In 1990, an event that should be considered a historical and governmental milestone took place. Jean-Bertrand Aristide won an election recognized as “free and fair”. Aristide won that presidential election with 67 percent of the vote in his favor. His promise was to get rid of the ethnic, racial and economic problems that were engulfing the country, but nothing has changed. Just months into his presidency, he was ousted in a military coup due to his choice to curb the power of the military. While all this was happening, in 1991 and 1992, thousands and thousands of Haitians were trying to flee to Florida by boat. The US Coast Guard was able to rescue more than 40,000 of them at sea, but unfortunately many still lost their lives. (History)Haitians who supported the president were beaten, tortured and killed. They were also arrested without reason. They began to leave for the United States on boats and this is how they were nicknamed “boat people”. Thousands of people were sent back because President George HW Bush declared that their rights were not being violated in Haiti and that Haitians were now not recognized as asylum seekers. When Clinton took office in 1993, he promised he would allow Haitian refugees. The Haitians then began building new boats to prepare for sailing to the United States, but Clinton later went back on his word. After all that, the U.S. Supreme Court struck a deal that refugees who came to the U.S. with their feet on the ground could be granted refugee status. (Neilan) In 1992, George HW Bush issued orders to prevent Haitian refugees from coming to the United States. Despite what happened with Aristide before, in 1994 the United States restored him to the presidency...... middle of paper ......Network, February 28, 2014. Retrieved April 8 2014 from .Haiti-Economy. Infoplease Retrieved April 8, 2014 from “History of Haiti”. History of Haiti Extracted April 5, 2014 from .Neilan, Leslie. “Boat People Haitians”. Immigration to America. Extracted April 5, 2014 from “Religion in Haiti”. Help in Haiti Everything for Him RSS. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from “The Bumpy Road: An Abridged History of Haiti Since 1990.” Roosevelt Institute. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from .