Pierre-Eustache Daniel Finignole ( fr. Pierre-Eustache Daniel Fignolé ; November 11, 1913 , Pestel , Haiti - August 27, 1986 , Port-au-Prince , Haiti ) - Haitian public and statesman, leader of the workers and peasants movement (1946-1957 ), Acting President of Haiti (May – June 1957). Deposed, arrested and deported by supporters of François Duvalier , who established a dictatorial regime.
| Daniel Finignole | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Leon Cantav as Chairman of the Executive Government Council | ||||||
| Successor | Antonio Kebro as Chairman of the Haitian Military Council | ||||||
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| The president | Antonio Kebro (Chairman of the Haitian Military Council) | ||||||
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| The president | Dumars Estime | ||||||
| Predecessor | Benoit Alexander | ||||||
| Successor | position abolished; Jean Price-Mars (Minister of National Education); Georges Honoré (Minister of Public Health) | ||||||
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Biography
He came from an impoverished family with liberal traditions, his grandfather was elected senator. In 1927 he moved to Port-au-Prince, managed to get a quality education, earned a living with lessons for children from wealthy families.
In 1942 he became a co-founder of the liberal newspaper “Chantiers”, on the pages of which he criticized the ruling elite, spoke out justifying the need for social programs and support for the black majority. In response, President Lesko closed the publication, forbade Finiola from teaching and placed him under police surveillance. However, despite the persecution, Finignole continued his political activities and quickly became popular among the poor working class of Port-au-Prince as "Professor", he often spoke at spontaneous gatherings, called "woulos" ("skating rinks").
Soon he led the Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan , which became the country's most organized and mass working party in the era preceding the rule of the Duvalier clan. As party leader, he wanted to run for president, but at the age of 33, this was prohibited by the Haitian constitution. For his political activities, he was beaten and arrested.
After the January Revolution of 1946, he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, of which he remained until 1957. In August-October 1946 he served as Minister of Education and Health in the administration of Dumars Estime .
After the resignation of General Leon Cantava in May 1957, he assumed the post of interim president of Haiti and was preparing to participate in the democratic elections, but within three weeks he was replaced by Antonio Kebro . Although Finignole promised to pursue a non-communist reformist policy, similar to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal , as a consistent supporter of representative democracy, the US administration was extremely suspicious of him.
CIA Director Allen Dulles told President Eisenhower that Finigne adheres to a "clearly left - wing orientation" and his political program is "comparable to the Soviets." The United States refused to recognize him as president, and at a reception at the French Embassy in Washington, President Eisenhower expressed his concern that he would become the new Arbenz , sending for example the Social Democratic President of Guatemala, who was ousted three years earlier with the active participation of the CIA . 19 days after taking office, the Haitian military, with US support, broke into the presidential palace and forced the politician to sign a resignation letter at gunpoint.
While in exile in New York, he accused Francois Duvalier of a coup d'etat, but his words were ignored by the international community, and his poor supporters were shot by the military regime of Antonio Quebro .
In 1986, after the fall of the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier , the politician returned to his homeland, but only a few months later he died from prostate cancer.