BY TRENTON DANIEL
TDANIEL@MIAMIHERALD.COM
PORT-AU-PRINCE---The man battling to become the next president of Haiti is a popular musician who mooned crowds, cursed his rivals, donned skirts and bikinis, and ran with a right-wing crowd of paramilitary goons.That was the old Sweet Micky, the self-proclaimed Bad Boy of Compas, a brand of music.
The new Michel Martelly, always neatly dressed in a dark suit, engages in the kind of keen strategy that gets him to be photographed alongside former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
“He had to have a makeover,” said Jocelyn McCalla, a longtime Haiti political observer. “You can’t go from a bad boy to a responsible leader just like that.”
So Martelly, 50, hired a Spanish consulting firm with right-of-center ties to help put a polishing touch on the biggest performance of his life so far: winning the Haitian presidency.
Martelly’s candidacy against former first lady Mirlande Manigat comes at a critical juncture in Haiti’s history. The elected leader, to be decided in a second round on March 20, will be tasked with rebuilding Haiti after the 2010 earthquake devastated the capital and outlying cities, and threw thousands into camp shantytowns.
Among the two candidates, the deeply charismatic Martelly has proven to be the dark horse in this controversial race as he seeks to convince voters that they must overlook his bad boy past and proclivities.
Campaign managers with OstosSola — the executive director worked on John McCain’s recent presidential bid — say Sweet Micky belongs to the past. In a meeting with foreign reporters last month, Martelly said, “I think every human being has made a mistake in the past.”
Martelly’s life story can be understood as one defined by Haiti’s twin preoccupations of song and opposition.
Martelly, the son of an executive for Shell Oil and a homemaker, grew up in Carrefour, a seaside suburb of Port-au-Prince now known for its parking lot-like traffic.
His grandfather, Auguste “Kandjo” de Pradines, was a French protest singer, the U.S. military occupation from 1915 to 1934 his object of derision.
Though Martelly attended Haiti’s prestigious Saint-Louis de Gonzague, he proved to be a lackluster student. He enrolled at Red Rocks Community College in Colorado, in 1984, and later at what was then known as Miami-Dade Community College, but dropped out. Construction work in Miami didn’t hold his interest, either.
And so, he returned to Haiti in the late 1980s and started a band. He played compas, the slowed-down, hip-swiveling version of meringue. Haitian music aficionados have long credited Martelly with reviving compas among the youth and also showing that it was possible to earn a decent living as a Haitian musician.
The nickname comes after a friend introduced him as “a sweet Micky for a sweet people.”
Fans loved his band’s catchy hooks. They also loved his on-stage persona. He cussed. He wore dresses. He donned diapers. He mooned the audience.
Through the late-night shows, Martelly became associated with a Haitian elite class openly indifferent to the suffering of the poor majority.
That show of defiance was on display in the early 1990s. After military leaders toppled the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991, Martelly stayed, running a club with his wife.
“He became identified with the military junta that deposed Aristide in 1991,” said McCalla, who once ran an advocacy group that assisted Haitians fleeing their homeland.
Among Martelly’s biggest fans was Army Col. Michel Francois, who used the nickname “Sweet Micky” on his police radio. Francois, a chief architect of the coup, was convicted in absentia in 1995 on murder charges and now lives in Honduras.
In early 1993, Francois asked Martelly to join protesters when Dante Caputo, the UN special representative to Haiti, arrived at the Port-au-Prince international airport to negotiate Aristide’s return. The greeting wasn’t warm.
“Grenadier! To the attack!” he yelled amid a crowd of several hundred, according to the Miami New Times. “If anyone dies, that’s his business!”
As thousands of Haitians fled the island amid a U.S.-imposed embargo, Martelly put out an album. The title: I Don’t Care. A popular song of the same name carried this refrain, in Creole: “Those who aren’t happy — get out!”
Martelly himself got out after Aristide was ousted in his second term, in 2004, and the country was rife with kidnappings and lawlessness. He also scaled back on the constant touring, spending more time with his wife and four children in a five-bedroom, two-story house the couple purchased in Royal Palm Beach. He has since defaulted on more than $1 million in loans and lost three South Florida properties to foreclosure in just over a year, public records show.
Martelly surprised the country in August when he registered at the election office, hours before his friend Wyclef Jean filed paperwork. Some initially thought the entertainer was joking.
But Martelly showed he was a fighter. When election officials released preliminary results on Dec. 7 that barred him from a run-off, thousands of supporters and anti-government protesters poured into the streets. They paralyzed the capital by burning barricades and buildings.
Under pressure from the international community, election officials released final results showing that Martelly – and not the government’s pick, Jude Celestin – made the second round with Manigat.
“This is not a gift,” Martelly told reporters at the Oloffson.
(On a January visit U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Martelly and the two other candidates. Martelly’s charm was not lost on her. Clinton said: “Whatever happens, don’t lose that smile.”)
Since the election announcement, Martelly has kept a decidedly high profile. He has toured the countryside, hosted rallies, and exchanged online banter with Wyclef. He said he wants to bring back the army Aristide disbanded, redirect government services to the countryside and provide free education to all.
“I think Martelly might become much more polarizing than people think right now,” said Hyppolite Pierre, a Haitian political analyst based in Maryland. “We don’t need polarization in the future.”
Others find him refreshing. Repeatedly, Martelly has said he doesn’t know all the answers and would solicit answers from others — the antithesis of outgoing President René Préval, a reputed micromanager.
“What I like about Martelly is that he admits he’s not a politician,” said Maarten Boute, chief executive officer of Digicel, a cell phone company in Haiti. In a visit to South Florida earlier this month, Martelly spoke to several thousand Haitians at an amphitheater in North Miami Beach. Supporters like Miami physician and philanthropist Rudy Moise joined him on stage. Moise urged the crowd to tell family members in Haiti to pick Martelly in the runoff.
Sporting a dark suit, Martelly cracked a few jokes but mostly maintained a serious tone. He spoke about the need for tourists to invest in “our house,” the importance of Haiti’s Diaspora, and the need for decentralization.
As he wrapped up his 20-minute speech, Martelly tapped into his inner Micky.
“Sak pa kontan…” he said, awaiting a response. Those who aren’t happy…
The crowed roared in delight: “Anbake!” Get out!
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There are no saints in the Haitian election.
ReplyDeleteLeslie Manigat was married to another lady, who happened to be Mirlande's best friend. In the course of things, the lady came home and discovered Mirlande and Leslie in a compromising situation.
The wife had a heart attack and was hospitalized, in serious condition. Not waiting for her release, Leslie had divorce papers served on her.
The lady succumbed to a second, and fatal heart attack/
Let's not attack Martelly without looking in the mirror.
The reporter seems to have a biase that is not attractive on/in the pages of a class newpaper
Woy. Ou kon'n sa wap pale'a, haitipro?
ReplyDeleteMoun Manigat yo tap voye roche sou Martelly, e pi madan'm nan te gin gro ka imoralite sa'a sou do'l. Min bagay la.
pwoveb anglais di. - "dont through rocks when you live in a glas house"
Im still for Manigat. so I hope that this Manigat info was checked out. and not unfair propaganda.Why is this just coming out?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this issue is up for discussion tells us that we as nation have failed at bottom of the pit. When you think you done dealing with "Ti-m Ti-m Bwa Che-ch" before you know it "Naje pou-w Soti" was right at our door; now it’s highly possible the nation will have deal a the notion of " Te-t Kale" for the next 5 years to come. That's what happens when a nation is being considered wicked before God's eyes. I'm trying to impose my religious belief on others, but i beg every single one you to stop being emotional and take the time to read (2 Corinthians 7:14 and 15) "I My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place."
ReplyDeletePs: correction it 2 Chronicles 7:14 and 15) instead of Corinthians
ReplyDeleteMoun ki tap pale matelly mal yo, sa nou di nan gro nouvel sa'as.Madan Manigat pat jan'm gin moral. Se sou blof li ye
ReplyDeleteIs this what we've come to as a nation? Do we really think Sweet Micky has Haiti's best interest in mind or is he just an opportunist? Is this who we want representing Haiti? I understand we need new leadership, however there is a difference between "leadership" and "stupidity".
ReplyDeletePlease vote with your "brain" not with emotions.
Martelly is the Man.
ReplyDeleteMirlande is a husband stealer with no moral. If she can do this to another woman by stealing her husband causing her to have a heart attack then making the husband serve divorce paper to the wife while in the hospital, then Manigat has no heart and is a dangerous person.
What will she do when she has he power of the presidency.
she cannot be trusted. At least Micky is an open book
Tout fan'm mare vante nou. Sweet Mickey pral vle pou'l antre mari nou pa deye anvan'l ba'l youn job! Pitit gason nou yo, tout pral vini MASISI!
ReplyDeleteSweet Mickey se yon chatiman pou Ayiti.
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame du Perpetuel Secours, tanpri sove nou!
Why is it now that the Manigat dirt is coming out? It is part of Sweet Mickey's campaign dirty campaign.
ReplyDeleteAs a 50 year old young woman, I want to say that at least 95% of women of dating age have succombed to the lurs of inappropriate sexual relations.
Has God forgotten us? Haitian people don't deserve thugs like Sweet Mickey and his associate Wyclef Jean. They are bad for Haiti, they are bad for young children. They will drag the people in more dirt, more lack of hygiene, more daily robberies and rapes. It's now that the international world, especially the Dominicans will look down on us.
Let's say a prayer for that not to happen:
Dear God, please save Haiti, please don't let that, don't give us this plate of poisonous food. Don't you love us anymore? We love you.
You who's talking about God and so on. What a shame. You are great sinner going straight to hell.
ReplyDeleteYou forget the 10 commandments of the bible?
#7 - You shall not commit adultery.
#10 -You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
(even worse your best friend in my opinion)
God will punish you as a false prophet for wanting an adultness, a liar, an immoral person and her adulterous husband to govern the country.
Haiti will surely be doomed..
L'infidélité dans notre communauté prend une place importante; mais à dire que la cause des crises cardiaques et par la suite du décès de l'autre vient de la découverte de cette union est exagérée. Plusieurs milliers de femmes ou hommes succomberont tous les jours.
ReplyDelete