Haiti Information
Project
Christmas 2004 in Haiti
December 27, 2004
Port au Prince, Haiti (HIP) - The benevolence of Santa Claus and the
love and wisdom of a prince of peace are not likely to be associated
with the Gerard Latortue cabals place in Haitian history. When
the US-installed regime took power following the coup against Haitis
democratically elected government earlier this year; they made the
grandiose claim of seeking to heal the countrys wounds through
reconciliation. Since then, Haiti has been plagued by a petty and
vengeful leadership who, along with a vindictive elite-controlled
media, have led a campaign of political persecution against President
Aristides Lavalas political party. This spiteful stance only fueled
more violence by unleashing the former military and the Haitian police
to prey upon supporters of the exiled president who in turn retaliated
in what many here justify as a simple act of self-defense. For mere
mortals, turning the other cheek is always difficult when faced with
certain death.
Reconciliation is nowhere to be found during this holiday season in
Haiti. Under the current Haitian regime the word has become synonymous
with human rights violations, the summary dismissal of thousands of
government employees abandoned without a means to a livelihood and
innumerable political prisoners wasting away in jails throughout Haiti.
The presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force is no more generous
as it seems to have done little other than add legitimacy to a cynical
and deadly exercise in pacification undertaken in the name of restoring
democracy.
While Haitis wealthy elite returned from Christmas shopping sprees in
Miami and New York, the holiday held little joy for the majority of
poor families barely surviving. For some, like fired employees from the
mayors office in Petion-Ville, it meant tempting retribution by
peacefully demonstrating on Christmas Eve for back pay owed them so
they might have a little something to bring home to their families for
the holiday. Despite their strident spirit, it became clear their
demands fell on deaf ears as couriers passed through the hungry crowd
laden with sumptuous holiday gift baskets intended for the appointed
and unelected mayors on behalf of their wealthy patrons.
For others, like the families of political prisoners, it meant a long
march through the streets of Port au Prince on Christmas Day demanding
to be reunited with their loved ones. The smaller children with sore
feet were glad for the break they got from walking as they stopped to
demonstrate in front of the UN headquarters. The large contingency of
heavily armed SWAT team and special units of the Haitian police seemed
out of place as the children broke into a spontaneous rendition of
Silent Night. The UN peacekeepers mostly seemed disinterested and bored
but most likely anxious to return to their homes and barracks to sit
down to their Christmas dinner and call their own families back at home
via expensive satellite phones.
All told, for most in Haiti the only gift they could afford this year
was to scrape together enough pennies for a humble Christmas dinner to
honor and remember their loved ones. A ritual of breaking bread and
communion in misery that recalled members of their families who are
locked away in prison, living in exile or killed in the political
violence of this past year.
Reverence and grief combined to mark the Christmas celebration in the
poor neighborhoods of Cite Soleil and Bel Air. Under the watchful eyes
of the UN peacekeepers and the Haitian police most people were
reluctant to give their names or allow photographs.
The laughter of malnourished children and the smells from thousands of
pots of stew, made from whatever was available, mingled with the
constant buzz of flies and the omnipresent odors of open sewage and
garbage. As families prepared to sit down to their modest holiday meals
many tables were decorated with photographs and remembrances of absent
loved ones. There were fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, uncles
and aunts, sisters and brothers; cousins were there too. Most tables
also included at least one small picture of a smiling President
Aristide who is still revered among Haitis poor majority despite all
the attempts to beat and starve it out of them.
In the midst of this uncertainty save for their poverty, this Christmas
in Haiti saw a brief moment of peace for Haitis poor masses. The
survivors of the holocaust, the imprisoned, the dead and the exiled all
sat down together in spirit to pay tribute to the memory of the birth
of a small child who would grow to be a man known for his acts of
reconciliation, sacrifice and forgiveness. Haitis poor majority
can only hope the example is not lost forever upon those who supported
the coup, the UN or the regime of Gerard Latortue.
The Haiti Information Project
(HIP) is a non-profit alternative news service providing coverage and
analysis of breaking developments in Haiti.
Contact: haitiinformationproject@yahoo.com