Raymond Joseph

Raymond Alcide Joseph (born August 31, 1931) is a Haitian diplomat, political activist and journalist. He was the Haitian ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2010, when he resigned to present himself as a candidate in the 2010 Presidential Election in Haiti. He is related to the singer and rapper Wyclef Jean (Jean's mother is Joseph's first cousin).^[1]

Early life and education

Joseph was born on August 31, 1931, in San Pedro de Macorís,^[2] Dominican Republic and lived in a batey (a sugar worker's town),^[3] whose family was originally from Les Cayes.^[4] He spent his early years surrounded by Christian missionaries. At birth, Joseph was refused Dominican citizenship in several attempts. Following the genocide of over 10,000 Haitians at the border due to the Parsley Massacre imposed by dictator Rafael Trujillo, his father moved him and his brother back to Haiti, where Haitian citizenship was acquired.^[5] By age 10, in addition to Spanish, he was fluent in his native Haitian Creole, French, and English. In 1954, he volunteered as an interpreter for a Baptist preacher, who assisted Joseph in coming to the United States. Joseph enrolled in the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois in 1954. Joseph remained in Chicago and later earned a BA in Anthropology from Wheaton College.^[4]

During his time in Chicago, Joseph became fluent in Hebrew and Greek. After graduating he returned to Haiti and created the first translation of the New Testament and Psalms into Haitian Creole.^[4]

In 1957, the dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier was elected President of Haiti, and Joseph became increasingly uncomfortable with the government. Joseph returned to the United States in 1961 and enrolled in the University of Chicago where he earned an MA in Social Anthropology in 1964.^[4]

Career

Joseph subsequently moved to New York and became a leader in the opposition movement against the Duvalier regime. Along with his brother, Joseph founded the Haïti Observateur in 1971, which became influential and widely circulated among the Haitian Diaspora. Joseph subsequently worked as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and a columnist at the New York Sun.^[6]

The regime of François Duvalier's son collapsed in 1986. In 1990, Joseph was appointed the Haitian Government's chargé d’affaires in Washington, DC, and the representative of the Haitian Government to the Organization of American States.^[7] In this role, Joseph organized election observers from the international community to participate in the Haitian Presidential Election.

In 1991 Joseph returned to the Haïti Observateur where he remained until 2004, when he was again appointed Chargé d'Affaires in Washington, DC. In 2005 acting president Boniface Alexandre chose Joseph to be Haiti's ambassador to the United States. In the aftermath of the catastrophic January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Joseph played an active role in mobilizing the international community's response to Haiti.^[4]

Presidential candidate

On July 27, 2010, Joseph confirmed his intention to run for President of Haiti in the November 28, 2010 election. He resigned the ambassadorship on August 1, 2010 and moved to Port-au-Prince. Joseph was dismissed from the Haitian presidential race by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council.^[8][9]

References