Jean-Max Bellerive | |
|---|---|
 Bellerive in 2010 | |
| 14th Prime Minister of Haiti | |
| In office 11 November 2009 – 18 October 2011 | |
| President | René Préval Michel Martelly |
| Preceded by | Michèle Pierre-Louis |
| Succeeded by | Garry Conille |
| Minister of Planning and External Cooperation | |
| In office 2006–2009 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1958 (age 65–66) Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Political party | Lespwa |
| Spouse | Myriam Estevez De Bellerive |
Jean-Max Bellerive (born 1958) is a Haitian politician and former Prime Minister of Haiti. He resigned on 14 May 2011.[1]
Bellerive was born in Port-au-Prince in 1958. As the son of a prominent doctor,[2] he left Haiti at a very young age to study in Switzerland, France, and Belgium. With a degree in Political Science and International Relations, Bellerive returned to Haiti in 1986,[2] just before the overthrow of Jean-Claude Duvalier. He is married to Myriam Estevez De Bellerive and has two adult daughters, Diana Jennifer Bellerive and Jessica Bellerive.[3]
Prior to his appointment as Prime Minister, Bellerive was the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation.[3] The Haitian President, René Préval, following the orders of a senate resolution, nominated Bellerive on 30 October 2009 to replace the former Prime Minister, Michèle Pierre-Louis.[4] A day before the nomination, on 29 October 2009, 18 senators of a 29-member senate had voted to dismiss Pierre-Louis on charges that she was performing poorly in leading Haiti's economic recovery efforts in the wake of the destructive 2008 hurricane season.[4]
On 14 May 2011, Bellerive resigned as Prime Minister, so as to allow the country's new president, Michel Martelly, to choose his own prime minister.[1] Martelly selected Daniel Gérard Rouzier to succeed Bellerive. However, the parliament rejected Mr Rouzier.
Bellerive was one of several former government officials targeted by the Chair of the Senate's and Anti-Corruption Committee, Youri Latortue, in an investigation of the management of the Petrocaribe program.[5]
Reuters reported in December 2017 that Bellerive was banned from leaving the country amid a corruption investigation along with Camille Édouard Jr., who is a former justice minister that served in 2016. He was ordered not to leave by a judge investigating the disappearance of a public procurement official and the 2012 death of a construction manager allegedly connected to the case. Bellerive denied involvement.[6]
On 11 December 2023, the U.S. State Department publicly designated Bellerive as pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, "for abusing his public position by participating in corrupt activity that undermined the integrity of Haiti’s government." Bellerive is not permitted entry into the United States. His immediate family members were also designated.[3]
