Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 2 March 2017

Carnival fever helps to heal Haiti’s storm-hit region

some revenue to the storm- made of thatched palms
hit area and show national and plastic tarp, said there
solidarity. was no temporary respite
Tuesday’s celebrations from uncertainty and pov-
were the last major party erty for her family.
day of Haiti’s Carnival, a “If I’m living in misery I can’t
mixture of Catholic pre- go and enjoy myself,”
Lenten festivities and Af- the 22-year-old storm vic-
rican, Spanish and native tim said by her flimsy tent
cultures found throughout pitched on a windswept
the Americas and the Ca- field outside Les Cayes.
ribbean. Haiti’s government spent
some $3 million on this
The beat of traditional “ra- year’s Carnival celebra-
ra” bands and rollicking tions, hoping to lure tourists
Carnival songs known as and Haitians living abroad.
meringues pulsed through It’s far from clear how
Haiti’s third largest city. much money the festivities
There were also Carnival will actually generate in Les
street parties in other Hai- Cayes and surrounding ar-
tian cities, including Port- eas, where there are few
au-Prince, Gonaives and hotels.
Jacmel. In recent days, some Hai-
Carnival performers parade in the street of Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Revelers While Carnival is traditional- tians have argued that the
have danced and sang their troubles away for three days in Les Cayes, the biggest city in the ly a time of all-night bashes impoverished and highly in-
southwest region slammed by the Category 4 hurricane in October. and escape from the wor- debted country should be
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) ries of daily life, Matthew’s spending its meager finan-

DIEU NALIO CHERY dance music to a southern biggest city in the south- aftermath has put a damp- cial resources on any num-
Associated Press city that’s still recovering west region slammed by er on the celebrations for ber of more pressing needs.
LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Hai- from last year’s punishing the Category 4 hurricane in some in southwest Haiti. But Les Cayes Mayor Jean
ti’s three-day Carnival fes- Hurricane Matthew. October. Widline Jerome, whose Gabriel Fortune said he was
tivities have brought rum- Revelers have danced and President Jovenel Moise shack was toppled by Mat- grateful for the chance to
fueled parties, imaginative sang their troubles away for decided to hold this year’s thew’s winds and floodwa- host Carnival, describing it
costumes and high-energy three days in Les Cayes, the official events here to bring ters, is still living in a camp as a “gesture of solidarity.”
of dozens of makeshift tents q
Samba school Portela wins Rio Carnival parade after 33 years

M. SAVARESE artists. Chairman Luis Carlos
Associated Press Magalhaes told journalists
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The that his samba school’s vic-
samba school Portela was tory was a positive for all in
picked Wednesday as the a year that the parade was
winner of Rio de Janeiro’s marred by two accidents
Carnival parade competi- with floats that injured 31
tion, putting an end to a 33- people. Five still remain in
year drought for the group the hospital, one of them in
known as one of the cra- serious condition. “This Car-
dles of the contest. Judges nival parade needed Por-
gave Portela 269.9 points tela’s victory. We needed
out of 270, only 0.1 more a good story to tell. All sam-
than the runner-up group, ba schools are now feel-
Mocidade Independente. ing well because Portela
Portela had last won the ended the drought,” Mag-
parade contest in 1984. But alhaes said. He dedicated
it still holds more titles than the win to Marcos Falcon,
all of Rio’s other samba his predecessor who was
schools, with 22 in total. assassinated last year while
Performers from the Portela samba school parade during Carnival celebrations at the Portela is home to some of campaigning for Rio’s city
Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Brazil’s most popular samba council. q
(AP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)