Friday 1st January 2016, the President Michel Martelly, accompanied by the First Lady, Sophia Martelly and Prime Minister, Paul Evans, went to Gonaïves (Artibonite), to commemorate the 212 anniversary of the proclamation of Independence of the Republic of Haiti.

In the presence of several members of the Cabinet of Ministers and many representatives of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, the Head of State attended the traditional Te Deum at St. Charles Borromeo Cathedral of the Independence City.

During his homily, His Excellency Mgr Yves Marie Péan recalled that January 1st offers us once again an opportunity to step back to make a retrospective, to make better choices for the future "On the occasion of the World Day of Peace, our thoughts and prayers go to all those who suffer. The family has extraordinary energies able to separate us from the anonymity, selfishness. The fate of our people is marked by great suffering; But what God wants is peace for our people !"

The President Martelly then went on the Place d'Armes of the city to file, at the monument of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines and hero of independence, a wreath of flowers in memory of the brave builders of our Nation and to officially rise the flag.

"A few days before the end of my presidential term, I am proud, of the ducation system performance for the expansion of free education, improving the quality of education and other facilities enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of children in our country," declared the President Martelly, who urged the different actors involved in the electoral process to unite around a common ideal, the ideal of a united Haiti and turned towards the progress.

Moreover, the Head of State reiterated its firm determination to give the best of him until the end of its mandate and recalled one more time the necessity for each player in the national life to get involved in order to achieve the revival of our Nation, already two centuries old.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16215-haiti-flash-2nd-round-of-the-presidential-january-17-2016.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16214-haiti-flash-212th-anniversary-of-haiti-s-independence-speech-of-president-martelly.html

HL/ HaitiLibre