Patricia and Cyril

Yellow Room

Red room

Protocol Room for visiting dignataries

a view of gardens from second floor

one of two grand staircase (opposite each other)

Most recent bust, Tousainnt Louveture (forgive me if I spelled the name wrong)

I was always under the impression that the National Palace didn't accept 'tourists' inside, but early in my stay here I was thinking about places I would like to visit or things I would like to do during this extended stay. I mentioned to Cyril (my friend from Tours Haiti) that I would visit the inside of the Place National. He told me he had gone to school in Montreal with the President's daughter. On Tuesday, he called to ask if I had plans for Wednesday....well, I had a team coming from Oakland about 11 am. He said be ready to go at 9 am. I had an 'appointment' to meet Patricia and tour the Palace! I was so excited I couldn't sleep. At 10 am, after going through several security checks, we were in the Protocol Salon being served coffee while being given a short history of the Palace. I was told about the different areas of the palace and told I could take photos. We didn't visit the actual offices where some of the administration was meeting delegations from Cuba and Venazuela this morning but told of the close ties Haiti held with these countries. After that we visited the Yellow Room where Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Ban Moon recently held their press conference with the press with President Preval, the Rouge (red) room & the Protocol salon for visiting dignataries. The Bust room is encircled by the busts of the first 10 heads of state. We visited the private apartments, beautiful rooms, some of which were still decorated as Michelle Douvalier, wife of Jean Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier during the 80's. This apartment is used for special occasions mostly not as a resident for the President. Most recently it served as the setting for the Presidents birthday that coincided with a visit from the Prime Minister of Canada in January. We visited the private garden where the Mr. Preval has geese, ducks, peacocks, chickens and fish ponds. A quiet and lovely setting where occasionally the President will take his lunch.The rear of the palace is surrounded by army barracks, most of which is empty. We were shown rooms were political prisoners were held and interigated...small windowless rooms. I saw words etched into the inside of the doors such as you see in one of the pictures. I think the spirits of those men still linger as I felt such dispair in this area, a stench still filled the air. At this time, our tour guide was a man that worked there from the mid 60's to about 1987 when Baby Doc fled to France. He then lived in the US for 10 years. I thought but did not ask if he had moved there for his safety. During the Douvalier regime- of Papa Doc who declared himself President for Life, the country seemed more prosperous but were also years of much corruption and fear. Papa Doc did not have an official army but a large volunteer corp of men that earned the nickname of TonTon Macouts. People lived in fear of these men that killed anyone and thousands of people from different accounts that I have read for any reason. The Tonton Macouts are not active as such but I'm sure some of these men are still around, maybe as part of some of the 'gangs' or rebel groups or some compacity for the National Police. Our guide Kathy gave us some history, but often Cyril added much more information filling in with not only trivia but also more indepth history of Haiti as well as the Palace. Certainly the reason he is an excellant and perfect tour guide for Haiti. The original palace was in the same location but built facing a different direction. About 1904, one of the (gun)powder rooms exploded destroying the palace. At the time, there was rumor (that continues to this day) that the explosion was terrorist caused. In 1914, the US Marines began their occupation of the country and the Palace was temporarily moved to another site.The construction of the new palace was started and completed in 1921.Mr. Preval is in the 3rd year of his final term. It was my great pleasure to meet his daughter and have the opportunity to see this beautiful National Palace. I'm fortunate to have a very good friend named Cyril.

( a second group of pictures posted following this)