Juan David Latorre
The Embassy of Haiti held a cocktail party last Wednesday, the 8th, at the headquarters of the delegation on the occasion of International Women’s Day and to pay tribute to the Haitian woman of the year 2023, title given to the Haitian sculptor Mireille Fombrun.
In front of a large number of guests that almost exceeded the organisers’ expectations, the head of the Mission, Haitian Ambassador Guy Lamothe, pointed out that “in 1977, the United Nations declared International Women’s Rights Day, although the event originated in the context of the social movements of the early 20th century in North America and Europe. The event was first celebrated on Sunday 28 February in the United States of America, and was subsequently celebrated on the last Sunday in February until 1913. At that time, women demanded, among other things, the right to vote.”
Guy Lamothe reviewed the historical figures of the main Haitian women who have fought for equality in their country, from “Sanite Belair, head of an army of 1,000 soldiers during the struggle for the freedom of our country, Haiti”, to “Claudette Antoine Werleigh, the first woman to be appointed Prime Minister in 1995″. In this list, the Ambassador also highlighted Catherine Flon, Yvonne Hakim Rimpel, Fernande Balmur, Rose Marie and Ertha Trouillot.
The head of the Haitian Mission also remembered the Spanish women who have fought the hardest for women’s rights in history, such as Concepción Arenal, Victoria Kent and Clara Campoamor, “who promoted women’s suffrage in 1931. But this was not her only battle, she also defended the right to divorce and the repeal of article 438 of the Penal Code, which allowed a husband to kill his wife in cases of adultery”.
The Haitian Head of Mission then introduced the 2023 Madrid Haitian of the Year, sculptor Mireille Fombrun, director of the Ogier Fombrun Museum in Haiti. “We have chosen a jewel,” said the ambassador, “a sample of the Haitian diaspora in Spain to celebrate World Women’s Day, the week of the ARCO fair. This year’s featured woman is part of a renowned lineage in Haiti. The best known of the Fombruns is Odette Roy Fombrun, who passed away on 23 December 2022, and who always promoted Kombitism until her 105th birthday. She was a leader in promoting our country as a teaching artist, moralist and, above all, visionary. Haiti, as a world actor of an Afro-Caribbean culture with a European presence due to later colonisations, is full of ladies of high calibre in all fields such as art, music, painting, politics, the struggle for independence, the right to vote or freedom of expression.”
“Mireille’s work, Guy Lamothe concluded, reflects the triple African, Hispanic and Caribbean cultural influence, which has marked the practice of our artists. Fombrun’s artistic research questions and values the Caribbean identity while acknowledging the classic European one, which makes her a universal artist. The award-winning artist fuses unrelated objects and creates works that she herself defines as “visual transplants” where the contrast between the form and its signifier acquires a new reading that generates reflection in the viewer.”
Among the guests were the ambassadors of Poland, Anna Sroka, and Nicaragua, Maurizio Gelli, together with representatives of the embassies of Russia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Paraguay, Romania, Mozambique and the United Kingdom. José Luis Díez Juárez, Deputy Assistant Director General for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, was also among the attendees.
