April 2005
Just in case you all are taking these U.S. embassy reports too
seriously, I thought I’d drop a line about the security
situation here in Haiti.
It really only takes a line. There is nothing serious happening
at this moment in the Hinche-Papaye area. According to my informants,
there is nothing serious happening anywhere else in the country
except Port au Prince. There was some activity in the “Mon
Kabrit” zone, a mountain pass just before the descent into
the Port au Prince region (not the Central Plateau region—which
seems to have been stated in error in some news reports).
I happened to be going to Port au Prince on the day the shootout
went on between the UN forces and the so-called ex-military forces
(although reports have it that the “ex-military” has
actually become sort of a collection point for any undesirable
who can find a uniform, including Aristides former gangsters,
the Chimere).
Anyway, I was riding on a bus that was blocked on Mon Kabrit
by members—or purported members—of the ex-military,
including Ravix, who was reportedly killed two days ago. They
didn’t point their guns at the civilians (or the foreigner),
but word has it that they were planning on using the collection
of vehicles and passengers as sort of a shield to shoot their
way through the UN forces. Obviously I would have been more nervous
if I’d known that was the plan. I thought the options were
waiting forever or returning to Hinche. Most of the other passengers
in the other transportation vehicles walked the rest of the way
down the mountain, past the MUNUSTAH blockade about three miles
away. I didn’t feel like hauling my luggage all that distance,
especially without any friends to wander with me.
The driver of my vehicle was the only one who was allowed pull
out of the blockade and go the rest of the way down into Croix
de Bouquet. When he tried returning (he later told me back in
Hinche) with a new load of passengers headed to Hinche, he ran
into the shooting between MUNUSTAH and the ex-military.
Mon Kabrit is now occupied by UN troops, and nothing else is
happening there. That doesn’t mean that things can’t
happen, but they aren't right now and they may never happen.
Port au Prince is a mess, but it is not a mess 24/7. What happens
happens in outbreaks. Delmas 31-33, one of the areas mentioned
in the embassy report, is not usually in the middle of things.
That is the general area where Chavannes Jean Baptiste’s
wife lives (for security reasons, they do not usually stay in
the same house when they are both in Port au Prince). But it is
in the middle of some things right now, at least sporadically.
When I am in Port au Prince, I stay at St. Joseph’s Home
for Boys and Guesthouse for Wayward Travelers. It is off 91st
street, more or less a mile and a half up the mountain from Delmas
33. There is a grocery store I go to sometimes that is near Delmas
35th. Maybe I’ll buy my toilet plunger somewhere else next
time.
None of this is to say that going into Port au Prince does not
have its drawbacks (other than the usual heat, dust, noise, and
crowds). But going to Washington, D.C., has its drawbacks as well,
or New York. And I don’t go to any of those places very
often.
Many blessings,
Mark
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
50
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