Michel Martelly

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Michel Joseph Martelly (born 12 February 1961) is a Haitian singer and former politician who served as Haiti's President from May 2011 to February 2016.

He hails from Côte-defer, a commune established in Haiti's South East.

Martelly was one of Haiti's top-known musicians for more than a decade, going by the stage name Sweet Micky.

Martelly has travelled between the US and Haiti several times both for business and musical reasons.

When heading to the United States, Martelly stays in Florida for the most part.

Martelly returned to his old band and performed "Bal Bannan nan" (Give Her the Banana), in honor of Liliane Pierre Paul, a Haitian dance artist who mainly sang in the Haitian Creole language, but he mixed this with other styles.

With smaller bands that rely on synthesizers and electronic devices, Martelly popularized a "new generation" of compas.

Martelly has released over a dozen studio albums and a number of live CDs from 1989 to 2008.

Martelly, as a musician and club owner in Haiti in the late 1980s and early 1990s, became associated with the neo-Duvalierist Haitian military and police, including figures like police chief Michel François, and he sympathised with the 1991 Haitian coup d'état against Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Martelly's name appeared on a hit list of coup supporters in 1995, just over a year after Aristide was restored to office, and he stayed away from Haiti for almost a year.

He released "Prezidan" (on the album Paputen) "an exuberant ditty that called for a president who played compas" during this period.

However, he did not run for office until 2010, when he became a candidate for Haiti's President. After a run-off against candidate Mirlande Manigat, Martelly won the Haitian general election, 2010-2011 for his party, Repons Peyizan (Farmers' Response Party).

Martelly had been in third place in the first round of the election before the Organization of American States ordered Jude Célestin to abandon due to allegations of fraud.

After René Préval returned to his home in Marmelade, Martelly assumed his position as the President of Haiti on May 14th.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide's campaign pledged to revive the country's military, which had been outlawed in the 1990s.

Early life

Martelly was born in Cote de Fer, the son of Gerard Martelly, a Shell Oil executive, and Marie Madeleine Martelly (née De Pradines) b. 1931 – d. 21 October 2016 – no. 21. Auguste de Pradines, a troubadour who wrote comedic protest songs against Haiti's 1915-34 US occupation, was on his mother's side. Martelly graduated from high school and enlisted in the Haitian Military Academy, but after impregnating the daughter of a general, Martelly was dismissed, according to Martelly. He went to the United States, worked in construction, and attended a community college in Miami in 1984. In 1986, after a one-month absence, he divorced his first wife, an American citizen, and returned to Haiti, just as Jean-Claude Duvalier, then president-for-life, was headed into exile. Martelly and his then-girlfriend, Sophia Saint-Rémy, married in a small ceremony in Miami, Florida, in 1987. In 1988, the family returned to Haiti.

Martelly had his first break into the music industry after returning to Haiti, when he began playing keyboard in local bars in Pétion-Ville and Kenscoff, the wealthy suburbs of Port-au-Prince. "sang playful, romantic numbers over a stumbling méringue beat named compas, the only music permitted under the Duvaliers," says Martelly. "Martelly opened the Garage, where he entertained many of the coup's key architects, including Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was later found guilty in absentia for massacring Aristide supporters," he said.

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Political career

Martelly played for free at a march against the arrival of a UN representative charged with assisting Jean-Bertrand Aristide after the 1991 Haitian coup d'état. "I did not want Aristide back... You want me to be a de facto [supporter of the coup], Martelly said later. I'm a de facto. It's my right. It's my country. "I can fight for what I believe in." After Jean-Bertrand Aristide was reinstated to office, several former military officers, paramilitaries, and undercover police officers of the old regime were assassinated. A "hit list" of such people was distributed in February 1995, including Martelly's name. Since a person on the list was murdered, Martelly's wife warned him not to return from his tour, and it was nearly a year before he returned to Haiti. "A tyrant ditty that called for a president who played compas" was released during this period. Martelly dressed in a pink wig and bra at the 1996 Carnival, to which Manno Charlemagne, the mayor of Port-au-Prince, invited him. It was designed in part as a political statement, as Martelly explained:

Martelly appeared on "Knowledge Is Power," an HIV educational music video, with a message about preventing HIV transmission. The Haitian government's selection of Jean et Blanc as the president of the Fondation Rose et Blanc, which was initiated by his wife Sophia and himself to assist the poor and disenfranchised of the region.

Gérard Latortue, a Martelly friend, became Prime Minister in 2004, following the 2004 Haitian coup d'état against Aristide. Martelly was living in Florida at the time, but he returned to Haiti in 2007. He defaulted on more than $1 million in loans, losing 3 homes to foreclosure in the process.

Martelly ran for President of Haiti in general elections following the 2010 earthquake. He benefited from his celebrity as a singer and staged koudjay (musical political endorsement rallies), drew crowds and media interest. Bill Clinton's support was also aided by the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's continued assistance. He challenged the findings as to whether he came second, making the runoff, or third. On February 3, 2011, it was announced that he would run in a run-off election scheduled for 20 March 2011. Martelly won the presidential run-off election over Mirlande Manigat, who received more than 60% of the vote on April 4, 2011, according to a senior official.

On May 14, 2011, Martelly was sworn in as President of Haiti, the first time in Haitian history that an incumbent president peacefully gave over to a member of the opposition. On the anniversary of the earthquake, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive resigned to allow Martelly to choose his own Prime Minister. Martelly was eager to announce changes for the post-earthquake reconstruction process.

Martelly announced a program to restore the country's military in August 2011. Several human rights campaigners were concerned that the return of a military that had been responsible for many atrocities in the past was controversial.

Martelly formed an advisory board in September 2011 that included business executives, economists, and politicians, including former US President Bill Clinton, who hoped to boost the economy.

After being in office for five months, Martelly's Prime Minister Garry Conille resigned in February 2012. Laurent Lamothe, Haiti's Foreign Minister, was recalled in May.

Martelly was accused of wrongdoing between March and May 2012, with allegations that during and after the 2010 earthquake and presidential election, he had accepted $2.6 million in bribes to guarantee that a Dominican Republic construction firm would continue to receive contracts under his presidency. The charges were debunked by Martelly. Businesses owned or controlled by Félix Bautista had received no-bid contracts worth $200 million, according to former Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. Martelly met with a French-polish arms dealer Pierre Dadak and two Canadian businessmen in October 2013 to discuss a $20 billion initiative to develop Île-à-Vache, but it has the source of some controversy. Anti-government demonstrations were held in the country in November 2013 to protest the high cost of living and corruption.

The municipal election had been postponed since May 2012, but it was three years behind schedule. On October 26, 2014, the day they were supposed to be held — due to a stalemate between the government and a coalition of opposition senators over an electoral law. Throughout the months of demonstrations over the postponed elections, the Haitian government faced months of uproar. Laurent Lamothe, the Haitian Prime Minister, resigned on December 14th and was replaced by Evans Paul. But street demonstrations raged, with renewed calls for the president's resignation.

The parliament was postponed until its term came, and thousands of demonstrators in Port-au-Prince resigned on January 13, 2015, demanding that the president be dismissed. To disperse the crowd, police used tear gas and water cannons. Martelly encouraged demonstrators to obey the public order and announced that he had reached a compromise with the opposition to establish a joint government within 48 hours. In March 2015, new election dates were revealed, both for parliament and for president. Martelly was unable to run again because Haiti's constitution does not allow for consecutive terms.

The first election under President Michel Martelly took place on August 9, 2015. In the first round, the people were able to fill two-thirds of the 30-member Senate and the entire 119-member Chamber of Deputies. As heavily armed police shot into the air in the capital, young men ripped up paper ballots to reestablish order. Rocks were thrown in response when authorities closed the polling station. Multiple polling centers in other areas of the country have been shuttered, as well as scattered arrests of people suspected of voting more than once. 54 polling stations, or 5 percent of the total, were closed due to violence and other disruptions. The first round of Haiti's presidential election was set for October 25th.

On October 25, 2015, presidential, municipal and the second round of the legislative elections were held in Haiti. This year, the runoff of this election was set for December 27, 2015. Jovenel Mose received 32.8 percent of the votes, according to preliminary results published by the Provisional Electoral Council, while Jude Célestin took 25.2 percent.

Jude Célestin said he didn't recognize them after the preliminary findings were announced on October 25, 2015. Five other presidential candidates joined him in condemning his remarks. They issued a joint statement condemning the findings as "anti-democratic" and calling for the people's vote to be respected. Martelly has expressed his sympathy for Mose. Célestin's supporters gathered in the streets with former President Jean-Charles Mose's Platfom Pitit Desalin and his allies, including former President Jean-Charles Moye's Fanmi Lavalas Party leader Maryse Narcisse, who finished fourth, behind Jean-Charles Mose, and also announced the results at a news conference. Protesters threw rocks and set fire to tires. The police responded with tear gas and made some arrests. Claudy Gassant, a former top government prosecutor who is a Mose supporter, was arrested and searched by the police.

On February 10, 2016, Martelly resigned the presidency, leaving Haiti without a president for a week. On February 17, 2016, Jocelerme Privert, who served as interim president, took his place. Privert established a month-long verification commission to restore legitimacy to the electoral process amid allegations of manipulation in the 2015 election. The commission audited 13,000 ballots in May 2016 and found that the elections had been corrupt and called for a complete redo of the election.

Pras of the Fugees produced Sweet Micky for President and directed by Ben Patterson in 2015. The film chronicles Martel's ascension to fight graft as Haiti's President. The film premiered at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival in the United States and then appeared on Showtime later.

Personal life and later music career

In 1986, Martelly divorced his first wife, an American citizen.

Martelly has a brother, Girard, who served in the United States Armed Forces.

Martelly is currently resident in Haiti but has owned multiple homes in Palm Beach, Florida. Olivier, Sandro, Yani, and Malaika are his husband and former boss, Sophia Saint-Rémy, and their four children. Martelly announced his unofficial retirement from recording and performing in 2006, but two years later, Magouyè, a new album, and the video/short film "Bandi Legal ki rive" announced a return to music. He is the cousin of Port-au-Prince hotel manager and singer Richard Morse.

Martelly was flown to the United States in April 2012 for treatment of what was later identified as a pulmonary embolism. It was attributed to his arm's immobilization, which had been pushed by new shoulder surgery.

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