• by IPS Correspondents (port-au-prince)
• Thursday, December 22, 1994
• Inter Press Service

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dic 22 (IPS) - Some Haitians are letting their hair down this festive season, while others pick up placards.

In the month that marks the third anniversary of the coup against President Jean Bertrand Aristide, some people of the Caribbean nation are partying with relish - even as awareness grows that expectations of immediate improvement raised by his recent return, was perhaps only a mirage.

Since mid-December, nightclubs and stage shows have drawn big crowds. Night-time traffic has increased. Traditional musical groups have staged parades. And there have been public concerts in some places.

After three years of severe political repression, the total insecurity that created, and the economic crisis at its backdrop, that kind of indulgence is not unexpected.

However, Father Christmas will not be present in all homes.

"I should have liked to have really celebrated this year, after three years of insecurity, but I don't have the means to," said one Haitian interviewed here.

"Goods are dear," said another.

"Nothing has changed, for Aristide has left commerce to the merchants," declared one young civil servant still waiting for his October salary.

And Jean, a mechanic, said, "I risked my life several times during the army rebellion to enable people in difficulty to cross the frontier. But where has this got me today? The president goes around in a helicopter and he has forgotten the poor."

He added: "It is those who actually took part in the seizure of power by the military, or who helped finance it, who are now benefitting from the positive fallout from Aristide's restoration."

On Friday of last week, working class organisations organised protest demonstrations in front of the Presidential Palace.

They bore placards critical of government policy, especially its failure to reduce the cost of living. There was also some anger regarding the policy of national reconciliation advocated by the president since his return to Haiti.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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