At the end of what would have been a game tied at zero-zero, a series of penalty kicks gave Haiti’s national men’s soccer team a 4 to 1 victory over Harvard University. At the final point, the already joyous, heavily Haitian crowd erupted into hysterical cheers and chants of, “Haiti! Haiti!” [...]
Haiti’s electoral council has said it will announce today the provisional results of the country’s presidential run-off. The losing candidate will then have an opportunity to challenge the vote count before final results are declared. The elections have been mired in controversy, with allegations of fraud on both sides, and with some calling the whole process illegitimate [...]
Just a note for the record: In a recent interview, Lisa Mullins asked me about Aristide’s popularity. My reply suggested that if one digs down, one might find the occasional, quiet, non-enthusiast. While this reflected my experience near the airport on March 17, 2011, the day of the former president’s return to Haiti, I’m afraid it glossed over important recent history [...]
“Si Aristide te la….” “If Aristide were here….” So started the chants in countless demonstrations on the streets of Port-au-Prince over the last seven years, since then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was flown into exile in Africa on a US military plane. If Aristide were here, the thinking went, we wouldn’t be so hungry, so many of us wouldn’t be living in tents, and we would have some hope for the future of our country [...]