Rene Preval, who led Haiti amid catastrophe, dies at 74
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Rene Preval, a low-key technocrat who led Haiti as president during the devastating January 2010 earthquake and a messy and prolonged recovery, has died. He was 74.
Preval, who had the distinction of being the only democratically elected president to win and complete two terms in a country notorious for political upheaval, died Friday, according to a statement issued by President Jovenel Moise.
The cause of death was not released but Preval had been treated for prostate cancer in Cuba in 2001. Moise said the former president died at his home in the Port-au-Prince district of Laboule.
“I learned with sadness the death of former President Rene Preval,” Moise said on his Twitter account. “I prostrate myself before the remains of this worthy son of Haiti.”