Above: Hillary Clinton at the airport last year (USAID/Kendra Helmer)

By Alexander Britell

Haiti’s Cap-Haitien airport will be renamed after late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, according to Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Gary Bodeau, confirmed the move to Caribbean Journal on Friday. Lamothe himself first announced the decision on Twitter on Friday afternoon.

“The airport in Cap-Haitien will be renamed in honour of what [Chavez] has done for the Haitian people,” Bodeau said.

The soon-to-be Hugo Chavez International Airport, which is located on Haiti’s northern coast, is the second-biggest in the country after Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

Chavez was a major patron of Haiti during his tenure, primarily through the PetroCaribe oil programme, and Venezuela is supporting the renovation of the airport, both with a new runway strip and terminal.

Haiti President Michel Martelly departed the country on Thursday to attend the inauguration of new Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who won a hotly-contested election over challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski on Sunday.