Caribbean Festival of Arts twice. Once in 2008 when Guyana took up the challenge and again in 2010 when they had shown no intentions of hosting it. The future of CARIFESTA seems to be strengthening as Haiti bids to host the event in 2015. During an address at the 33rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community, hosted in July 2012 in Saint Lucia, Haitian President Michel Martelly asserted that receiving CARIFESTA in his country would make it possible to increase cultural relations with other neighbouring nations. Caribbean Festival of Arts Caribbean Festival of Arts, commonly known as CARIFESTA, is
Michel Martelly song, "Prezidan", "an exuberant ditty that called for a president who played compas". At the 1996 Carnival, to which Manno Charlemagne, the mayor of Port-au-Prince, invited him, Martelly dressed in a pink wig and bra. As Martelly explained, it was intended in part as a political statement: "If you see me as a Macoute, then I'm a Macoute. If you see me as gay, I'm gay. What you think of me is no problem, as far as I am concerned. You have the right to think what you want. I know who I am, and that's the main thing." In