The 1989 Haitian coup d'état attempt was a bloodless military coup attempt that took place in Haiti on 1âÂÂ2 April 1989, when a group of rebel army officers attempted to overthrow the military government of Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril.
The coup attempt, which included gunfire near the National Palace, was reportedly staged by Col. Himmler Rebu, commander of the elite Leopards battalion (stationed in Pétion-Ville, close to the capital Port-au-Prince). The attempt was foiled by loyalist troops, who rescued Avril as he was being driven away by rebel soldiers to the Port-au-Prince Airport, to be deported to the neighboring Dominican Republic.