His 80th birthday party, a grand picnic in the middle of the Champ de Mars, featured a cake depicting scenes from his life: a ten-metre tower of ganache and meringue decked in blown sugar, spun sugar and royal icing.
Across the Champ de Mars from the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince is -or was - a tall statue to the maroons, the runaway slaves who are the symbol of Haiti's fight for independence at the end of the 18th century.