on 11 November 1913, Daniel Fignolé was born in Pestel. A popular orator, he served as provisional president of the Republic for a few weeks in 1957.

The Teacher and the "Steamroller"

A mathematics teacher at the Alexandre-Pétion lycée, he went into trade unionism. In 1946, together with Dumarsais Estimé and François Duvalier, he founded the Mouvement des ouvriers paysans, which became the country's leading party. His fiery speeches made him the champion of the capital's working-class neighborhoods, which could take to the streets in huge numbers. A minister under Estimé, he was imprisoned by Paul Magloire, who became president in 1950.

A Few Weeks in Power

In the middle of a civil war, General Léon Cantave's Executive Council of Government entrusted him with the provisional presidency, which he took up on 26 May 1957. He postponed the election, purged the army and appointed nationalists and communists to his government, which alarmed the American administration. On 14 June 1957, General Antonio Thrasybule Kébreau seized the palace, forced him to sign his resignation and expelled him to Miami. His supporters rose up, and the riot was harshly put down.

A Long Exile

His bid to run in the 1957 election was rejected. He remained in exile until the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier and returned in February 1986. He died six months later, on 27 August 1986, at Canapé-Vert Hospital in Port-au-Prince.