I commenced a tour of ten days in Haiti. This bit of Africa which I speak is the capital of this country, located in the Caribbean, a stone’s throw from Cuba and Miami, USA. My thoughts go out to the couple Lemoine, these Senegalese Haitian ethnicity. The husband gave me lessons in diction in journalism school. I’m in Lemoine and also at home..

Haiti is the first free black republic in 1804. The independence was wrested from France after a long liberation struggle led by a black general Toussaint Louverture (arrested in 1802). He died in captivity in France one year before the proclamation of independence (1803).

Since then, the country is going through troubled times with dictatorships, assassinations of heads of state, military coups, democratization hit, a guardianship or a strong UN presence to stabilize the country. Brazil took command of some 9,000 peacekeepers deployed in Haiti. See full story »