In Haiti, the difficult relationship of gangs and business
By ALBERTO ARCE and RODRIGO ABD
Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Youri Mevs is not starving, not struggling for survival — in so many ways, she is unlike the migrants who are fleeing Haiti’s misery. She traces her roots to ancestors who came to Haiti generations ago and built fortunes. But like those emigrants, she and others among Haiti’s wealthy elite have few illusions about life in Haiti. She constantly struggles to keep her business going in the fact of threats and extortion by the gangs that rule a country where government has ceased to function. She may have to leave, eventually, but in the meantime, she vows to help fight the political battle to rebuild her country.