video of Jean Bertrand Aristide's returning speech in Haiti

Aristide arrived in Haiti

Aristide arrives in Haiti, ending seven years of exile

Agence France-Presse

Posted at 03/18/2011 10:16 PM | Updated as of 03/18/2011 10:37 Pm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (UPDATE) - Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide arrived back in Haiti on Friday, ending seven years in exile in South Africa and raising fears his return could disrupt crucial weekend elections.
A private plane carrying Aristide, Haiti's first democratically-elected leader, landed at 9:05 am (1405 GMT) in the capital Port-au-Prince, according to an AFP journalist at the airport.
The return of Aristide, still hugely popular in Haiti's swollen slums, comes ahead of a presidential run-off vote on Sunday that could offer some stability to a country reeling from a devastating 2010 earthquake and political turmoil.
The shantytown priest rose to power opposing the Duvalier clan's dictatorial rule and became Haiti's first democratically-elected president in 1991.
After directly challenging the entrenched ruling class, he was ousted by a military coup seven months later but reinstalled in 1994 with the help of 20,000 US Marines ordered in by US president Bill Clinton.
Aristide won a second term in 2001 only to lose favor with the international community as his reforms stalled. He was forced out again by the 2004 rebellion, which is widely thought to have had tacit US approval.
US officials have warned that the three-time leader's return could add to the uncertainty gripping the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, and US President Barack Obama said the timing may be "destabilizing."

Aristide just landed in Haiti

Aristide Just Landed In Haiti!

Friday March 18, 2011 09:21 AM ET

Former Haitian president Jean Bertrand aristide just landed in Haiti... ARISTIDE IS BACK IN HAITI... Follow this article for all the updates at the airport...

Here are the updates as it happens...

Keep Refreshing this page for more updates!

9:21am - President Aristide Came out of the airplane... A blue/white jet...

9:25am - Lots of commotion at the airport as President Aristide makes his way to the Diplomatic room

9:26 am - Aristide enters the 'Salon Diplomatic' at the airport

9:28am - The media is mobilized and awaits first words from President Aristide...

Missionary freed from Haitian jail return to US

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRADENTON, Fla. -- An American missionary who was jailed without charges for five months in Haiti has returned to the United States.

Danny Pye - a 29-year-old pastor who ran an orphanage with his wife in southern Haiti - arrived Thursday evening in Florida, where his wife was about to give birth to their second child.

Pye was released Tuesday. He was initially jailed in October over claims he took property from other missionaries, former associates with whom he split following a dispute last year. He was briefly released on Christmas Eve, then re-arrested and jailed on suspicion of having an invalid residency card.

The group said it never intended for him to be jailed.

Pye has lived in Haiti since 2004 and speaks Haitian Creole