From Charlotin Marcadieu’s Collapse to the Things We Continue to Give Up

On WhatsApp, for the past 48 hours, a short message has gone viral as often happens on this platform, which remains the primary source of information in Haiti.

“Collapse of Charlotin Marcadieu’s house in Dessalines during the night of November 3 to 4, 2025,”
reads the brief text, accompanied by a photo of the ruins of an old house.

Charlotin Marcadieu, every Haitian who went to school knows the story of this colonel, the loyal aide-de-camp whom Emperor Jacques I, Jean-Jacques Dessalines,