FROM FACELESS TO FAVORED FOR HAITI CANDIDATE
(Miami Herald) - By Trenton Daniel
One of the front-runners in Haiti's upcoming national elections is a political enigma who is close to René Préval.
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Until Jude Célestin showed up in a Port-au-Prince suburb in August to register as a candidate for the presidency, few knew his face.
He isn't one to frequent the posh restaurants in the hills above this capital city. He has the reputation of a loner. He's a reclusive technocrat in a crowded presidential field that includes a music star once fond of performing in drag, a former first lady, a prime minister sacked twice, and an industrialist who helped fan a coup.
The former head of the government's road-building company, he's credited with building miles of roads that reach peasants in isolated villages, but for the most part the job kept him outside the public eye.
However, since President René Préval tapped him as his heir apparent in Haiti's Nov. 28 election, Célestin's profile has risen. He is now considered one of the front-runners.
``He's still pretty much a mystery man to me,'' said Robert Maguire, a longtime Haiti scholar at Trinity University in Washington, D.C. ``If Préval didn't anoint him as the hopeful successor . . . I don't think Célestin would be involved in the election as a candidate.''
But Haitians have begun to learn about him as he hits the campaign trail. At an October rally in the scrappy suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets, thousands showed up. Many wore Célestin's signature green-and-yellow T-shirts.
``We know the poor are very frustrated,'' said Célestin, a 48-year-old divorced father of three. ``But we don't want you to remain frustrated.''
He promised his administration would provide education, build technical schools and create jobs. Political stability would be essential to realizing those goals, he added.
A week later, Haiti saw another side of Célestin when he participated in a televised debate with two rival candidates. In his opening remarks, he introduced himself in the third-person..
``Jude Célestin is a man who is discreet -- a man not of the media,'' he said. ``What's important to say is he's a hard worker, an investor who invests in Haiti and outside.''
Célestin and his campaign managers rebuffed repeated requests from The Miami Herald for an interview.
Finally reached on his cellphone, Célestin said: ``I'm campaigning right now. I'm stopping everywhere to talk to people.''
Those who know him say Célestin is indeed a workaholic.
Through the years, he has acquired a reputation as a hyper-focused man who often begins the workday before dawn and doesn't leaving his office until night. His industriousness is sometimes a source of amusement.
``Sponsor of my marriage, he arrives late,'' sister Rita Rancy toldLeNouvelliste, a Haitian newspaper. ``He almost led me to the altar in boots and overalls.''
HIS BACKGROUND
Célestin was born June 19, 1962, the son of a mother from Grand-Gosier and a father from Jacmel -- both coastal towns in southeastern Haiti. Raised in a family of teachers, he grew up in Bois Verna, a middle-class neighborhood in Port-au-Prince known for its gingerbread-style architecture and abundance of schools, and studied at College Fernand Prosper.
FAMILY TIES
The family had ties to the Duvalier dynasty. His uncle, Rony Gilot, is a former information minister under Jean-Claude ``Baby Doc'' Duvalier and the author of two books sympathetic to the bloody Duvalier regime. One is titled The Misunderstood.
In his final year of high school, Célestin transferred to Centre d'Etudes Secondaires, a Bois Verna school known for its strong mathematics curriculum.
``He was always a person who was discreet,'' recounted Patrick Pompilus, a former classmate at Centre d'Etudes who is now the school director. The two graduated the same year in a class of 30 to 40 students, Pompilus said.
After high school, Célestin went on to study engineering in Switzerland, according to his campaign literature, and received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, a leading institution of science and technology.
But administrators there say they have no record of a Jude Célestin attending or graduating from the university. Rancy did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.
In 1985, a year before a popular movement ousted Jean-Claude Duvalier, Célestin returned to Haiti and worked in the then-state-owned flour mill. His ascent was swift. Six years later, he became plant manager.
It was here where Célestin and Préval would first cross paths, according to Le Nouvelliste.
In 1997, during Préval's first administration, the two met again. Préval was seeking an engineer to develop the Public Works Department. That year, Célestin began work at the National Center for Equipment, or CNE, the government's road-building agency.
In February 2002, a year after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was inaugurated to his second term, Célestin left CNE but later returned.
Also in 2002, Célestin began to invest in South Florida real estate. The three homes he purchased either had liens placed against them or foreclosure problems.
Four years later, in 2006, Célestin and friend Tania Chihimie, purchased a 5,117 square-foot home for $1.1 million after they secured a loan for $1 million from a bank in Antigua. That home fell into foreclosure and records show the lender is seeking $1.06 million. The house also has $24,590.34 in outstanding Broward County taxes, records show.
Célestin's campaign referred questions on the Weston property to Chihimie, a businesswoman. She said she took full responsibility for the house.
Meanwhile, Célestin continued to take on construction projects. Between June 2005 and January 2006, he worked as an engineering coordinator for the United Nations Office for Project Services in Haiti, according to a U.N. spokesman. He helped rehabilitate a school in Gonaives after Tropical Storm Jeanne battered the western port city.
As the director general of CNE, he staffed the agency with a majority of women and oversaw the construction of more than 750 miles of roads, according to his campaign. He also directed the drivers who cleared rubble and trucked bodies to a mass grave north of Port-au-Prince after the massive Jan. 12 earthquake.
But CNE under Célestin also has stirred controversy.
Some opposition lawmakers have blasted the government for purchasing equipment for CNE without following procedures.
WORK AHEAD
Haiti's next president will be elected at a critical time for the country and will be charged with managing billions of dollars in foreign aid for earthquake recovery, finding housing for the 1.5 million people left homeless in the quake, and dealing with the recent cholera epidemic.
For his part, Célestin has said he plans to develop Haiti's long-neglected countryside, encourage investment in private healthcare, and shelter the homeless. His campaign says he's a ``proven leader with management and leadership skills.''
But his critics say he has too little political experience to run the country.
``I think Jude Célestin is a good worker but he's not a personality that can be president of Haiti,'' said Youri Latortue, a senator who is backing candidate Mirlande Manigat. ``Jude Célestin has no preparation to become president.''
In Haiti's southeast, the native son remains something of an enigma despite the ubiquity of his green-and-yellow campaign banners and posters.
``I really don't know much about him,'' Célestin supporter Jean Morte Gilles, 35, said in the village of Nan Malgre. ``But that he's from my part of the country is all I need to know.''
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