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Francois C. Antoine Simon
The 18th Haitian President François C. Antoine Simon was born on October 10, 1843. As a President, his first and most important policy decision was to introduce an appeasement policy that allowed many exiled Haitians to return homeland. He realized that Haiti can be self sufficient only if the agricultural production of sugar and banana can be increased and export can be boosted. He understood the necessity of infrastructural connectivity through railway network. But unfortunately his dream never materialized due to lack of sponsor. Because, his poorly prepared negotiation agreement with the foreign financiers had many conditional issues on repayment which were unattractive to the bankers. In contrast, his plans instead of bringing benefits created more evils--to satisfy American planters, Haitian banana growers were taxed; electrification and paving of the streets of the capital city increased the import bill through increased number of imported cars. The political unrest became so serious that his once minister, General Cincinnatus Leconte, took advantage of the situation and lead a coup d'état against him. The General succeeded on his second attempt to oust President Simon from power.
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