HAITI: Free Ride

Stupid he who gives,

Imbecile he who does not take.

—Haitian proverb

Market women, hiking down out of the mountains with produce for Port-au-Prince one day last week, reached the way stop of Petionville to find a situation of astonishing, rapturous stupidity. There stood trucks, orange military buses and trim government Jeepsters, doors invitingly open, all offering free rides to the capital. No imbeciles, the women lowered from their heads baskets of pineapples and beans, loaded the stuff aboard the vehicles and climbed in, some for the first auto ride of their lives.

Free transportation for the populace was the answer of President Paul Magloire to an impromptu strike by the drivers of the share-the-ride station wagons, used in Haiti as buses and taxis combined. The drivers were protesting against a government measure that seemed to thrust at their very livelihood: a steep boost in the police fines they regularly expect and richly deserve. Few had bothered actually to read the new scale of fines, but according to the telejiol, Haiti’s famed word-of-mouth communications network, merely sassing a cop could cost $24 instead of the traditional $1. Worse, they heard that a $40 bond was to be required of all drivers. Set against the standard fare of 10¢, the new operating costs were plainly prohibitive.

The telejiol, however, proved wrong. To bring some discipline to the country’s highways, the government had indeed raised maximum fines, but only to $15, and no bond was demanded. After that was made clear—and after President Magloire urged judges to go easy on fining the maximum—the drivers ended the four-day strike and returned to their wheels. With the stupidity over, market women went back to walking to Port-au-Prince. They have always thought the 10¢ fare too high for a mere five miles.