Who Paid for That Mansion? A Senator or the Haitian People?

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/world/canada/Haiti-Canada-Celestin-corruption.html

Who Paid for That Mansion? A Senator or the Haitian People?
Valued at $3.4 million, a Haitian senator’s Montreal villa has become a potent emblem of the growing gap between Haiti’s impoverished citizens and its wealthy political elite.
By Dan Bilefsky and Catherine Porter
July 10, 2021 Updated 9:46 a.m. ET


Marie Louisa Célestin, the wife of the Haitian senator Rony Célestin, purchased this waterfront villa outright for $3.4 million. Their lavish lifestyle has prompted widespread accusations of corruption within the local Haitian community. Credit...Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times

MONTREAL — He is one of the few lawmakers left in Haiti, a close ally of the assassinated president who has kept his seat while the country’s democratic institutions have been whittled away.

As one of only 10 remaining members in all of Haiti’s Parliament, Rony Célestin, a swaggering figure who styles himself as a self-made multimillionaire, belongs to a tiny circle of leaders with the legal authority to steer the nation out of crisis now that the president is dead.

But to many Haitians, Mr. Célestin is also a symbol of one of their biggest grievances: a ruling class that enriches itself while so many go hungry.

The sprawling $3.4 million villa, with its sweeping driveway, home cinema, wine cellar and swimming pool overlooking a lake, was among the most expensive homes ever sold in one of Quebec’s most affluent neighborhoods, and the purchase set off a corruption investigation into Mr. Célestin by officials in Haiti.

The villa has become emblematic of the chasm between the gilded lifestyles of Haiti’s elite and the majority of the population, who on average earn less than $2.41 a day. Mr. Célestin’s ownership has incited outrage over capital flight — legal and illicit — that drains money from Haiti and weakens the country’s institutions.

[Sur Zobra]

1. How do you reform a government

in which everyone is so corrupt

[dalton99a]

2. +1. Haiti is a horrible mess. On the same island: