Born: 1944
Education: Student, Belgium (agronomy)
Military Service: None
Occupation: Bakery owner
Early Years: As young man, spent 12 years in exile with his politically-persecuted family; Returned to Haiti, became active in anti-Duvalier movement, 1976.
Political Career: Prime minister, 1991; Elected president, 1995. His assumption of the presidency was the first peaceful transfer of power from one democratically elected president to another since Haiti gained independence from France in 1804; an agronomist who studied in Belgium; runs a bakery fueled with sugar cane, an alternative fuel source; his politics closely resemble leftist orientation of his predecessor Pres. Aristide but Preval is perceived as even further left; earned a reputation as a good administrator while running a World Bank-financed economic assistance fund 1994-95 before his election to the presidency; as president Preval faces difficult task of privatizing state-owned enterprises, upon which international aid is contingent; in inaugural speech Preval said top priorities would be creating jobs and ending street violence.
Office: Corps Legislatif, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Rene Preval was sworn in as president February 7, 1996, succeeding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Preval's assumption of the presidency marked the first peaceful transfer of power from one elected president to another in Haiti's history.
His orderly succession to power was also hailed by some as a victory for President Clinton and U.S. policy. The United States had restored President Aristide to office following a military coup in 1994 and paved the way for the democratic transfer of power.
Like his predecessor, Preval fought against the Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier regime. After five years of exile in the United States, Preval returned to Haiti to participate in the movement to overthrow Duvalier in 1986. Preval's activism resulted from forced exile for 12 years with has family to escape from political persecution.
An agronomist who studied in Belgium, Preval runs a bakery fueled with sugar cane, an alternative fuel source in ecologically troubled Haiti.
Although not closely observed extensively in political posts, Preval gained the reputation as a good administrator while he ran an assistance program funded by the World Bank.
more to come ....