Haiti: The Fiesta and the Fury; Special Report Crazed and Cut Off, Port-Au-Prince Is a City in Meltdown, Where Impending Revolution, Machete-Weilding Thugs and a Wild Party Fever Spin a Frenzied Carnival of Chaos

Sunday Herald › March 03, 2004

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Summary

In his black beret he was a dead ringer for Dizzie Gillespie.

"Presidente?" he enquired, having sidled up to my restaurant table. For a moment I thought he was some kind of paramilitary soldier, and his question a politically loaded one as to whether I was for or against Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Then, with some relief, I realised he was only a waiter offering me another beer. Presidente being the imported brand from the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

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Haiti: The Fiesta and the Fury; Special Report Crazed and Cut Off, Port-Au-Prince Is a City in Meltdown, Where Impending Revolution, Machete-Weilding Thugs and a Wild Party Fever Spin a Frenzied Carnival of Chaos

"C'mon man, it's carnival, enjoy yourself," Dizzie turned to me again. I pointed out that the carnival had finished three days ago and that there was something of a "situation" at the moment.

"Carnival or coup d'etat, who gives a shit? Have a beer man," Dizzie insisted.

Port-au-Prince is in meltdown. A city of barricades and blazing tyres, shotguns and looters, hijackers, and partygoers. There is nothing like an impending coup d'etat to bring out the headcase and the hedonist in people. "This city is going mad," shouted Joseph Chery, my driver...

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