Charles-Henri Jean-Marie Baker (born June 3, 1955) is a Haitian industrialist and Presidential Candidate. He is a former Vice President of the Group of 184.[1] Baker was a candidate for president in Haiti's 2006 and 2010 elections.
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Baker was born in Port-au-Prince. His father Edouard Baker was a prominent engineer and agronomist and a well-known soccer player. His mother Louise Barranco, a Businesswoman, was the founder of the first supermarket chain in Haiti. Baker has two brothers and three sisters.[1] One of Charles Baker's grandfathers was an Episcopal missionary from England. [2]
After completing his elementary education in Haiti, he traveled to the United States. In 1972 he graduated from Union School. He later attended Saint Leo University in Florida, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration in 1976. In 1975, he married Marie Florence Apaid, sister of André Apaid. He has four children and seven grandchildren.[3]
Baker began his business career as a manager at the age 21 in his family-owned and operated supermarket chain. When his father became ill, he took over the family-owned 90-acre farm Habitation Dujour, which grew sugarcane, banana, and tobacco. Eventually, the land expanded another 120 acres which made it the largest flue-cured tobacco farm in Haiti, with more than 200 acres. Simultaneously, from 1982 to 1985 he worked with the tobacco growers of Haiti through the Comme il faut Company, where he held the position of Assistant to the Leaf Growing Manager.[4]
Beginning in the late 1980s, Baker began to purchase garment factories. These factories, which have been called sweatshops by labor rights and human rights organizations, employ hundreds of Haitians who are paid very little and have no benefits. Baker sells the garments produced in these factories to major corporations such as Sara Lee, Walmart and K-Mart.
In 2000, he joined the Association des Industries d’Haïti as member and a year later became Vice [5]
Baker was a prominent member of the Group of 184 (G 184), a coalition of Haitian organizations opposing Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The groups actions contributed to the coup d'état against Aristide in 2004.[2]
In August 2005, Baker announced his intentions to run for the president of Haiti in the elections originally planned for November 2005 but later moved to February 2006.
Baker and his Respè coalition received 8.24 percent of the vote, losing to René Préval.
Charles Henri Baker was running for President of Haiti in the November 28, 2010 Haiti elections. Charles Henri Baker, also known as Charlito Baker, is running under the Respè Party of Haiti.[6][7] Newspaper articles have alleged that Baker tried to buy votes in the run-up to the elections. [8]