Port-au-Prince & Gressier Government

Today I met with some of the Port-au-Prince mayor's office. They were doing the city's payroll, writing paper checks sitting on chairs between two buildings on (I kid you not) Rue D'Enterrement (Burial Road), where all the mortuaries are located. These guys were doing what they could to keep the city running, but it was just a group of about 10 people (if you could the sister of one of the guys, who was hanging out there with her daughter). While my contacts put the proportion of honest people in government at about 20%, they tend to find each other and conceive and manage projects on their own, leaving the others in government to do what they do. These guys are looking for a way to put the contributions of San Luis Potosi, Mexico to work, moving 2000 people from Port-au-Prince to a smaller town outside the city center called Gressier. The reason San Luis Potosi is involved is that one of the ex-staff of the mayor now lives in San Luis Potosi, and everyone he knows there (including those from Caritas, the Catholic charity) is trying to contribute, because they trust him.


We later went out to Gressier to find out how plans for the land for this resettlement are going. We met with the Mayor of Gressier, an older gentleman affiliated with the Duvalier regime (and still maintains regular contact with Baby Doc's son). He was very quick and matter-of-fact, wanted to know why we were there, and was very gracious. He gave his approval, but we still had to meet with the Adjunct Mayor and the Mayoral Administrator. (Each municipality in Haiti, no matter how small, has a Mayor and two Adjunct Mayors, all of whom are elected. This provides more work for the political class. The Mayoral Administrator is a position appointed by the Mayor.) While we met immediately with the Mayor at his home, we had to wait over an hour for the Administrator, at an office with a very armed guard in front. When he arrived with the Adjunct Mayor and assistant, it was out of a movie scene. The Adjunct Mayor seemed to be focused on the task at hand, but the other two guys were more about the bling. Each sported big chains, watches, and rings. After reading the same information the Mayor had seen, they agreed to meet again on Friday (in 2 days) to pick a spot for the encampment to be located.