Haiti links: How to sell tourism; death of former PM; Land conflict in La Visite; “culture clash”

1. Le Nouvelliste wonders how to sell Haiti to tourists (fr). The answer apparently involves billboards on I-95 in Miami.

2. “Former Haiti PM Smarck Michel dies at age 75”

3. “Haiti park standoff highlights conflict over land”: A thorough AP report on recent conflict in La Visite National Park that led to four residents/squatters being killed.

4. Undermining or supporting your own thesis?:

“On a planet with thousands of languages, there was no mistaking the universal message a Haitian villager directed at me a few weeks ago when she pulled her finger across her throat—not once, but twice—after I refused to give her money.”

An Elon University professor of sociology spends a summer in Haiti, writes an op-ed about “culture clash” and how Americans don’t understand the country, suggests that “[p]erhaps what Haiti needs is fewer foreigners.” One-time Reuters Haiti correspondent Michael Deibert points out that, “In Haiti pulling the finger across the throat signifies hunger, not menace.”

5. Sean Penn is organizing “a star-studded benefit concert in Haiti.” I’ve heard that the venue might be the grounds of the National Palace. Penn’s humanitarian organization is overseeing demolition of the Palace. On va voir.

The concert may feature Bono, naturally, as well as Paul McCartney. “He’s in serious talks with Rihanna, Jay-Z and Beyonce, as well as Eminem and 50 Cent.” No word yet on Kanye, or Taylor Swift for that matter.

Photo by me