Haiti Politics--Good News for a Change

We have reported to our supporters about the tenuous political situation in which Haiti has found itself in the last eight months.  Despite some initial successes, the process of elections, which were nearly five years delayed, has been chaotic and very difficult.  The result has been daily demonstrations on the streets of Haiti's major cities.  While the majority of these demonstrations have been relatively peaceful, they have caused problems for us and our ministry by forcing us to change travel plans and cancel events.  We do have good news to report, however.  The outgoing president, Joseph Martelly, signed a negotiated settlement with the opposition in which he agreed to relinquish power on the constitutionally-defined date (6 February).  The agreement set up a process for the nomination of an interim President and final elections to be held, supposedly, on April 24.  The new interim President is Privert, a former member of the most powerful opposition party called Lavalas.  Since Lavalas was organizing the demonstrations, its partizans have "laid their rocks and burning tires" aside to see what kind of election Privert can organize.  Martelly's party, called "Tet Kale," seems to be holding its peace as well.  We give thanks for this temporary settlement.  It has been wonderful to circulate in the streets of Port-au-Prince without having to follow reports of demonstrations on our cell phones.  Pray that Privert's administration will be able to faithfully and fairly hold elections on 24 April.