Hotel Montana - Haiti Observer Blog

There has been an explosion at Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince. The report indicated that the explosion caused at least four injuries. According to Radio Caraibes, the incident did not cause any lost of life.

The explosion at Hotel Montana took place Monday, May 20 while an outside company was in the process of supplying propane gas to the Hotel. Montana Hotel is located in Port-au-Prince, Route de Bourdon, Pétion-Ville.

Petion-Ville in Picture

Cause of the incident was attributed to a leak in the gas line during delivery

Hotel Montana was built in 1946 and was a popular four star tourist resort. During the 2010 earthquake, the main building of the hotel collapsed and an estimated 200 guests were reported missing the day after the collapse. Some of the victims included: Serge Marcil, former Canadian MP, Sam Dixon, head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Clinton Rabb, head of the United Methodist office of mission volunteers and Tran Trieu Quan, president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

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He was first elected to the post of Haiti's President with a staggering 88% of the popular vote. René Préval again ran for president as the Lespwa candidate but, unlike his first election, this proved not to be a clear-cut victory. When early voting results were released on February 9, they indicated a 60% favorable voting for Préval. This number slipped to 48.7% as more ballots came in and a run-off became necessary.

There were celebrations soon after for the former president, but his comment on February 14, that fraud was at play in the vote counting and that he should be declared the winner of the first round, caused a series of protests to erupt. Port-au-Prince was crippled by torched barricades and protestors stormed the Hotel Montana, demanding the results of the election. Finally, on the 16th, after excluding blank ballots from the count, President Préval officially won his second term as the Haitian head of state with 51.15% of the votes.

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The elections were fraudulent! Tens of thousands of demonstrating René Préval supporters took to the streets, or rather, took the streets with this cry after the results of the February 7, 2006 first-round of elections called for a run-off. What had started as a slightly run-of-the-mill election demonstration, complete with burning barricades and the thick, black smoke they create, took a much more direct approach to being heard by the people who count, as the crowd stormed the Petion-Ville gem, Hotel Montana, where the press headquarters of the electoral council was located.

Already deeply stung by the ousting of President Aristide, the demonstrators mobilized after the CEP released figures that made a run-off necessary, though the early count had shown Rene Préval with a lead clearly over the needed 50%. Claims of vote-rigging, incomplete or inaccurate voter lists, sudden relocations of polling stations, discarding of uncounted ballots and direct accusations against the CEP President of tampering abounded. Further fueling the ire of the protestors, communities traditionally for Préval saw an average 3-4 hours of delays in opening; a striking contrast to the noticeably smoother running of stations in areas supporting Préval's contenders. In those areas there were significantly fewer complaints, leading to the assumption that the difficulties experienced by Préval's demographic were artificially and intentionally created. Announcements of sudden changes were made at the last minute and were sometimes contrary to the actual situations met with by voters.

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Pétion-ville is a suburb in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. It is situated on the Massif de la Selle northern hills, east of the city. In 1770-1818 it got its name after the President and General of Haiti, Alexandre Sabès Pétion. He was one of the four founding fathers of Haiti.

Wealthiest Place In Haiti

With a population of 342,694 as per 2009 census, Petion-ville is a well known residential area. It is the metropolitan area of the city, is affluent and well known for tourist activities.

Residents in Petion-ville include business people, foreign businessmen and diplomats. As compared to Port-au-Prince and other major Haitian cities, Petion-ville has more security. Buzzing with business this area has an active night life and is more peaceful.

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