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Haiti's Earthquake Devastation Does Not Affect Cockfighting
The cockfighting must go on, even after earthquakes, so the roosters have been bathed, their claws sharpened, and they wait in cages in the red-carpeted ring, the crowd anxious and gripping cash.
The referee has weighed them and announced their names -- Doudou versus Zo La Plaine -- and now he wants a moment of silence for prayer. Everyone stands, heads bowed.
After a couple minutes, the referee speaks into the microphone sparking applause from the crowd gathered in this concrete mini-stadium in the Petionville suburb of Port-au-Prince: "Life continues," he says, and the roosters are freed.
Some may ask why people would turn to cockfighting so soon after Haiti's massive earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
The answer, according to cockfighting fans and gamblers at this ring on Saturday afternoon, is simple: It's what they have always done throughout this country, and now, amid the destruction, it provides a welcome distraction.
"This is part of Haitian culture," said Laine Mackinson, 26.
So they have gathered here at the red and yellow ring, the words "Arene des Coqs de PV" (Rooster Arena of Petionville) inscribed above the front door, a handful of people living in tents in the parking lot.
It is an impressive place as cockfighting rings go, and several of those in attendance call it the country's finest. There are some 500 seats that extend upward, the place arranged like a bull-fighting ring in miniature.
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