Overview:
Cap-Haïtien’s rubbish disaster led to the dismissal of Mayor Yvrose Pierre. Angie Bell, a younger entrepreneur, marketer and cultural specialist from the Haitian neighborhood in South Florida, is deeply concerned within the northern metropolis’s affairs and now heads a brand new mayoral workforce. Residents welcome the change, however many doubt her appointment will repair corruption points and produce actual outcomes. Some say Bell is the founder and govt director of Pou Bèl Ayiti, a corporation underneath contract with town, elevating conflict-of-interest issues.
CAP-HAÏTIEN— Haiti’s second-largest metropolis and cultural jewel is at a breaking level. A worsening sanitation disaster has piled trash onto its streets and clogged canals—regardless of having simply celebrated its 355th anniversary—threatening public well being and its historic picture, conserving away tourism.
The disaster reached a peak final week when the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) dismissed Mayor Yvrose Pierre after years of criticism over mismanagement. On Aug. 20, the CPT appointed a three-member mayoral workforce led by Angie Bell, a younger entrepreneur, marketer, cultural guide and founding father of Pou Bèl Ayiti or “For Lovely Haiti” — a creative environmental group geared toward conserving the streets of Haiti clear. Bell has been very concerned in cleansing efforts in Cap-Haïtien not too long ago.
As a profession spotlight, Bell had labored as co-chair of the fundraising and public relations committee on the Haitian American Professionals Coalition (HAPC) and as advertising director of the Haitian American Historic Society (HAHS). Bell co-owns Atizan Worldwide, a advertising agency that promotes Haitian and Caribbean tradition by way of occasion manufacturing and mission administration. She co-hosts the Ayiti Parle present on the Miami-based Island TV, the place she continues to showcase satisfaction in her heritage. She at present serves as vice rector and dean of enterprise at Université des Atlantes in Cap-Haïtien— a place she has held since 2022.
“It’s an aberration that Ms. Bell has a contract with the state to gather rubbish and that she is once more appointed mayor. It’s corruption.”
Jacques Célicourt, A Cap-Haïtien college trainer
Past recycling and avenue cleansing tasks, Bell’s group was created to combat deforestation, shield the atmosphere and promote a “clear” way of life. Focused at kids throughout Haiti, her mission additionally serves as an academic device to lift consciousness and encourage motion on local weather change. She can be the founding father of SEproject, a non-profit group that helps younger kids in Cap-Haitien attend college.
As mayor, Bell will handle town alongside Isaac Pierre-Louis and former Pierre’s workforce member Patrick Almonor.
The reshuffle adopted viral remarks by Guadeloupean artist Anthony Drew, who, whereas performing with the band Zile, Creole for Island, mentioned Les Cayes was “cleaner and extra lovely than Cap-Haïtien.” His feedback echoed frustrations lengthy voiced by residents and stung in a metropolis as soon as often known as “the Paris of the Antilles.”
The landfill is just the pilot mission of a broader initiative and might course of trash for 3 to 6 months
Years of mounting frustration amid tourism and financial fallout
Cap-Haïtien’s waste drawback didn’t emerge in a single day. After the 2010 earthquake and up to date escalating gang violence in Port-au-Prince, town’s inhabitants swelled, straining infrastructure that had been designed for simply 50,000 residents. Cleanup efforts launched by nonprofit organizations (NGOs) faltered inside just a few years, and subsequent municipal campaigns repeatedly failed to satisfy expectations.
In 2013, then-Mayor Wilborde Beon introduced an formidable citywide cleanup drive, however the initiative collapsed resulting from an absence of funds and poor coordination. By the mid-2010s, trash often clogged main intersections and canals, contributing to flash floods that submerged complete neighborhoods throughout heavy rains. Tourism operators warned that Cap-Haïtien’s worldwide picture was struggling, with rubbish marring visits to historic websites such because the Citadelle and Sans-Souci Palace.
Pierre, who took workplace in 2015, shortly turned the goal of mounting criticism. Civil society teams accused her administration of mismanaging funds earmarked for sanitation. Native media stories revealed no-bid contracts and poor accountability, at the same time as piles of rubbish overtook markets and public squares. By 2020, protests erupted in neighborhoods like Cité Lescot, the place residents demanded motion as flooding worsened.
Regardless of repeated guarantees, the issues continued by way of 2024. Overflowing landfills, uncared for drainage programs and insufficient gear turned defining options of Pierre’s tenure.
“Our beloved metropolis was constructed for less than 50,000 folks, and the infrastructure has not been improved regardless of all of the adjustments over the previous many years.”
Kenston Jean-Baptiste, A former parliamentarian
“The beloved metropolis was constructed for 50,000 folks, however infrastructure has by no means been improved regardless of all of the adjustments over the previous many years,” mentioned former Cap-Haïtien Deputy Kenston Jean-Baptiste. “This neglect has turned a historic metropolis right into a public well being hazard.”
For a metropolis reliant on its heritage to attract guests, the waste disaster carried heavy financial penalties. Tourism arrivals dipped as social media crammed with photographs of garbage-strewn streets. Tour guides and lodge house owners warned that Cap-Haïtien’s status as Haiti’s cultural capital was slipping away.
“The trash doesn’t simply look dangerous,” mentioned one lodge operator who most well-liked to not be named. “It discourages guests and places our financial system in peril.”
Controversy over Angie Bell’s appointment
Bell’s appointment has drawn blended reactions. As head of Pou Bèl Ayiti, she has lengthy promoted waste-management campaigns. However critics say her group’s contracts with the federal government create a battle of curiosity.
“It’s an aberration that Ms. Bell has a contract with the state to gather rubbish and that she is once more appointed mayor,” mentioned Jacques Célicourt, a Cap-Haïtien college trainer. “It’s corruption.”
Nonetheless, Célicourt, like many others, welcomed the shakeup. “Yvrose Pierre spent 10 years on the Metropolis Corridor with out engaging in something,” added. “Not less than now there’s hope for one thing completely different.”
Native entrepreneur Micelin Petit-Frère was skeptical. “There shall be no change in Cap-Haïtien; new wealthy folks shall be created,” he mentioned, suggesting the reshuffle is extra about authorities political maneuvering than fixing waste issues.
Political backdrop and a metropolis at a crossroads
The CPT’s intervention additionally raised questions on electoral technique. Some residents see the appointments as a method for the transitional authorities to increase its affect with out holding elections. Related shakeups are deliberate in different northern cities, together with Ouanaminthe, within the northeast, Port-de-Paix within the northwest and Gonaïves within the Artibonite, the place rubbish, insecurity and failing infrastructure additionally plague each day life.
Activist Karène Adéus, responding to viral remarks on social media, mentioned the disaster displays a deeper failure of governance. “The issue isn’t simply the variety of folks residing within the metropolis,” she wrote. “It’s the Metropolis Corridor and central authorities, which have by no means had a transparent nationwide plan for waste administration.”
For Cap-Haïtien, the problem is pressing. With out dependable waste assortment, drainage enhancements and funding in infrastructure, town dangers additional decline and harm to its financial system.
Whether or not Mayor Bell and her workforce can overcome skepticism and ship tangible outcomes stays to be seen. For weary residents, actual progress — not guarantees — will decide town’s future.