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News from the Caribbean as of
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Canada's governor general to visit Haiti
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP): Canada's governor general will return to her country of birth next month to attend the inauguration of Haiti's new president, Rene Preval, in Port-au-Prince, her spokeswoman told AFP Tuesday.
Governor General Michaelle Jean will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with world leaders on May 14 to welcome Preval into office, hoping it will lead to the end of violence and political unrest in the small Caribbean nation.
"On behalf of Canada, the governor general will attend the inauguration of president-elect Rene Preval, but the trip details are still being worked out," said Marilyne Guevremont, the governor general's spokeswoman.
Jean was born in Port-au-Prince in 1957, but fled the barbarous regime of Papa Doc Duvalier when she was 11 years old. She moved with her family to Montreal, Canada, now home to some 130,000 Haitian expatriates.
"The story of that little girl, who watched her parents, her family, and her friends grappling with the horrors of a ruthless dictatorship, who became the woman standing before you today, is a lesson in learning to be free," Jean said in her first speech as governor general in September 2005.
Preval, 63, was elected to office on February 7 in Haiti's first presidential election since former president Jean Bertrand Aristide fled a popular uprising in February 2004.
Haiti plunged into chaos after Aristide's departure, prompting a UN force to be deployed to try to stabilize the country.
Preval, who enjoys strong support from the country's poor, is now under pressure to restore order and reassure donor countries while also bridging a deep divide between a wealthy elite and the vast majority of Haitians living in grinding poverty.
Jean visited Haiti as a journalist and collaborated on documentaries about Haiti and the expatriate community in Canada.
She and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond adopted their daughter Marie-Eden seven years ago from the town of Jacmel.
But, this will be her first official visit to Haiti since being appointed governor general last year.
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