Haitian Haven Sees Strife as Opportunity
JACMEL, Haiti — The quaint, two-story villas with filigreed verandas may need a lick of paint, and the relentless din of motorbikes and dump trucks along the main thoroughfare is hardly conducive to a laid-back Caribbean vacation.
But otherwise, this picturesque seaside resort known for cheerful handcrafts and spring festivals testifies to the potential that Haiti has seldom lived up to. An oasis of calm with a vibrant, can-do spirit, Jacmel is a glaring exception to the national legacy of opportunity lost to outbreaks of violence.
United in a drive to market their town of 30,000 as Haiti's cultural capital and premier tourist destination, Jacmel's residents managed to head off most of the looting and vandalism that ravaged large parts of the country in recent months as a rebellion drove President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile.
Jacmel's business leaders kept the people focused on the common good with radio broadcasts urging tolerance and respect for their neighbors' property as well as political positions.
"Only the police station was ransacked, and people even brought back some of what they took from there after appeals went out on the radio," said Marie Giselaine Michel, director of the Aid to Artisans project, which promotes local crafts.
The newly constituted Group for Reflection and Political Observation has enlisted youths to paint over pro-Aristide graffiti and spruce up the central streets in anticipation of tourism.
Although Jacmel's main streets are potholed and sidewalks are obstacle courses of broken concrete, they are largely free of the sewage and sludge-coated debris found in many parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, a two-hour drive to the northeast.
But with more than 300 deaths since rebels rose up against Aristide on Feb. 5, the only foreign visitors to Haiti these days are U.S., French, Canadian and Chilean peacekeepers and a small contingent of relief workers.
"Right now we can't talk about tourism. First we have to focus on the country's image," said Danielle St. Lot, whose duties as interim minister for commerce and industry include the stillborn sphere of tourism. She reckons it will take at least a year for the scenes of machete-wielding looters and gunmen to fade from the memories of potential visitors.
Jacmel's boosters are more optimistic. "Many countries have had violent events, but with time people forget," said Michaelle Craan, an artist employed by the local chamber of commerce.
