But we wanted to know more about why Jeanty stays in Haiti at a time when chaos is overshadowing commerce — and why he thinks other Haitian expats shouldn’t back away from Haiti now, but engage it. Jeanty spoke with WLRN’s Tim Padgett from Port-au-Prince.
Chris, you were born in Haiti in 1986 at the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship — when all this democratic promise lay in front of Haiti. But three years later your family immigrated to South Florida. Why?
JEANTY: The situation was very difficult for so many people in the country at the time, including my own folks. My dad was a traveling minister and was able to secure a visa to America. They did not see where democracy was going to take them in Haiti — and…