It's Only Farewell, Me Blanchard

The university community is in mourning. It grieves the premature passing of Professor Blanchard Jean-Baptiste, who died this Tuesday, March 3, 2026. He suffered from throat cancer. Me Blanchard was a prominent figure in higher education in Haiti. I grew in his wisdom over the past twenty years. I loved him for his simplicity and his contribution to legal education in Haiti. I emotionally salute his memory and dedication. He showed great simplicity towards his colleagues and students at the Faculty of Law of the State University of Haiti. It was he who introduced me to UNIFA for my business law course titled: Commerce, production, consumption, competition, and standards in a national and international environment, as a newly arrived young professor. This quality university, led by Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former constitutional president of the Republic, is a reference in higher education in Haiti. This tragic event testifies to the loss of academic pillars in our university world. UNIFA, I cannot stop repeating, is an elite work dedicated to an entire people. It embodies beauty and excellence. The university community will remember his friendly relations with professors and students. Towards me, he had always shown great respect. He loved my texts and my writing. For these two law faculties, he was a pillar, a constant presence, an essential contribution to establishing a culture of excellence. On behalf of the university community, I extend my sincere condolences to his family, his children, particularly to the rector of UNIFA, as well as to the dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics of the State University of Haiti, Professor Eugène Pierre-Louis, a classmate from the 'Promotion de l’Espoir' (Promotion of Hope) that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had majestically sponsored. I remember as if it were yesterday that spectacular graduation ceremony that took place at the National Palace. It is a significant memory, to which Professor Blanchard had largely contributed. While feeling the void created around us by the passing of loved ones, I cannot help but evoke the vivid memory of a happy event now past. This official academic event was not a random occurrence. Within this graduating class, despite the presence of individuals holding high positions in the country's governing hierarchy, I continue to believe that sooner or later someone will benefit from a salvific national destiny. The future will always be what we want it to be, provided God helps us embrace our destiny. Go forth, Professor, even if your good manners will be missed in daily life. Death is a sweet rendezvous, to quote the Quebecois classic by Gerry Boulet. For your loved ones, your life only asked to be prolonged for their happiness and delight. But what can one do when one has reached the end of the road? What then is the alternative? It is to accept finitude by surrendering the fear of death to God, who made it possible. I regret not having had the chance to whisper words of hope in your ear when you closed your eyes. Rest assured that continuity is perfectly guaranteed. It is undeniable! UNIFA, which you loved so much, despite your cruelly felt absence, continues to vigorously promote great contemporary intellectual and professional figures in our world of thought. I commit myself to this mission. For Haiti, whatever one may say, needs a learned, patriotic, enlightened, and honest authority to govern its destiny — an authority that will put an end to the reign of happy fools, pathetic and illiterate politicians, intellectuals full of scientific or technical knowledge but not guided by ethics. The rector of UNIFA, Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, insists on the need to combine knowledge with reflection on the consequences of our actions. In dreams and thoughts… But let us remember the men and women who contributed to what we are. Sonet Saint-Louis, Esq.
Professor of Constitutional Law and Advanced Legal Research Methodology
at the Faculty of Law and Economics of the State University of Haiti
Professor of Philosophy