by Amy Wilentz | Oct 24, 2012
On Tuesday, Sae-A, South Korea’s premier clothing manufacturer, opened its new plant in Caracol, in the north of Haiti, with great fanfare. Present were both Clintons (the kinder, gentler Mama and Papa Doc of today’s Haiti) as well as the actual president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, and Luis Moreno, the head of the Inter-American Development Bank. The US Embassy sent representatives, as well. Richard Branson, international man of finance, was there, too, as an investor in the project. Along for the ride, perhaps in Branson’s or Clinton’s private jets, were more of the usual suspects (usual for Haiti after the earthquake, that is): Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, and Donna Karan — lending their celebrity wattage to this dubious project.
by Amy Wilentz | Oct 19, 2012
This beautiful picture, taken by the brilliant photojournalist Maggie Steber, shows kids playing soccer in the middle of Port-au-Prince in the days just following the 2010 earthquake. I like it especially because it reminds me of the soccer-playing street kids who...
by Amy Wilentz | Oct 6, 2012
Dream Haiti. This is a tiny tableau (4.5” x 3”) that I bought in 1987. It shows the downtown square of a dream provincial city (probably modeled on Gonaïves). On the far right, dream municipal water flows from municipal pipes; in the foreground, dream...
by Amy Wilentz | Oct 6, 2012
I try not to be tender about Haiti but I’m feeling a little tender and defensive now, as I think about how hard it would be — how hard it is — to regulate environmental protection there, and why. As I noted in my last post, the Martelly government has banned the sale and distribution and importation and manufacture of plastic containers and bags as of October 1. However, as astute Associated Press reporter Trenton Daniels noted in a recent dispatch from Port-au-Prince, Haitians on the ground are happily ignoring the ban and selling bags and using plastic food containers just as if no ban had ever been announced.
by Amy Wilentz | Oct 1, 2012
In Port-au-Prince, a pile of plastic bottles waits for a pick-up that never comes
by Amy Wilentz | Sep 28, 2012
Plastic and other pollution near the wharf in Les Cayes, Haiti
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