On June 20, 1988 General Henri Namphy overthrew Haiti's elected civilian President Leslie Manigat in a military coup, ending four months of civilian rule and returning power to the military only two years after the fall of the Duvalier dynasty. Manigat had won the military-controlled January 1988 election, widely seen as fraudulent, and taken office in February with Namphy remaining as armed forces commander. The two fell out in June 1988 over control of military assignments: Manigat, asserting his constitutional authority as head of the armed forces, moved to reshuffle officers and on June 19 retired Namphy, accusing him of preparing a coup.
The next day, June 20, 1988, Namphy ousted Manigat, declared himself president, dissolved parliament, and said his government would rule by decree. Manigat was not physically harmed and was expelled from the country.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Leslie Manigat, overthrown on June 20, 1988 by General Namphy; he was not physically harmed and was expelled into exile.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Leslie Manigat (elected president overthrown)
Henri Namphy (general who seized power)
Sources
The June 1988 Haitian coup took place on 20 June 1988, when Henri Namphy overthrew Leslie Manigat, who had won the military-controlled 1988 general election and had taken office on 7 February, and on 19 June Manigat retired Namphy saying he had been preparing a coup, before on 20 June Namphy ousted Manigat and declared himself President.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, June 1988 Haitian coup d'etatopen source ↗
Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy declared himself President, dissolved both houses of parliament, and said his government would rule by decree, naming a Cabinet made up of 11 members of the military and one civilian, after the immediate spark of an order by President Manigat to transfer key military allies of Namphy.
SOURCE REVIEWEDChristian Science Monitor, US watches fluid events in Haitiopen source ↗
Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, who had headed a military junta for two years until February, seized power from Haiti's four-month-old civilian administration early on June 20, declared himself president, and the takeover was accompanied by bursts of gunfire from Namphy's troops but no casualties were reported, with the new military government indicating it would expel Manigat from the country.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWashington Post, Military Coup Ends Civilian Rule in Haitiopen source ↗
The June 1988 coup was followed some months later by the September 1988 coup in which Prosper Avril overthrew Henri Namphy, and Namphy had led the transitional government that ruled Haiti from the departure of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in February 1986 until February 1988 when Manigat was sworn in.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, June 1988 Haitian coup d'etatopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Fate coding: the deposed president Leslie Manigat was not physically harmed (the takeover reportedly caused no casualties) and was expelled into exile, matching the dataset's not-physically-harmed fate. Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup, accurately, led by the armed forces commander General Namphy against the civilian president. Arc link: this continues the post-Duvalier Haiti thread this enrichment has tracked, following the February 1986 fall of Baby Doc Duvalier (enriched in batch 37) and the Namphy-led transitional council; it is directly followed in this same batch by the September 1988 coup in which Prosper Avril overthrew Namphy. Trigger recorded: the conflict arose over control of military assignments, with Manigat asserting his constitutional authority as head of the armed forces and moving against Namphy's allies, after which Manigat retired Namphy on June 19 and Namphy struck back the next day. Context recorded: Manigat's own election in January 1988 was military-controlled and widely regarded as fraudulent, noted as documented background. Neutrality maintained.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Leslie Manigat, overthrown on June 20, 1988 by General Namphy; he was not physically harmed and was expelled into exile..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Civilian President deposed in Haiti by Ex Army Chief,” by Joseph Treaster, June 20 1988
“THE WORLD; Soldiers Draw The Line In Haiti,” September 25, 1988
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →