Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian president at the center of his country’s most serious political crisis in years, came to office as a relative outsider to the political establishment, a banana farmer and businessman from the north of Haiti who presented himself as an agent of change.
Born in 1968 in Trou-du-Nord in Haiti’s Northern Department, Moïse built his business career in agro-industrial development, most notably through Agritrans, a company involved in banana cultivation that received state loans and contracts. It was partly through Agritrans that Moïse became associated with the PetroCaribe controversy, as the Senate audit report cited the company in connection with infrastructure funds.
Moïse ran for president under the banner of the Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale (PHTK), the party founded by his predecessor Michel Martelly. He won a disputed election in 2016 — earlier 2015 elections had been annulled due to fraud — with only about 21 percent of registered voters participating.
His presidency was marked almost from the beginning by controversy and protest. Critics accused him of governing for the benefit of a small elite while neglecting the majority of Haitians. Supporters argued that he was the target of a politically motivated campaign orchestrated by entrenched interests opposed to reform. The truth, as is often the case in Haitian politics, was fiercely contested.