The 1991 Haitian coup d'état took place on 29 September 1991, when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected eight months earlier in the 1990–91 Haitian general election, was deposed by the Armed Forces of Haiti. Haitian military officers, primarily Army General Raoul Cédras, Army Chief of Staff Philippe Biamby and Chief of the National Police, Michel François led the coup. Aristide was sent into exile, his life only saved by the intervention of US, French and Venezuelan diplomats. Aristide would later return to power in 1994. Background The 1990–91 general election was heralded as the first democratic election in Haiti's history. Aristide, a populist Roman Catholic priest, was the most controversial candidate of his party, the National Front for Change and Democracy (FCND). He was one of the only church figures to speak out against repression during the Duvalier years. However, due to the popularity of his populist Lavalas movement ("the flood" in Haitian Creole), which advocated the use of legislation and popular mobilization for economic reform, an end to corruption, and justice for the victims of the Haitian military and the Tonton Macoutes, he received the majority of the vote, with 67.5%. Despite having popular support, the transition of power was rocky. Aristide's political platform threatened the power of some of the Haitian elite, specifically those who supported the Duvalier family dictatorship. Aristide's main opposition was the Haitian army, on whom he attempted to enforce constitutional laws that had not previously been adhered to. These laws included the separation of the police from the army and its subsequent placement under the Ministry of Justice as well as the trial of military abuses against citizens by the military, when they were meant to be tried in civilian courts. The Haitian right mobilized in response to the Lavalas movement. A coup attempt against Aristide had taken place on 6 January, even before his inauguration, when Roger Lafontant, a Tonton Macoute leader under Duvalier, seized the provisional President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and declared himself President. After large numbers of Aristide supporters filled the streets in protest and Lafontant attempted to declare martial law, the Army crushed the incipient coup. Lafontant's trial was controversial, as he received a life sentence on the recommendation of Aristide, while the maximum sentence was set at 15 years. On 27 September 1991 Aristide gave a speech that critics believe advocated for the use of necklacing - also called Pere Lebrun