Haitian-Born Traveler Richard Cantave (or the Haitian Nomad as you might know him) is a self-made travel aficionado. Through his various explorations, he took the Haitian Nomad name from a part-time hobby to full-time entrepreneurship. He is living the phrase “It never really work when you are doing what you love”. We spoke with Richard to break through some of the travel taboos that plague the industry and how he turned his daydream into his day job!
What prompted the start of your personal travel journey? Your travel agency?
Believe it or not, during the recession I lost my job and while browsing for jobs on craigslist, I found a job that promised to pay me to travel the world while doing community development projects, wildlife rehabilitation, and marine conservation. I thought it was a joke but still applied—they responded within hours and ended up offering me a contract so next thing you know I was traveling throughout the U.S. recruiting college students to volunteer with Reach Out Volunteers. Eventually, I was chosen as a Team Leader in Cambodia—building schools for children, working with elephants and going scuba diving to build artificial coral reefs off of Koh Rong, a small island in Southeast Asia.
I founded the Haitian Nomad LLC after the idea to host a Fritay party at my house in Haiti called #FritayGate came about in March 2016—before I knew it 45 people book their tickets and we were going to Haiti. Recognizing the opportunity to sell the best Haiti has to offer to this group of friends/travelers and their network of over 20,000 travelers, I slept 2 hours/day to make sure all went well. From then on people kept asking when the next trip was and from there I branched out from just hosting Haiti but also all the other countries I knew well and had good connections in Cuba, Cambodia, Egypt, St Tropez, France, Montreal etc.
Seeing how many Haitian-Americans had left Haiti young and those born in the U.S. who had never been appalled me—I wanted to change this by building a platform that allowed them to reconnect with their roots, immerse in their culture and contribute to the change we desperately need.
What is one place you’ve visited that made you want to stay forever?
This is always a tough question to answer as almost every place offers something different. As much as I’d want to say Cuba, the embargo still affects everyday life and would make it hard to run my business. That said, the one place I fell in love with on my first visit and that has everything that is “ME” is the island of St. Martin/St. Maarten: accessible flights to the US, direct flights to Haiti, Europe and the rest of the world, the Creole cuisine we enjoy at home in Haiti thanks to its Haitian community, gorgeous beaches (including a nude one), 20 mins away is the island of Anguilla with its world-class beaches makes an amazing one-day getaway, the stable political climate it benefits from being a French and Dutch territory , the French pastries and the festive dutch nightlife.
Unlike most travel agents, you frequently highlight tourism in Haiti. How do you encourage others to visit?
Haiti is HOME! The first time I saw the Citadelle Laferriere in the North of Haiti—I wanted to cry! It was beautiful, powerful and imposing! This is something the world needs to see—this is what 20,000 former slaves did !
I make it my mission to not only share but serve as a liaison between people and everything Haiti has to offer from its history, its gastronomy, its culture, the beaches. My network of “travelers” reaches close to 100,000 —I serve as the “unofficial” ambassador of Haiti in all travel groups. I make sure during my trips to capture and share on all social media platforms the Haiti they never see or gotten to experience.
It’s always hard to describe exactly what I do as I’m not really a travel agent, I’m an all around “Travel Brand/operator.” Not only do I plan and host group trips to Haiti and around the world, I also put together private trips for people/organizations who want to visit Haiti and other places on their own, with friends etc. I’m also an expert on credit card points/miles strategy to earn and redeem maximum value and travel for cheap or even free. I host several online workshops on this.
Richard Cantave Proposing to His Girlfriend In Haiti.
What is one activity you feel you must do whenever you travel somewhere new?
Anywhere you go, you should try to immerse yourself in the local culture as much as possible. Forget the all-inclusive resorts! What’s the point of traveling to another country only to pay more money for the same American breakfast you eat at home?
Although it’s cool to visit the museums and the typical tourist attractions, you definitely need to see each place through the lens of a local.
Hire a local guide or just pay attention to where the locals are eating; THIS is where the good food at great prices are.
How has traveling changed your life?
WOW! such a loaded question but traveling has prepared me for anything and everything which is the mindset you’re in when you travel full time. Anything can happen—you just have to know how to improvise and make things work. It has given me a better understanding of people and what life is really about. I’ve seen the happiest people in the world living with almost no material possessions. It made me appreciate the little things in life and the more grandiose things I’ve experienced, the more humble it made me.
Do you prefer traveling solo or in a group?
This is one of the things traveling has done for me: Given me the ability to adapt. I’ve traveled solo on a 15-city Eurotrip and I LOVED it! I did lots of solo travels since as I learned to enjoy my own company which taught me so much about myself. I also enjoy traveling with a group of like-minded people who understand what travel is about and don’t have unrealistic expectations of how things should be everywhere they go.
You already have a pretty packed travel schedule for 2019. Which trip are you most excited about?
We’re ringing in 2019 on a chartered yacht cruising down the Nile River in Egypt with close to 100 people so that will be amazing BUT with Haiti’s Jazz festival, Jacmel Carnival, Morocco, St Tropez, Cuba, Thailand etc on the 2019 agenda, I must admit that Morocco is probably the one I’m super excited about as I’ve always wanted to plan something there and I love the Riads of Morocco’s stylish mansions and the surprises I have for this trip.
What is one fact you wish everyone knew about traveling?
So many people think travel is SO expensive, I wish they could all participate in my workshops and realize how cheap traveling the world can be. From tickets to Europe and even Africa sometimes for less than $300. The amount of free money/miles/points they are wasting away every day by not using the right credit card for their everyday purchases which could take them around the world is ridiculous!
What are your 2019 goals – personal and business?
Personal: I’m looking forward to an around-the-world honeymoon with my future wife.
Business: Growing the Haitian Nomad brand to include sponsors, product branding, helping more people experience the same things around the world that made me so passionate about traveling.
How can anyone interested join one of our hosted trips around the world? Or contact you for private trips/sponsorships or to work together?
The best thing to do is visit and subscribe to our newsletter at www.haitiannomad.net That way they’ll get the first alerts as the trips release—keep in mind that we usually sell out within a couple hours so it’s also good to follow us on social media platforms.
Olivier Martelly, eldest son of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, registered as a voter on Wednesday, September 23, in Côtes-de-Fer (Kòtdefè), a coastal commune in Haiti’s Sud-Est department. Local reports and social media video from the scene show him completing the process at a registration center, using a tablet and documents alongside electoral staff. Residents gathered to greet him.
Côtes-de-Fer has documented family connections to the Martellys. Michel Martelly was born there. The visit occurred during Haiti’s ongoing nationwide voter registration drive. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) launched operations in stages starting July 20–21, in most departments and July 30 in the West Department. Eligible citizens must present a valid National Identification Card. As of September 21, the CEP reported more than 628,755 voters registered, over 10% of the potential electorate holding ID cards, with 1,285 Registration and Polling Centers (CIVs) operational. Several departments, including the Sud-Est, had high rates of functioning centers.
Olivier Martelly is a kopa musician who has performed and recorded for years. He is one of four children of Michel Martelly and Sophia Saint-Rémy Martelly. Haiti has not held national elections since 2016. The current process aims toward a first round scheduled for December 13, 2026, amid security challenges, institutional delays, and international involvement. Voter registration remains open as the CEP continues operations and candidate filings.
Sources: Cotes de Fer
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian
Two weeks after classes resumed, a new wave of student abductions has deepened fear among families in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
On Friday morning, September 18, at least five students were abducted in Bois-Verna, in the stretch between Camelo and Dufort streets near Lalue, according to multiple on-the-ground reports cited by Haitian media. Three of the children are believed to be from the same family. They were reportedly on their way to school when armed individuals in a vehicle intercepted them. Exact circumstances and the full identities of the victims have not been independently confirmed.
The incident has left relatives and neighbors in the area waiting for news. Several family members said they still had no reliable information on the children’s whereabouts days later.
The Bois-Verna abductions follow a similar attack on September 9 in Delmas 75, where two schoolgirls and their driver were taken while traveling to class. Media outlets have also noted additional recent cases involving schoolchildren in Lalue and other parts of the capital that were once considered relatively less exposed.
At the time of those reports, Haiti’s National Police had not issued a detailed public statement on the Bois-Verna case or announced specific operations to recover the students. Authorities had previously promised extra security measures around the start of the school year. The latest kidnappings have raised questions about whether those deployments are reaching the routes students actually use.
Kidnapping for ransom remains a persistent tool of armed groups in and around Port-au-Prince. Students traveling between home and school have become frequent targets, adding another layer of risk to an education system already strained by gang control of large parts of the capital, school closures, and displacement. Families describe a climate in which the simple act of sending children to class now carries visible danger.
The fate of the five students taken in Bois-Verna had not been publicly resolved. Relatives and community members continue to press for their safe return and for more consistent protection along school routes.
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
Montreal-born artist Greezy is bringing his Haitian roots into his music, mixing konpa with R&B, Afropop and rap. His songs move between French, English and Creole, with love and relationships at the center of his sound.
@yoboygreezy released his nine-track EP 9 De Cœur in April and performed at Montreal’s La Sala Rossa in July. His music has also appeared on Spotify playlists, including RADAR Canada and New Music Friday Canada.
Now, he’s promoting a track called “MOOD.” For listeners who enjoy konpa with a modern R&B feel, Greezy is an artist to get to know. 🇭🇹
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
Dominican authorities have confirmed the death of Andy Louissaint, a 47-year-old U.S. citizen of Haitian origin, whose body was discovered Monday, September 14, concealed beneath a staircase and sealed with concrete and adhesive inside a clothing-bale business in the Buenos Aires de Herrera sector of Santo Domingo Oeste.
Louissaint had been reported missing after leaving the apartment where he was staying on Thursday, September 10. He told a person close to him that he was going to a commercial plaza to meet a man identified as Martínez and did not return. Relatives filed a missing-person report with police by Saturday, September 12.
Police spokesman Diego Pesqueira said the body was located around midday on September 14 at Martínez Fashion e Import (also reported as Martínez Fashion Import), a store that imports used clothing (pacas) and conducts other commercial activity. Firefighters and rescue personnel helped extract the remains, which had been “practically sealed” under the stairs. The case was reclassified from a disappearance to a homicide and transferred to the Distrito Nacional homicides unit because preliminary findings indicate Louissaint was killed in that jurisdiction and his body later moved to Herrera.
Two men were arrested on judicial orders: José Antonio Martínez Joseph, 41, identified in some accounts as the store owner and of Haitian nationality, and Juan Gabriel Marte Ramírez, 26, a Dominican store manager or assistant. Police said Martínez Joseph has acknowledged participation and stated he inflicted a wound with a bladed weapon. The official cause of death awaits the autopsy by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF). Investigators seized three vehicles and multiple cellphones, including devices belonging to the victim.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed a motive. Dominican press and social media have circulated surveillance footage purportedly showing two men transporting Louissaint. Some local commentary noted that Louissaint produced social-media content criticizing gangs, corruption, and conditions in Haiti; police have not linked that activity to the killing.
🎥 Somos Pueblo Media
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
Haiti's transitional government has retained veteran Republican operative Roger Stone to represent its interests in Washington, according to a filing made public last week with the U.S. Justice Department.
The contract runs through Drake Ventures LLC, the Fort Lauderdale lobbying firm Stone owns with his wife, Nydia. Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship signed on to pay the firm for "advisory and representation services" before the U.S. government, with the deal worth $780,000 over the one-year contract, which was signed September 2 working out to $65,000 a month.
Stone registered the arrangement with the Justice Department's FARA unit on September 16, listing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Haiti as the foreign principal, with the stated purpose being "issue advocacy on behalf of the foreign principal to the US Government." The filing does not spell out whether the work will center on elections, security assistance, or immigration policy.
The hire lands at a fraught moment for Haiti. The country is under pressure to hold its first general elections in more than a decade, even as gangs continue to control large swaths of Port-au-Prince and kidnappings persist. It also comes weeks after a major blow to the Haitian diaspora in the U.S.: on June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6–3 to let the Trump administration strip Temporary Protected Status from roughly 350,000 Haitians, ruling that courts have no authority to review the administration's termination decisions.
Stone is no stranger to representing foreign and subnational governments in Trump's Washington. His firm registered under FARA in June to advise the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí on trade and economic development matters, and he has previously appeared in FARA filings tied to the Bahamas as well as Nigeria. Drake Ventures has also picked up clients ranging from Native American tribes to rare-earth mining interests, reflecting how figures close to Trump have leaned into their access since his reelection. Haiti's government has not issued a public statement on the Stone contract.
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian
Konpa is taking over one of Miami’s biggest stages this Friday! 🇭🇹
Arly Larivière is bringing Konpa En Symphony to Kaseya Center on September 25 for the final stop of the show’s 2026 tour. The concert brings Haitian konpa together with a live symphony orchestra, giving familiar rhythms a new sound while keeping the energy fans love.
The Miami performance is being billed as the first konpa concert at Kaseya Center, making it a notable moment for Haitian music in South Florida. Whether you’re coming to sing, dance or simply enjoy the music, this is a chance to experience konpa on an arena stage.
Friday, September 25 | Doors open at 7 p.m. | Show starts at 8 p.m. Kaseya Center, Miami Tickets:
Nulookmusic.com
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
A 19-year-old University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student pleaded not guilty Monday to a fugitive from justice charge in the fatal stabbing of Corsairs freshman running back Marvins Antoine.
Chukwunonso Uzoma-Eze appeared in New Bedford District Court on Sept. 21, where he waived extradition and was ordered held without bail. He is expected to be transferred to Rhode Island within a week to face a murder charge in Antoine’s death, along with a planned felony assault charge in the wounding of another teammate.
Antoine, 18, a Boston native and Durfee High School graduate, was stabbed in the chest shortly after midnight Saturday, Sept. 19, in a Wendy’s parking lot on Charles Street in Providence. He was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital. Teammate Kensley Macean, 19, a freshman defensive back from Dighton, suffered non-life-threatening wounds to the head, neck, and left arm.
Providence police said the violence followed an altercation outside Mezzo Lounge, where Antoine, Macean, and other UMass Dartmouth football players had gone after Friday night’s home game against Framingham State. Officers said the club had reached capacity. A dispute involving a woman leaving the venue spilled across the street into the restaurant parking lot. Police have said there is no indication Uzoma-Eze knew Antoine or Macean before the encounter and that he is not a member of the football team.
He was arrested Saturday by UMass Dartmouth police. Defense attorney Jay Odunukwe described his client as a bright student with no criminal record who “goes to church with his family regularly,” adding that “the evidence will show eventually that he was basically minding his business.”
Antoine had just begun his first season at UMass Dartmouth. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, the former Durfee running back had not yet appeared in a collegiate game. Last year he earned All-Scholastic recognition and was nominated for the Otto Graham Award, given to a top senior among South Coast high schools. Friends and former teammates remembered him as a leader who looked out for younger players.
🎥 WPRI 12
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
A U.S. military aircraft left Port-au-Prince on Sunday, September 20, carrying 18 men accused in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. The group includes 17 former Colombian soldiers and Joseph Félix Badio, a former Haitian Justice Ministry official long identified by Haitian investigators as a central figure in the plot. They arrived in Miami to face federal charges in the Southern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones confirmed the transfer, writing that 18 defendants were “transported in military plane from Haiti to face American justice.” He said 30 people have now been indicted in the case and that prosecutors are “not finished.” Haiti’s Justice Minister Patrick Pelissier confirmed the handover, saying the plane carried the 17 Colombians and Badio, whom Haitian authorities have described as the plot’s “orchestra leader.”
The men boarded the gray military aircraft at Toussaint Louverture International Airport shortly before 11 a.m., dressed in light blue jumpsuits. They appeared in a Miami federal courtroom on Monday. Badio, 63, was brought in by wheelchair. The others arrived shackled. They face charges including conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death. Those offenses carry potential life sentences.
Moïse, 53, was shot dead in his bedroom at his private residence in Pétion-Ville on the night of July 6–7, 2021. His wife, Martine Moïse, was wounded but survived. The attack, carried out by a commando of mostly Colombian former soldiers, created a political vacuum that has fueled years of gang violence and displacement. U.S. prosecutors have long argued the plot was planned and financed in part from South Florida.
Several people have already been convicted in Miami. In May 2026, a federal jury found four men guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Moïse and providing material support for the plot. Others have pleaded guilty. The new transfers come days before the scheduled trial of Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a South Florida resident accused of seeking to replace Moïse as president.
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
The Grenadiers are back in action this Thursday, and Haitian fans in Jamaica are being called on to show up!
Haiti will face Trinidad and Tobago on September 24 at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, in its opening match of the 2026–27 Concacaf Nations League. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. in Jamaica (9:20 p.m. in Haiti and South Florida).
Concacaf
With Haiti playing its designated home match away from Haitian soil, supporters are being encouraged to bring their flags, wear the blue and red, and help make Sabina Park feel like home.
Will you be in the stands cheering for the Grenadiers? 🇭🇹
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
Florida health officials have confirmed the state’s first dengue-related death of 2026 as locally acquired infections continue to rise.
The woman was identified by her family as Gay Small, a Tampa resident who died on September 4, her 80th birthday. Her death certificate listed dengue infection, septic shock and multiple-organ failure. The Florida Department of Health confirmed the dengue-related death on September 18 but did not publicly identify her.
The outbreak has been especially severe in Hillsborough County. Florida reported 152 locally acquired dengue cases through September 12, including 134 in Hillsborough County. “Locally acquired” means the infection was contracted in Florida rather than during travel abroad.
Dengue spreads through infected mosquitoes. Health officials are urging residents to use insect repellent, empty containers holding standing water and take precautions against mosquito bites.
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
Thinking about using a fake pay stub to qualify for an apartment in Florida? A new law could turn that decision into a felony charge.
Starting October 1, 2026, Florida law will make it a third-degree felony to knowingly use forged or counterfeit documents, including pay stubs and bank statements, to obtain a residential rental and take possession of the property. The law also covers certain false identity statements and impersonating someone else on a rental application.
That distinction matters: simply having a rental application denied is not the offense described in this law. The law specifically addresses people who use the listed forms of fraud to get into a rental property.
The measure was signed into law in June and takes effect next month. For renters trying to meet income requirements, it is a reminder that submitting fake documents can carry consequences far beyond losing out on an apartment.
#lunionsuite #haitianamerican
How can anyone interested join one of our hosted trips around the world? Or contact you for private trips/sponsorships or to work together?
