Ariel Henry

Ariel Henry (born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who has served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti and the acting President of Haiti since July 2021, after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

He is additionally serving as the acting Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities since 14 November 2022.

He later became involved in a controversy due to his refusal to cooperate with the authorities over his links with Joseph-Félix Badio, one of the suspects accused of orchestrating the assassination of Jovenel Moïse on 7 July 2021.

Officers who investigated the case suspected Henry was involved with planning the assassination.

On 11 March 2024, Ariel Henry said that he will resign when a transitional presidential council is created.

Henry served as a resident in neurosurgery with Professor Claude Gros in the French city of Montpellier, from March 1977 to December 1981.

Henry was a professor at the Private Nursing School of Montpellier from September 1980 to June 1981.

He studied neurophysiology and neuropathology at the University of Montpellier's Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier from 1981 to 1984, and presented his doctoral thesis in January 1982.

From January 1982 to December 1983, he was employed as an assistant in neurosurgery to Professor Claude Gros at the Gui de Chauliac Hospital university hospital in Montpellier.

He also received a certificate in performing electroencephalography from the University of Montpellier in September 1983.

He pursued further studies in the United States.

He also served as an assistant to Professor Philippe Frèrebeau at the same hospital from October 1983 to February 1985, and was employed as an assistant professor during his time there.

Henry has served as an associate member of the French Society of Neurosurgery since 1984, a member of the National Committee to Evaluate Polio Eradication in Haiti since it was created in March 1990, and head of the neurosurgery department of the Bernard Mevs Hospital since October 2014.

He later served as the administrator of the Adventist Hospital of Haiti from March 1985 to June 1987.

He was the director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency-Haiti's "Child Survival Project in Urban and Rural Areas" from November 1985 to February 1992, director of "Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinics" program from January 1986 to November 1989, deputy director of its overall programs from 1992 to 1996, and consultant for evaluating its "PL-480" program in 1998.

He was also the director of health for the Adventist Church in Haiti, the French West Indies and French Guiana.

Henry was employed as a neurosurgeon at the State University of Haiti Hospital from 1987 to 1996, while also serving as a professor of neurosurgery at the hospital from October 1985 to February 1995 and professor of psychophysiology at the university's faculty of human sciences from November 1988 to June 1996.

From December 1987 to January 2010, he was a consultant in neurosurgery and neurology at the Saint Vincent Centre for Disabled Children in Port-au-Prince.

In 1989, he completed a Master of Public Health in international health from Loma Linda University and he carried out postdoctoral studies in international health management methods at Boston University from February to May 1990.

Henry was also a tutor at Loma Linda University's "Master of Public Health" program, which was held off-campus, from 1989 to 1991, and a professor of neurology at Quisqueya University from October 1999 to January 2010.

He has been a professor of neurology at the university's faculty of medicine since October 1990.

From 1992 to 1999, he served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Ecumenical Welfare Society.

He served as an advisor to the Minister of Health of Haiti from March 1993 to February 1995, as well as a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization from 1993 to 1996.

Henry entered politics as a leader of the Democratic Convergence movement which sought to topple President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was accused of rigging the 2000 Haitian parliamentary election.

He and Micha Gaillard led the opposition against Aristide at international forums.

After the 2004 coup d'état that ousted Aristide, Henry called for a transition government based on consensus and new elections.

He later became a part of the "council of sages", consisting of seven members.

The council was backed by the United States and elected members of the transitional government.

He supported René Préval after he was elected as the President and was appointed as the director general of the Ministry of Health in June 2006.

He remained in the position until September 2008, when he was appointed as the ministry's chief of staff from September 2008 to October 2011.

He led the public health response in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the cholera outbreak in 2012.

During his tenure, he dealt with the strikes at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, worked alongside the United States in managing the public health response after the 2010 earthquake, and streamlined the ministry's finances, enabling direct American funding of its programs.

Henry is a former member of Social Democratic Party, Haitian Revolutionary Progressive Nationalist Party which was founded by his long-time friend and political mentor Serge Gilles, Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats and Inite.

He was selected as the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities in 2015 by President Michel Martelly, after the latter reached a deal with the opposition parties following anti-government protests, many of them led by followers of Aristide.

Henry served in the post from 22 January 2015 to 11 September 2015, when he was appointed as the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor by Prime Minister Evans Paul and replaced by Ardouin Zéphirin.

After Inite announced it would withdraw from Martelly's unity government on 8 September 2015, it called on Henry to resign.

Henry however refused and left the party.

On 5 July 2021, he was selected as the next prime minister of Haiti by President Jovenel Moïse, but two days later, Moïse was assassinated, stalling the transfer of power.

He remained in the position until 28 March 2016.

On 26 March 2020, President Jovenel Moïse chose him as a member of the 17-member scientific council tasked to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti.