Above: Haiti President Michel Martelly in Anse-à-Veau with Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas (Photo: OP)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti President Michel Martelly traveled to Anse-à-Veau this week, to visit a village built for earthquake victims and to inaugurate the new Sainte Anne Polytechnic School.

Martelly was welcomed in the town by Alex Tropnaz, the local delegate, joined by Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas, members of the Catholic clergy and elected officials.

The Head of State then visited the village, which was built by charitable organization Food for the Poor.

The 60-home village was built to house displaced victims of Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, along with flood victims from the department of Nippes.

Bishop Dumas noted that Martelly was the first Haitian president to visit Anse-à-Veau, and to show what the cleric called a “real interest” in the region. Dumas is a member of the board of directors of Food for the Poor.

Martelly has been pushing a campaign of so-called “decentralization” that seeks to develop Haiti’s outer regions.

“You have to believe in progress in advancing a country,” Martelly said. “It is easier to break than to build.”

He was also joined in Anse-à-Veau by Daniel Rouzier, a representative for Food for the Poor.

Rouzier was one of Martelly’s first choices for Prime Minister that was ultimately rejected by Haiti’s parliament in May 2011.

Martelly said he would seek to invest “heavily” in the development of the department of Nippes.