As part of the 214th anniversary of our national bicolour, the Consul General of Haiti in Miami, Florida, Gandy Thomas, delivered a message for this day of celebration that we invite you to share :

Message from the Consul Gandy Thomas :

"Dear compatriots,

On this grand day of May 18, which marks the 214th year of our bicolour, a living symbol of the immortality and indivisibility of our homeland, I take this opportunity to remind you, dear compatriots of the diaspora of Florida, Puerto Rico and of the virgin islands that this flag still contains the sweat and the blood of the heroes who have consecrated our freedom and our independence on the battlefields at Vertières, the Butte Charrier, the Crête-à-Pierrot and in the mountains of the South and of the west repelling colonialism.

I call upon you to meditate on the notion of flag, to reflect on this need for national discipline and on this need for total peace so that Haiti continues its march towards progress and sustainable development.

The rituals of these historical dates are not without value of xamples for a Youth who must know that it is on the threshold of a new History which will need its energies, its combative ardor, its patriotic consciousness and its sense of dignity for the refoundation of the Nation. Because it is what it is: rebuild the Nation, put the pieces of a homeland that we found in tatters.

It is also a source of vainglory and of pride of recalling, on this sacred day of the feast of the Flag and the University that the work of national renovation to which are 'fueled' all the governmental actions of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Jovenel Moïse will finally be a reality, only when we all Haitians, we will have become aware of our duty to the common homeland. A country that our ancestors bequeathed to us at the cost of so many sacrifices, at the cost of blood for our total emancipation from the carcases of colonialism, for the enjoyment of our full freedom.

To live free or die seemed to be inscribed in letters of gold on those pieces of sacred tissues that Catherine Flon has sewn with this needle of dignity, emotion and freedom in honor of a people enamored of ideals, justice, of Peace and of work.

Our bicolor floats in the blue, it is true.

But we must work hard so that in the imminent future we can breathe with the air of freedom and dignity during the next 18 May.

And Haiti ap vanse...

Thank you."

HL/ HaitiLibre