After decades of dictatorship, former Roman Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990. He was ousted by a military coup in 1991 but reinstated with US backing. He was forced out of the country and into exile in 2004 by a rebellion of gangs and former soldiers. Haiti has been led by President Rene Preval since May 2006 when the country returned to constitutional rule. __