In Mexico City, Memories of the Earthquake in Haiti

Above: a ceremony in Mexico City (Photo: Embassy of Haiti in Mexico)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Haitian community in Mexico took time Saturday to remember the victims of the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.

Haiti’s Embassy in Mexico City helped put together a ceremony in the neighbourhood of Polanco led by the Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, paying tribute to the victims and encourage Haiti in the process of reconstruction.

Haiti Ambassador to Mexico Guy Lamothe thanked “all layers of Mexican society” for their support during and since the crisis in Haiti, expressing his hope that new Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto would continue in the same direction as his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, with regard to Haiti.

Under Calderon, Mexico increased its cooperation with Haiti, from providing scholarships for Haitian students in Mexico to enhanced cooperation in the tourism sector.

“Mexico was not content just to act during an emergency,” Lamothe said. “It remained with us to rebuild markets, schools and clinics.”

The Ambassador recalled a quote by American writer Napoleon Hill: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

Members of the Haitian Diaspora in Mexico, along with Christian Toussaint, Minister Counsellor to the Embassy and Wilner Metellus, chairman of the Committee for Naturalized and Afro-Mexican citizens, also placed a wreath this weekend at the “Angel of Independence” column on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma.

“This day is very important for us — we still have in our memory the victims of the earthquake and we all carry it in our hearts,” Metellus said. “Unfortunately, there are still people in tents, and others are without homes.”