HOPE Act would help Haiti’s garment industry
MiamiHerald.com, FL
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE —
This time last year, Haiti’s labor-intensive garment industry was at death’s door, and Andrew Ansaldi III was a man facing an uncertain future as 16 factories closed in two years and the unemployment rolls grew by another 5,000.
”I wasn’t very hopeful about the future,” said Ansaldi, 44, recalling the struggle to keep his own doors open amid Haiti’s shaky political climate and brazen armed gangs who wreaked havoc in the capital’s streets. “It was a war zone.”
Now, Haiti’s security situation has vastly improved, the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns has been replaced with the automatic sounds of sewing machines, and Ansaldi has added 300 workers to his employment rolls as Haiti’s once-dying garment sector undergoes a slight rebirth. Read more about HOPE Act would help Haiti's garment industry …
