Caribbean Journal:

Above: Haiti President Michel Martelly with Chavez last year (Photo: OP Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti began a three-day period of national mourning Wednesday to mark the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The period, which began Wednesday mourning, will last until Friday.

While Chavez was a polarizing figure in much of the hemisphere, he was a major patron of Haiti through the PetroCaribe programme.

Over the last few years, Haiti President Michel Martelly had grown closer to Chavez — helping to hold a mass to support his recovery in December and expressing Haiti’s intention of eventually joining Chavez’s Bolivarian Alliance, of which several Caribbean nations are members.

It’s not clear what impact the death of Chavez will have on the latter.

Several other Caribbean nations have followed suit with their own mourning periods, including ALBA member Dominica.