This picture essay captures the essence of the celebrations held at Villa d’Accueil in Musseau, Delmas—a northeast Port-au-Prince suburb—on Jan. 1 and a couple of. The occasions included stirring speeches, flag-raising ceremonies, and tributes honoring Haiti’s independence heroes.
PORT-AU-PRINCE— As has been the case in recent times as a result of exacerbated sociopolitical atmosphere and escalating gang-fueled insecurity, the transitional authorities held a low-key celebration of Haiti’s Independence Day in Port-au-Prince, the capital, on Jan. 1. The officers didn’t go to Gonaïves—the Metropolis of Independence—the place the official celebration often takes place yearly on Independence Day, nor did they honor the heroes of the revolution on the Musée du Panthéon Nationwide Haïtien (MUPANAH) on Jan. 2. All ceremonies passed off on the Villa d’Accueil, the federal government palace in Musseau, miles away from the middle of Port-au-Prince, which is gang-controlled.
Throughout the ceremonies of Jan. 1 and a couple of, marking the 221st anniversary of Haiti’s Independence and Ancestors’ Day, Leslie Voltaire known as on Haitians to “declare conflict” on armed gangs and urged self-reliance over dependence on overseas support to revive nationwide safety. He additionally reiterated calls for for France to repay Haiti’s independence debt and supply reparations for slavery.
Nonetheless, many have mocked Voltaire’s speech and certified it as demagogic.
A police officer in Pétion-Ville, who spoke to The Haitian Occasions on the situation of anonymity as a result of matter’s sensitivity, questioned the safety state of affairs that prevented authorities from celebrating Haiti’s Independence Day within the historic metropolis of Gonaïves, the capital of the Artibonite Division, which has been with out electrical energy, clear water, and emergency and sanitation providers for years.
“How can thugs cease leaders from celebrating the most important nationwide vacation within the Metropolis of Independence?” he requested. “If I had been in cost, I’d both have fun the occasion accurately, in honor of our ancestry, who shed blood and tears to present us this land, or remove all these gangs and their enablers,” the officer mentioned.
Three Haitian Armed Forces (FADH) officers stand proudly through the flag-raising ceremony, celebrating Haiti’s 221st Independence Day anniversary. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions. Members of the Transitional Presidential Council, accompanied by Haitian army and police leaders, attended the flag-raising ceremony through the 221st Independence Day celebration on Jan. 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions. Prime Minister Alx Didier Fils-Aimé, left, and Lesly Voltaire, the present chairman of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), center-right, accompanied by different authorities and presidential council members, stand to sing the nationwide anthem through the celebration honoring the heroes of independence on Jan. 2, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions. Lesly Voltaire delivers his speech to the attendees through the Independence Day celebration on January 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions. Haitian military, police, and authorities officers, together with Chairman Voltaire and Prime Minister Fils-Aimé, on the solemn ceremony inside Villa d’Accueil, Musseau, on Jan. 1, Day 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Leslie Voltaire, accompanied by two presidential council members, Frinel Joseph and Laurent Saint-Cyr, walks across the courtyard of Villa d’Accueil to greet attendees after the 221st ceremony of Haiti’s Independence Day on Jan. 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé greets the friends after the ceremony celebrating Haiti’s 221st anniversary of independence at Villa d’Accueil, Museau, on Jan. 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Prime Minister Didier Alix Fils Aimé, the center, stands alongside Normil Rameau, director normal of the Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH) and Inspector Normal Frantz Thermilus, and two different members of the nation’s forces excessive command on Jan. 2, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian OccasionsLaw enforcement officials through the celebration honoring the heroes of Haiti’s independence on Jan. 2, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Younger Haitian women and men in uniform stand to have fun nationwide delight and honor the flag on the event of Independence Day on Jan. 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Three troopers of the FADH stand earlier than the nationwide flag through the ceremony marking the 221st Independence Day celebration on Jan. 1, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions.Statues of the Haitian independence heroes Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint Louverture, Alexandre Pétion, and Henri Christophe are erected within the courtyard of Villa d’Accueil through the celebration of Forefathers and Ancestors Day on Jan. 2, 2025. Picture by Arnold Junior Pierre for Haitian Occasions
