Roses and Stray Bullets: Haiti, Hearts Pierced by Love or by Weapons

In the grand ballet of chronic political instability in Haiti, bereaved families dance in a whirlwind of blood and tears, burying their beloved sons. A capital city 90% controlled by armed gangs, where the State is virtually nonexistent—except when it comes to diverting the little aid the country receives from the international community. The population finds itself delivered to its tormentors.

Marcenat Lebelt, a young, talented, and diligent student at CEDI, lost his life in his classroom chair, struck by a stray bullet.

Even by choosing the pen over the AK-47, which our corrupt politicians continue to distribute across the country, Lebelt could not escape the clutches of insecurity established and controlled by the Haitian ruling class. As he drew his last breath, a student from Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague was wounded in the arm under similar circumstances.

From tears to love's kisses, from romance to tragedy, from bullets to bouquets of roses, from exorbitant "Valentine's Day packs"... Between the desolation of a mother burying her son and declarations of love under the bullets of armed gangs, Haiti sways and falters, between a distant hope and total chaos.

Cleevens Louis