Port-de-Paix showcases Haiti’s northwest’s potential during patronal feast

PORT-DE-PAIX—  Port-de-Paix marked the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this yr with an prolonged collection of social, cultural and financial actions geared toward showcasing the Northwest Division’s potential — a area usually sidelined in nationwide planning and missing primary infrastructure.

On the heart of the festivities was La Huitaine, an eight-day program launched Dec. 1 by the Northwest Chamber of Commerce and Business (CCINO). The initiative featured conferences, creative performances, sports activities occasions and neighborhood discussions— specializing in native growth, public security, entrepreneurship and the surroundings.

“For eight days, we celebrated our native companies, our cultural creativity, and the energy of our entrepreneurs,” mentioned Jordan Hérard Verdule, president of CCINO. “The Huitaine is not only a collection of occasions — it’s a collective dedication and a promise to our neighborhood.”

CCINO leaders mentioned the aim was to shift nationwide consideration towards the Northwest Division, which they described as a area wealthy in human expertise, pure magnificence and financial potential—however hindered by many years of state or coverage neglect.

“This initiative goals to point out that the Northwest just isn’t a forgotten or marginalized area, however a vibrant, proficient, and impressive territory — able to producing, innovating, and provoking your entire nation,” Verdule added.

Panel discussions introduced collectively native teachers, enterprise leaders and civil society actors to look at the pressing points shaping day by day life. Matters included entrepreneurship, environmental degradation, public safety, youth growth and alternatives for native funding.

Safety and the surroundings: central issues

Professor Yves Martial opened the convention collection with a session on “Public Safety and the Atmosphere.” He emphasised how insecurity, displacement, and environmental destruction reinforce each other and deepen poverty nationwide.

“This can be a present subject — we stay with it on daily basis,” Martial mentioned. “Establishments are weakening, residents are more and more susceptible, and we aren’t paying sufficient consideration to our human surroundings.”

He famous that state establishments stay too fragile to handle the disaster and warned that mass displacement pushed by armed teams continues to worsen.

“To beat this, choices should be made,” he mentioned. “We’d like individuals with character and imaginative and prescient, able to producing synergy. All residents should work collectively. Issues have to alter.”

Martial additionally assigned duty to worldwide actors.

“The worldwide neighborhood is complicit in Haiti’s present state of affairs,” he mentioned. “No overseas nation has really prioritized us.”

He urged younger individuals to grab management, calling them the nation’s “best energy.”

A marathon honoring the Haitian nationwide soccer workforce

Festivities additionally included a five-kilometer marathon organized by CCINO in partnership with the Port-de-Paix Soccer League (LFP). The run celebrated Haiti’s nationwide workforce’s historic qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and drew hundreds of individuals, who chanted and danced within the streets.

Rock Juvens Clavel, president of the LFP, urged residents to assist Les Grenadiers and keep away from displaying overseas flags through the World Cup, particularly these of Brazil and Argentina—the 2 hottest nationwide soccer groups amongst Haitian followers.

“I don’t wish to see flags of Brazil or Argentina flying on rooftops,” he mentioned. “It’s essential that we elevate the Haitian flag — that’s how we present assist for our Grenadiers.”

Clavel referred to as on the federal government to offer ample funding to the Haitian Soccer Federation (FHF) and native leagues.

“This peaceable march is a approach to ask the state to assist soccer,” he mentioned. “We’re displaying Les Grenadiers that the Northwest stands with them — and so does your entire nation.”

Sports activities, cultural and creative programming

Past conferences and avenue festivities, the week-long occasion featured theatrical performances, conventional dances, soccer matches, and a meals and craft truthful celebrating native artisans and inventive industries.

“Our division faces actual challenges — fragile infrastructure, precarious financial situations, and restricted public providers,” Verdule mentioned.

 “However we even have extraordinary human sources. Our mission is to create areas, alternatives, and bridges for the financial, social, and cultural growth of the Northwest. The Northwest stands tall, it’s inventive, and it is able to reinvent itself,” he added.

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