#41 - On the Last Free Road Out of Port-au-Prince
Hidden treasures in the mountains of Port-au-Prince, Haiti Magazine on Céline Galipeau's Téléjournal, Darline Desca in concert, a var in the city center, hopes and concerns about the Kenyan mission
The last road out of Port-au-Prince offers some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. Long popular with tourists, it has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity since the national roads around the capital became impassable.
This and more in HAITI WEEKLY #41 by DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO, a collective of journalists and media professionals based in Haiti..
Editor’s note: The DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO team has been in great demand by the foreign media in recent weeks, which has prevented us from publishing HAÏTI MAGAZINE as regularly as usual. Some of these reports can be found in this issue.
Summary
The Hidden Treasures of Port-au-Prince's Mountains
Haïti Magazine on Radio-Canada's Téléjournal de Céline Galipeau
Darline Desca Marks the Return of Concerts to Port-au-Prince
Music Video of the Week: Lalin ak Solèy by Zafèm
Port-au-Prince: Var Downtown, a Bit of Life in the Free Districts
Haitians Wary as Kenyan Police Arrive on Latest US-backed Mission
Press Reviews
The Hidden Treasures of Port-au-Prince's Mountains
Once a well-kept secret among backpackers, the last free road connecting Port-au-Prince to the rest of the world has been abandoned for decades. It runs from the village of Fermathe (Kenscoff), at an altitude of over 1,500 meters, over the peaks to Seguin in the Sud-Est department, before descending to the Caribbean Sea.
This road offers some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. The mountains (or mornes in Haitian French and Creole) stretch for miles behind Pétion-Ville, reminding us that the word Haiti in the Taïnos language refers to mountains planted in the sea.
"The road is really not in good condition, last Thursday's rain made it that way," says Jocelyn Mathurin, who grew up in Belle-Anse, across the valley, but now lives in the Port-au-Prince area.
As we talk, he's tying a Starlink satellite dish to a mule. We're at the base of Kay-Jak, the big climb before the final summit. The torrential rains of the past few days have damaged the road. Rocks have fallen near a waterfall that flows into a stream.
Mr Mathurin, 25 years old and father of one, will not take his motorcycle any further. Someone will pick up the antenna from the top of the mountain when the mule and its owner arrive.
"Not for a few months, but for a few years, the roads below [in Port-au-Prince] have been blocked. So it's this road that serves us. You could even say that this road has become the national road to get to the Grand Sud today."
The La Selle mountain range is located between Port-au-Prince to the north and the Jacmel region to the east and extends to the Dominican border. Its various peaks, which reach 2,680 meters, are dotted with temperate flora and fauna, unique in the world.
The Hispaniola pine is a unique species with its huge needles. One of the country's last remaining pine forests is located in the Parc de la Visite protected area, just before Seguin. It is part of the La Selle Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2012. With its almost constant fog, the atmosphere is like something out of a movie. In another era, these pine forests, now threatened by deforestation, covered up to 15% of the island of Hispaniola.
This journey also recalls the Marronage route during the French colony, when the future Haitians, reduced to slavery, fled to the mountain forests to escape their fate and often organized resistance. Until the creation of the first truly free republic in history.
During the dictatorship of François Duvalier, these mountains also served as a refuge for the resistance, which was harshly repressed. Armed Haitians known as Kamoken, for example, were brutally murdered along with hundreds of local villagers.
Rachèle Magloire's documentary film 1964 - Simetyè Kamoken presents, with the help of breathtaking images, an investigation into this long taboo subject, including numerous first-hand witnesses. The film, in which members of the DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO team participated, is currently touring festivals abroad.
Finally, the descent to the Caribbean Sea lasts over an hour, with breathtaking views of the turquoise water below at every turn.
Haïti Magazine on Radio-Canada's Téléjournal de Céline Galipeau
DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO editor-in-chief Etienne Côté-Paluck and Nouvelliste journalist Jean Daniel Sénat were guests on Radio-Canada's Téléjournal with Céline Galipeau. The interview also touched on our journey through the mountains of Haiti.
Jean Daniel Sénat has written an account of this journey:
Avoiding Gangs When Leaving Port-au-Prince - Le Nouvelliste
So did La Presse columnist Laura-Julie Perrault:
Although the portrait they paint of Port-au-Prince is far from comforting, Étienne and Jean Daniel also list reasons for hope.
-Excerpt from a column by Laura-Julie Perrault in La Presse de Montréal
Darline Desca Marks the Return of Concerts to Port-au-Prince
One of the queens of compas and popular music performed an open-air concert late Friday afternoon, June 21, at the Institut français in Port-au-Prince. Since the attacks on the city center in March, the city’s cultural scene has come to a virtual standstill. A large number of Darline Desca fans, especially women, gathered for this concert, where the great diva of Haitian music sang her greatest hits accompanied by five musicians on stage.
A few hours later, Jaden Sanba also offered a concert as part of the Fête de la musique, celebrated on the day of the summer solstice. The cultural space had also been on hiatus for several months, another blow following the death of its co-founder Sanba Yanmbaye in October.
The mood was festive for this first big concert, opened by the group Rasin Vokila and their vodou music with its multiple contretemps.
IFH and the city of Jacmel celebrate the Fête de la Musique - Le National
Music Video of the Week
Lalin ak Solèy - Zafèm
The first video clip from the group Zafèm's latest album has been turning heads for the past few days. Highlighting rural life in the north of the country, the video is a declaration of love to traditional Haitian culture.
One year after the release of the eponymous album, the song Lalin ak Solèy [the moon and the sun] is a poetic tribute to the cycle of days and nights.
Zafèm unveils first clip for album LAS - Le Nouvelliste
Port-au-Prince: Var Downtown, a Bit of Life in the Free Districts
In recent weeks, life has returned to normal to the east of downtown Port-au-Prince. Schools have reopened, often in temporary facilities, as school buildings continue to be requisitioned to house camps for the displaced.
Traffic has also resumed, as far as Bas-Peu-de-Choses, where some activities have resumed. This neighborhood, southeast of the Champs-de-Mars, had been abandoned by most of its inhabitants in March. It had become a corridor for attacks by certain armed groups on the city's main square.
However, the city remains under siege, with the southern, southwestern and northern suburbs abandoned by the authorities following attacks by armed groups. Since March, much of the city center has been a var, a term used to describe an abandoned conflict zone. Parts of Cité-Soleil are also considered vars due to the conflicts, although they have calmed down over the past year.
The large Portail Léogane bus station, strategically located at the southern entrance to the city, also remains abandoned, having been turned into a var. Conflicts between rival armed groups have also been reported in Cité-Soleil, where the Brooklyn district remains under siege.
The DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO team contributed to the production of Radio-Canada journalist Jean-François Bélanger’s and editor-cameraman Emilio Avalos's reports from Port-au-Prince last month.
Downtown Port-au-Prince deserted, merchants set up shop elsewhere - Le National
Since June 12, the national police force has been conducting a vast operation in the Bas-Delmas area - L'exclusivité
Fleeing bandit attacks in the lower town, merchants from Croix-des-Bossales settle in Tabarre - Le Nouvelliste
Haitians Wary as Kenyan Police Arrive on Latest US-backed Mission
First contingent of multinational team lands in operation to end chaos in gang-controlled country.
Read more in The Guardian.
Alexis De Lancer discusses armed criminal groups, the United States and the multinational mission in Haiti with Etienne Côté-Paluck on Radio-Canada Information's Ça s'explique podcast.
DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO’s team
Photojournalists: Francillon Laguerre, Sonson Thelusma, Andoo Lafond, Milot Andris, Patrick Payin
Editorial board: Etienne Côté-Paluck, Jean Elie Fortiné, Jean-Paul Saint-Fleur
Interns: Wilky Andris, Donley Jean Simon
Special collaboration: Stéphanie Tourillon-Gingras, Françoise Ponticq, Josianne Desjardins, Jean Daniel Sénat, Mateo Fortin Lubin
Media partners: Centre à la Une, J-COM, Nord-Est Info
Institutional partners: Kay Fanm, Mouka.ht
Special thanks to the Fonds québécois pour le journalisme international (FQJI) for its support.
How Does Your Contribution Help?
Your monthly support helps to finance the production and pay the salaries of the DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO staff in the communities of Cité-Soleil, Port-au-Prince and Cayes-Jacmel. In addition, donations are regularly distributed for medical expenses, school fees and other emergencies in these communities.
Press Reviews
Press Review - Culture and Heritage
Décryptage de « L'Agonie», une sculpture de David Thébaud - Le Nouvelliste
Le Sénat français honore MIKABEN : Un héritage culturel indélébile - Le Nouvelliste
La culture haïtienne s'exporte à travers le monde - Le Nouvelliste
Vend'Arts, une activité hebdomadaire pour rehausser l’art et la culture à Jacmel - Le National
Le Centre Culturel CJB : pour la paix et les droits de l'homme à travers l'art et la culture à Hinche - Le Nouvelliste
Akolad avec Kirekk pour perpétuer l'héritage culturel de Carrefour Feuilles - Le National
Cloche au Canada pour participer au Festival Transamerique - Le National
Rap ayisyen 40 lane aprè, un gros projet pour marquer les 40 ans du Rap kreyòl - Le Nouvelliste
Médias en ligne en Haïti : entre révolution numérique et défis d'encadrement - Réseau international des journalistes
DJ au féminin, une nouvelle initiative de l' Association culturelle Sol Scène - Le National
Le dressage de cheval, un héritage culturel tant chéri à Desdunes - Ayibopost
Pot’iwa Pizza allume une enseigne à Brooklyn (New York) - Le Nouvelliste
Furie caraïbe de Stéphane Pair: une plongée dans la dictature des Duvalier - Le Nouvelliste
Le spectacle « Laviwonndede lavi» à l'affiche à l' IFH - Le National
Les fêtes patronales en Haïti moments par excellence pour découvrir les croyances et les traditions haïtiennes - Le National
Press Review - Gender and Women Rights
presented by KAY FANM
Kay Fanm : « Non à la velléité de dénaturer le ministère à la Condition féminine » - Rezo Nòdwès
Cayes : Formation sur le dépistage et le traitement des lésions précancéreuses du col utérin - Le Nouvelliste
Fanm yo la réclame une meilleure représentation des femmes dans le gouvernement de transition - Le Nouvelliste
Les Femmes troubadours musiciennes haïtiennes sur les traces de Lumane Casimir - Le National
ZEM Présente sa cartographie de services dans le Cadre du projet Ensemble pour les femmes II - Le National
Affaire Dadou: "aucune faute civile" de Molina selon la Cour d'appel - Loop Haiti
Enfants, jeunes filles et criminels du Pénitencier National dans le même centre - Ayibopost
Haïti : l'ONU préoccupée par la « hausse alarmante » des violences sexuelles - Les Nations Unies en Haïti
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