21827: Esser: Blackouts, Garbage and dietary changes (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Agence Haïtienne de Presse

May 10, 2004

The population in several parts of the country are still exposed to
garbage, the high cost of living and electricity black-outs


Port-au-Prince, May 10, 2004 (AHP)- Piles of garbage, the high cost
of living and acute energy shortages continue to be the fate of the
residents of Port-au-Prince. Many inhabitants of the capital are
complaining bitterly, AHP reporters observed Monday.

In the downtown area and across much of the capital, foul-smelling
garbage is making normal life impossible and is undermining public
health.

Many people say they are astonished to see leading merchants
cheerfully climb across huge piles of garbage to get to their shops.  

They appealed to the wealthy to help provide regular sanitation for
the city rather than to engage in all sorts of gymnastics to avoid
paying their taxes on the pretext that their shops were looted on
February 29th following the sudden departure of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 

The people interviewed by AHP are asking them instead to compensate
the State for the acts committed by their supporters against the
police stations, customs offices, the internal revenue agency and
other public offices during the anti-Aristide demonstrations of
January and February of this year.

Many Port-au-Prince residents are also calling on the Latortue
government to take concrete action to improve the supply of
electricity.

Electricity rationing has reached such drastic proportions that it
has now reached zero hours per day in the so-called high- priority
zones.

But the black-out has become more expensive than the electricity
because the electric bills are now higher.

At the same time, people living in all parts of the country continue
to speak out to pressure the authorities to act quickly to relieve
the misery of the population confronted with dizzying increases in
the cost of living.

In the communities of the Grande-Anse, some fathers have even
threatened to kill themselves in light of their inability to put food
on the table for their children.

Last week, the provisional prime minister, Gérard Latortue, called on
the population to change its dietary habits by eating corn gruel,
cassava and other foods seen as cheaper and of lesser quality.
.