Wednesday, December 08, 2010

A precursor of things to come?

At this moment, I have not yet heard of any deaths in Jeremie related to the political violence sweeping the country. Though people seem to have been killed in most of the other towns.

I did hear the gunfire for several hours last night. This morning a local friend insisted on walking me to work. Everything -- banks, schools, gov't offices, airports -- is closed. But the bottom line to me is that there no deaths of which I'm aware in Jeremie, thankfully.

It is interesting though. Just before lunch, I saw the "manifestation" pass by my office. There was no gunfire. Rather, it was something like an impromptu parade... with people cheering, playing horns, carrying signs... but I was told that the cheers -- in Creole -- included calls for the President's execution and the removal of UN forces from Haiti. Yikes.

Precursor to a revolution? Not that far-fetched IMO. People are angry.

Jeremie is a relatively quiet town, but the situation is extremely volatile.

Tim White

4 comments:

Breachway said...

Time to get out of Dodge Tim....

tim white said...

C'est impossible.

Airports are closed indefinitely.

Anonymous said...

I hope the US Marines are on standby, and that you keep your ears open in case you have to be evacuated.

tim white said...

I know the State Dept is concerned. They issued a highly unusual memo last night basically suggesting the election was bogus. They don't make such statements lightly.