"Let's try to find a tree," suggested Yanick Lahens as she arrived in the garden of the Brazil-Haiti cultural center in Pétion-Ville, a town on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The writer had an appointment with the leaders of one of the island's most important cultural organizations, ARAKA, to discuss activities for the coming weeks. She has been the patron of their book club, Signet, for the past decade.

The laureate of the Prix Femina 2014 for her novel Bain de lune (Sabine Wespieser) (Moonbath, Deep Vellum) had chairs arranged in a circle, in the shade of a mango tree. Amid the exuberant vegetation, populated by fantastical bird sculptures, the conversation soon turned to the major preoccupation of city dwellers: gang violence, which controls 80% of the capital.

"Port-au-Prince has become uninhabitable," lamented the author, 70, on this July morning. The security situation deteriorated at the beginning of the year when several rival gangs joined forces to bring down the government. "Pétion-Ville has never been attacked but it's been hot. We could hear the shooting," said Lahens. Since May, the wave of violence has subsided slightly: "I came here on foot!" the novelist rejoiced. A few months ago, she wouldn't have dared walk through the streets of her city. In Port-au-Prince, the cultural center ARAKA, located on the outskirts of the notoriously difficult Grand Ravine and Village de Dieu neighborhoods, was vandalized in March and has remained inaccessible ever since. "When a cultural center disappears, it's always tragic," sighed the writer.

The many workshops offered by the organization benefited above all the impoverished inhabitants of the lower districts of the city. "ARAKA is an oasis in the desert," said Roberto Déjean, vice-coordinator of the cultural center. "We've helped young people like Jean D'Amérique to get out of their situation: It was in our workshops that he acquired a taste for reading and writing." The 29-year-old poet and playwright, who now lives in France, was awarded the Académie Française's Prix Heredia in 2022 for his book Rhapsodie rouge (Cheyne, "Red Rhapsody"). Lahens agreed: "Such activities allow people to turn away from violence."

Like ARAKA, other cultural facilities in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area have been forced to close or reduce their activities due to the violence: The prestigious Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (FOKAL, Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty), which supports arts and cultural organizations, operates remotely. The Centre Culturel Anne-Marie Morisset, founded by writers Lyonel and Évelyne Trouillot; the Kay Mizik La media library; and many others are at a standstill.

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