Haiti announces six days of mourning following the death of former president
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — Haiti on Monday announced six days of official mourning for the late former president Rene Preval, who died last weekend at his home of a cerebral vascular accident (CVA) or stroke.
A CVA is the sudden death of some brain cells due to lack of oxygen when the blood flow to the brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain. Symptoms of a stroke depend on the area of the brain affected.
Secretary General of the Presidency, Yves Germain Joseph, said that Preval’s funeral will take place on Saturday, March 11 and his body will lie in state at the Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon (MUPANAH) on Friday.
“Pending publication of the Official Protocol of the State funeral of the late President René Préval, the President of the Republic, Jovenel Moïse decrees six days of national mourning worked in memory of this illustrious fighter from Monday, March 6 to Saturday, March 11, 2017.”
The statement said that during this period, the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all public buildings.
The statement added that on Friday and Saturday, radio and television stations will broadcast music of circumstance interspersed with testimonies on the life and the work of this eminent statesman.
Preval served as president from 1996 to 2001 and 2006 to 2011 and remains the only Haitian Head of State to have completed two terms since the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have expressed condolences to Haiti on the passing of Preval who lived in Laboule, a neighbourhood in the hills of Port-au-Prince.
