U.S. Marines Prepare to Leave Haiti
With their mission in Haiti drawing close to an end, U.S. Marines on Tuesday presented slum residents with a refurbished soccer field they created by removing trash, laying dirt and setting up nets. U.S. Ambassador James Foley and Haiti’s U.S.-backed interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the field in Cite Soleil, an area plagued by grinding poverty and violence. “This is an area that’s one of the most forsaken places on Earth, at least in this Hemisphere,” said Foley, referring to the slum of tin-roofed shacks. Troops cleared garbage and rocks, and laid dirt and seed for grass on the field residents had created out of a space in an abandoned housing project. The field, however, had long been neglected. Full Story