Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 6 december 2017

Troubled meat market is key supplier for Haiti’s capital

a slum by the same name the animals to sell to retail
that forms part of the sprawl buyers.
of the capital, Port-au- Other workers skin the ani-
Prince. The market is mostly mals, clean them, transport
a dirt yard, with a few huts them and sell them to cus-
made of worn sheet metal, tomers. Etty Felix, 50, and
wood and cloth. Monise Jironer, 54, remove
Chunks of raw meat sit waste from goats’ intes-
on tables for purchase by tines, disinfect them in boil-
customers. The remnants ing water and sell them to
of slaughtered animals vendors who make bouil-
are dumped in a canal at lon to sell. They receive 16
the entrance of the mar- cents per intestine.
ket, filling the area with a Market owner Polynice
foul stench and causing Amboise, 65, said the mar-
flooding in the surrounding ket has been repeatedly
neighborhood. moved by Haitian admin-
Outside the market is the istrations, from inside the
neighborhood known as La slum to the seaside and
Saline, so violent that mar- back again.
ket workers and customers He said that since Haiti’s
frequently have to dive to devastating 2010 earth-
the ground to avoid stray quake killed an estimated
In this Nov. 9, 2017 photo, Gesner Sagaille stirs a goat’s head in a pot of boiling water to remove its
hair, at the La Saline meat market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. “The market is not only for animals, I am bullets. 300,000 people and threw
a human being who spends my day inside this market,” says the 65-year-old who has worked at Customers, neighbors and the government into crisis,
the market for more than 30 years and wants authorities to provide sanitary facilities. even the market’s workers he hasn’t paid taxes for the
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) say Haitian authorities have market and the govern-
By CHERY NALIO capital, supplying meat to work there. He found a long failed to take any ac- ment has taken no action
Associated Press restaurants, street vendors constant struggle to make tion in to improve condi- to improve its conditions.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) and stores. ends meet in the face of tions there. “The authorities don’t
— La Saline slaughterhouse Associated Press photog- unhygienic conditions, Butchers are paid $10 for come. I bring all my papers
is a nightmarish panorama rapher Chery Dieu Na- poor regulation and even $20 for each goat they to City Hall but they never
of animal blood, body lio spent nearly a month deadly violence. slaughter for individuals. get back to me,” Amboise
parts and detritus. It’s also documenting conditions in More than 300,000 goats They get no money from said.
an essential part of the the market and the lives of are butchered every year wholesale customers, but “I am not happy with the
economy of the Haitian more than 100 people who in La Saline, at the edge of rather keep some parts of situation of the market. The

Rebellious police return to duty amid Honduran vote workers also are not hap-
py.”
Youri Chevry, the mayor
By CHRIS SHERMAN Hernandez apparently and would not give his the election. of Port-au-Prince, said the
FREDDY CUEVAS headed off the police dis- name for fear of reprisals, On Tuesday, Nasralla sup- situation is complicated
Associated Press content by paying Christ- said, “We will return to our porters blocked the high- by a broader problem of
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras mas bonuses, increasing posts in the streets to pro- way between the capital, lawlessness, but which he
(AP) — Police officers re- current salaries of about tect the population, not to Tegucigalpa, and the Ca- claims is improving.
turned to duty Tuesday $450 a month, and offering repress people.” ribbean coast. Transit po- A U.N. peacekeeping mis-
after briefly refusing to en- to build apartments for of- Thousands of people had lice reported similar tie-ups sion recently left Haiti and
force a curfew aimed at ficers. left their homes late Mon- in the cities of El Progreso the country is re-establish-
quelling protests over the “I spoke with a lot of them, day to show their support and La Lima. ing its own army, a force
slow vote count for Hon- and we reached satisfac- for the striking police, and Hernandez held a narrow supposed to be dedicated
duras’ Nov. 26 presiden- tory agreements,” Hernan- televised images showed lead in the official results to maintaining domestic
tial election. Supporters dez said. uniformed officers danc- from the Supreme Elector- order.
of opposition candidate While financial questions ing with neighbors and al Tribunal — a count that “Everyone knows that this
Salvador Nasralla blocked were long thought to un- chanting “JOH out!” in a Nasralla has claimed was zone is a lawless area, a
some highways, deepen- derlie the brief, one-day reference to Hernandez’s fraudulent and is refusing red zone with armed peo-
ing the country’s political police strike, some officers initials. to recognize. The opposi- ple that create a lot of
crisis amid claims of fraud also said they were tired of Security Minister Julian Pa- tion candidate had led in problems,” Chevry said.
by President Juan Orlando constantly battling demon- checo had said police initial returns, but saw his “Step by step, peace is re-
Hernandez, who ran for re- strations. were exhausted from work- edge slowly evaporate as turning in the area. Step by
election and held a small One striking policeman, ing long hours during the officials took eight days to step, we will get control of
lead in the final vote tally. who had his face covered last three weeks around fully count votes.q the slaughterhouse.”q