In a recent article in The New Yorker, “Haitians Are At An Impasse Over The Country’s Future, author Edwidge Danticat writes about the current political situation in Haiti. The award winning Haitian American novelist, has written extensively about her immigration experiences, including The Dew Breaker, Krik? Krak! After The Dance, and others. Danticat is also featured in the documentary, Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms and the Music of New Orleans.
In The New Yorker article, Danticat writes:
It was a tale of two gatherings. One took place in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, on February 14th, when thousands marched against dictatorship and against the Presidency of Jovenel Moïse. Moïse was elected in 2016, after a highly contested and drawn-out electoral process. A broad coalition of people—members of the political opposition, civil-society groups, the Superior Council of Haiti’s Judiciary, the Haitian Bar Federation, and Haitian diaspora organizations, as well as a group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers and U.S. human-rights clinics—contend that, per Haiti’s constitution, Moïse’s five-year term started on February 7th of that year, and therefore ended this past February 7th. (Others, including the Biden Administration and the United Nations, support Moïse’s claim that his term extends until February of 2022, because he didn’t officially take office until 2017.) The other gathering took place over several days in the northwestern coastal city of Port-de-Paix, where Moïse, vowing not to leave office until February, 2022, partied and basked in COVID-era carnival festivities.
In her excellent article, Danticat refers to the song “Lamayot,” by Haitian singer and songwriter and political activist Manno Charlemagne, who passed away in 2018. You can watch the song below. and read the rest of the article here.