Pétion-Ville (; ) is a commune and a suburb of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, in the hills east and separate from the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. Founded in 1831 by president Jean-Pierre Boyer, it was named after Alexandre Sabès Pétion (1770–1818), the Haitian general and president later recognized as one of the country's four founding fathers. The district is primarily a residential and touristic area. It had a population of 283,052 at the 2003 Census, which was officially estimated to have reached 376,834 in 2015. Many diplomats, foreign merchants and wealthy people who engage in business reside in Pétion-Ville. Despite the distance from the capital and the general affluence of the district, the lack of administrative enforcement has led to the formation of shantytowns on the outer edges of the district, as poor locals migrate upward and have settled there in search of job opportunities. On 28 or 29 August 2020, Haitian Lawyer Monferrier Dorval was assassinated in front of his home. On 7 July 2021, Haitian president

Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse (; ; 26 June 1968 – 7 July 2021) was a Haitian politician and Businessperson, businessman who served as President of Haiti from 2017 until Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, his assassination in 2021. Moïse assumed the preside ...

was assassinated at his private residence.

2010 earthquake

On 12 January 2010, around 4:53 pm, a 7.0 earthquake struck the Pétion-Ville area. The earthquake caused the collapse of a hospital in the city. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake destroyed many buildings in Port-au-Prince, and a lot of homes in the Montana area, including the Hôtel Montana. The ''Club de Pétion-Ville'' golf course was converted into a tent city by the US Army and housed 50,000 to 80,000 Haitians in 2010. Its tennis courts hosted elements of the US 82nd Airborne division. The club was built in the 1930s and had around 300 members at the time.Golf.com
"Once a club with 300 members, Haiti's lone golf course is now a refugee camp"
, Farrell Evans, 20 January 2010 (accessed 31 January 2010) The golf clubhouse was turned into a field hospital.National Post

Sheldon Alberts, 23 January 2010 (accessed 31 January 2010) In early February 2010, the Israeli-based humanitarian organization, IsraAid, opened a child education center in the Pétion-Ville tent city, in conjunction with other agencies, such as

Operation Blessing Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation (OBI) is an Evangelical Christian organization headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1978, OBI operates in more than 90 countries, focusing on disa ...

. The center was set up initially in the tents from the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

' field hospital.Heyman, Jeffre
"The resilience of the people is stronger than we expected"
(10 February 2010), i
''Israel 21c Innovation News Service''
Retrieved 2010-02-11 The "Muncheez" pizza restaurant was turned into a community

soup kitchen A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to Hunger, hungry and homeless people, usually for no price, cost, or sometimes at a below-market price (such as coin Donation, donations). Frequently located in Low i ...

. It served approximately 1,000 free meals a day. Before the quake, the restaurant chain was a place where few even in Pétion-Ville could afford to eat. After the quake, owners realized that the food stored at the three restaurants would spoil before it would get back into business and decided to give it all away. Although still living in the streets, the cooks still came to cook for the masses. Owners distributed blue bracelets throughout Pétion-Ville, one bracelet for one meal. They selected one of the outlets to become the soup kitchen and moved all 105 employees to that site to cook. When food ran out after two days, the Hôtel Montana donated what could be salvaged from their freezers. When they began running out of fuel, cooking oil and food, a convoy from relatives of the owners in the Dominican Republic arrived, funded by donations with more food and fuel.

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

supplied fuel, cooking oil and food to cook, and

World Vision The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

supplied

bulgur Bulgur (; ; ; ), or Borghol (), is a cracked wheat foodstuff found in Egyptian cuisine, South Asian cuisine and West Asian cuisine. Characteristics Bulgur is distinct from cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that, unlike bulgur, has ...

and

lentil The lentil (''Vicia lens'' or ''Lens culinaris'') is an annual plant, annual legume grown for its Lens (geometry), lens-shaped edible seeds or ''pulses'', also called ''lentils''. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in Legume, pods, usually w ...

s. Electricity was restored to some sectors at the beginning of February and to most of the rest of the city later.

2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse

On 7 July 2021, then-President of Haiti

was

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

by a group of 28 gunmen while sleeping in his private residence located in Pétion-Ville.

Facilities

The ''Club de Pétion-Ville'' country club was built in the 1930s and has Haiti's only golf course, a nine-hole course. It also contains tennis courts and a swimming pool. The Club de Pétion-Ville is not in the suburb of Pétion-Ville, but is actually in Bourdon. The El Rancho Hotel & Casino is in Pétion-Ville. It was built from the private estate of Albert Silvera, a sports and luxury car collector who was one of the pioneers of Haiti's hotel industry. In the neighborhood of Juvenat, the Hotel Karibe is a 174-room hotel with a spa, restaurant and conference center. In 2014, it hosted the Miss Haiti pageant. '' Cabane Choucoune'' is a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

and thatch-roofed club. It was built on 1940 by Max Ewald. It is known as one of the best

méringue Méringue (; ), also called ''méringue lente'' or ''méringue de salon'' (''slow'' or ''salon'' méringue), is a dance music and national symbol in Haiti. It is a string-based style played on the guitar, horn section, piano, and other string ...

dance clubs. It has featured Haitian artists such as

Nemours Jean-Baptiste {{Infobox musical artist , name = Nemours Jean-Baptiste , image = , image_size = , landscape = , alt = , caption = Inventor of Compas, a style of Haitian music , ...

as well as international entertainers.

Education

Union School Haiti is in Pétion-Ville.

Notable people

* Widline Cadet, photographer * Jimmy Jean-Louis, actor * Stevenson Magloire, painter * Maryse Narcisse, politician

References

External links

* * Reuters
"Pétion-Ville atlas of building damage assessment"
2 March 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Petionville Communes of Haiti Populated places in Haiti Upper class culture