Joseph Nérette was a Haïtian judge and political figure.  He served as the provisional president of Haïti between 1991 and 1992, part of a period in which real political authority rested with the military junta headed by Raoul Cédras and Michel François.

Early life and education

Born April 9, 1924 in Port-au-Prince, Joseph Nérette will be remembered as an upright magistrate.  Law degree in 1950 at the Faculty of Law and Economics in Port-au-Prince, teaching career he taught history, Spanish and mathematics at Hinche, in the center of the country for ten years.

Career

In 1961 he was appointed deputy commissioner of the Government of Hinche.  He taught mathematics at the Lycee Toussaint Louverture from 1961 to 1971 and has become over the past year Substitute Commissioner of the Civil Court of Port-au-Prince.  He remained in that position until 1978.  Substitute for the Government Commissioner at the Court of Cassation in 1978, Joseph Nérette was promoted to this Court judge after spending ten years in this position.

Joseph N érette took office as provisional president of the Republic National Assembly 8 October 1991, a week after the bloody coup.  In June 1992 he ceded the reins to Mark L.  Bazin (Chairman of the Movement for the establishment of democracy in Haiti) after the tripartite agreement reached at the Villa d'Accueil (seat of government) and ratified by Parliament.  This agreement gave birth to a consensus government and facilitated the resumption of negotiations, among others, on a possible return to the days of former President Aristide into exile.

Death

Nérette died of lung cancer in Port-au-Prince on 29 April 2007, aged 83.