Above: the National Palace in Haiti (Photo: OP Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti is mourning the loss of former Prime Minister Smarck Michel, who died Saturday at the age of 75, reportedly from cancer.

Michel, who was appointed prime minister by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was born in Saint-Marc on March 29, 1937.

In what Haiti President, in a statement, called a “painful circumstance,” he addressed his sympathies to the family and friends of Michel.

Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said he learned the news “with dismay.”

Lamothe, in a statement, expressed his “sincere sympathies to the family and friends” of Michel, who Lamothe said “served his country with patriotism.”

He served as Haiti’s Prime Minister from November 1994 to November 1995, when he was succeeded by Claudette Werleigh. Werleigh was Haiti’s first-ever female prime minister.

Martelly said he and the Haitian people were “very grateful” for the work done by Michel.