Ron Antonelli

Photojournalism: Haiti: Chaos and Coup

In the Spring of 2004 the carribean nation of Haiti was gripped by a military and political coup. With rebel forces approaching the capital of Port Au Prince from the north the city erupted in protest and chaotic looting and violence. With the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide the country was able to avoid a bloody battle for the capital and a political truce was reached.

Supporters of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide wave to a truck filled with armed fellow supporters in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince.
   
A man walks his goats through the garbage covered streets near the port in downtown Port-au-Prince.
   
A young girl carries her bag on her head as she and other Haitian refugees are repatriated to Port-au-Prince after being turned back by the U.S. Coast Guard.
     
  
Hatians on the back of a truck drive past a billboard of President Jean-Bertran Aristide.
   
A screaming man runs past a bank that was lit on fire as looting and chaos took over Port au Prince as word that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had left the country.
   
Looters pillage a shop in Port-au-Prince.
     
  
A man runs down the street as looting and chaos took over Port au Prince as word that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had left the country.
   
A young man holds a knife to his throat as a building burns behind him in Port-au-Prince.
   
A woman looks away from the body of a man killed in a car in Carfunne section of the capital.
     
  
A Hatian police officer takes a position near the Natinal Palace as looting and rioting fill the city.
   
A young boy looks at a dying man on the floor of the looted American Airlines office in downtown Port au Prince as a mob of people hit the streets looting and buring buildings.
   
Dark clouds of smoke rise from a fire as a man walks through a Port-au-Prince street, where looting and violence were prevalent.
     
  
A young boy emerges form the smoke of looting and rioting in Port au Prince.
   
A woman leans against a wall in her home as other residents remove their belongings as fire reaches their home in Port-au-Prince as a mob of people hit the streets looting and burning buildings after learning that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had left the country.
   
A rebel soldier is carried by rejoicing Haitians in front on the National Palace in Port-au-Prince.
     
  
A rebel soldier is carried by rejoicing Haitians in front on the National Palace in Port-au-Prince.