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Michel Martelly

Modern HaitiLast Updated · Apr 23, 2026

Michel Martelly — known throughout his career as "Sweet Micky" — was a popular kompa musician before becoming Haiti's president from 2011 to 2016.

His presidency represented a decisive break from the Lavalas era: anti-Lavalas in orientation, backed by the United States in the post-earthquake political environment, and the vehicle through which the PHTK (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale) established dominance over Haitian formal politics for a decade.

In the ScholarshipHow historians have read this figure.

How historians and scholars have interpreted this figure across different analytical traditions.

Jonathan M. KatzThe Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster2013

TimelineAcross the historical record.

  1. 2004-02-29

    2004 Coup Haiti

    coup-haiti — the coup whose anti-Lavalas logic his presidency extended and institutionalized

  2. 2010

    Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Haiti

    earthquake-reconstruction-haiti — the dominant framework of his presidency

  3. 2010-01-12

    2010 Earthquake

    earthquake — the structural context of his election; post-earthquake politics produced him

  4. 2021-07-07

    Assassination of Jovenel Moïse (2021)

    assassination-2021