About Gérard Jean-Juste
Gérard Jean-Juste was a Haitian Catholic priest who served as rector of Saint Claire's Church for the Poor in Port-au-Prince. He was also a liberation theologian and a supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas political party, as well as heading the Miami, Florida-based Haitian Refugee Center from 1977 to 1990. A Roman Catholic, Jean-Juste attended a Canadian seminary before becoming the first Haitian to be ordained in the U.S. at Brooklyn's Church of St. Observing the due process violations that many Haitian refugees in the US faced in the 1970s, Jean-Juste founded the Miami-based Haitian Refugee Center to assist them. Jean-Juste returned to Haiti in 1991, becoming a "prominent supporter" of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, and his Fanmi Lavalas party. Jean-Juste became an outspoken critic of the U.S.-supported interim government that followed, headed by Gérard Latortue.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.