a1899: Unusual Yet Fascinating Day (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

FROM: Kevin Pina        <kpinbox@hotmail.com>


Approximately four hundred  Lavalas supporters assembled in front of the
national palace this morning, expressing their support for Haitian president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide while calling for more accountability by elected
government officials within their own party.  « We still have much faith in
Jean-Bertrand Aristide but we also know that many within the parliament,
many within Lavalas, are taking money and not doing their jobs. We will
always be loyal to the ideals of Lavalas but we must also clean things up
within our own party if things are to move forward » stated a spokesperson
for the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, down the street, a large crowd of demonstrators from the Parti
Popile Nationale or PPN, stood patiently in the sun and sang chants while
waiting for the Lavalas event to dwindle before commencing their own march.
Wearing the traditional straw hats of Haiti’s peasantry and uniform
tee-shirts bearing their acronym and slogans, they called upon the
population to see them as an alternative to Lavalas and the Convergence. PPN
is led by Benjamin Dupuy, the firebrand publisher of the weekly newspaper
Haiti Progres.

Following this, members of both groups could be seen mingling with the
general population in various plazas surrounding Champ Mars at the
Alfa-Agrikilti Festival. Colorful booths, representing various communities
within the government’s free literacy campaign, were filled with
participants and speakers demonstrating techniques and curriculum used to
bring basic reading and writing skills to Haiti’s poor majority.

Across the street in a second plaza, were booths featuring artisan crafts
including beautiful ceramics, textiles, local jewelry, iron and metal work,
paintings and traditional vodoun art. Agricultural products and culinary
arts from the different and diverse regions of Haiti were featured in a
third plaza. One of the most popular dishes was Tchaka, a wonderful mixture
of polenta and whole corn with meat, a generous portion sold for five
gourdes while a coke could be had to wash it down for six gourdes.

With a full sun beating down from a beautiful clear sky upon Port au Prince,
today represented an unusual yet fascinating confluence of events.


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