For the 222nd celebration of Haiti’s Flag Day, the government has allocated a budget ranging from 300 to 400 million gourdes. This year’s theme is: “One Flag, One People, One Nation.” The major national event will be held in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien. Why? Because public funds have been squandered, and no real efforts have been made to restore security in the Western Department, now overrun by armed gangs. As a result, Arcahaie—the historical birthplace of the bicolor flag—will be deprived of the festivities. Some observers see this as a disgrace for the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), especially for its coordinator, Fritz Alphonse Jean.
Ironically, back in 2023, the former governor of Haiti’s Central Bank harshly criticized Ariel Henry’s government for celebrating the 220th anniversary of the flag’s creation in the country’s second-largest city. “In Cap-Haïtien, the de facto government raised the flag of division,” declared Fritz A. Jean at the time, condemning Ariel Henry’s administration for its proven incompetence and failure.
Now, confronted by his own record of political demagoguery, Mr. Jean and his allies, along with Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé’s administration, will organize the 222nd Flag Day celebration… once again in Cap-Haïtien. As a pretext, the Minister of Youth, Sports, and Civic Action boldly declared this a strategic choice to decentralize official events from Port-au-Prince. “The West is not the only region that exists. Haiti is made up of ten departments. It’s time our major celebrations reflect that territorial reality,” she shamelessly affirmed.
