Haiti is renaming Cap-Haitien International Airport to honor Hugo Chavez.

Cap-Haitien Airport renamed for Chavez

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Friday April 20, 2013

Haiti in renaming Cap-Haitien International Airport on its north coast to honor the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Gary Bodeau, a spokesman for Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said the airport will now be called the Hugo Chavez International Airport.

The airport’s 17,500-foot runway was repaved with a loan from the Venezuelan government last October,  just in time for the inauguration of an industrial park in the north financed largely by the U.S. government.

Both the U.S. and Venezuela has been heavy supporters of Haiti. Venezuela pledged $1.2 billion for Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. And Haiti has been a beneficiary of Venezuela’s PetroCaribe fund that was created in 2005 to help countries in the Caribbean basin pay for fuel.

Both President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Lamothe attended Chavez’s funeral and Martelly attended the inauguration of Hugo Chavez' hand picked successor Venezuelan President-elect Nicolas Maduro.

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