Their confidence in President Rene Preval shaken by the response to last month's devastating earthquake, Haitians say they long for the leadership of a Hugo Chavez, or Barack Obama or Fidel Castro.
"Haitians adore Chavez and Obama, Obama sometimes more, sometimes more Chavez. Both of them should be our president," said Frank Royemon, a young Haitian working as a translator for a group of American journalists.
And before the presidents of Venezuela and the United States burst on the international scene, he added, "Fidel Castro was the dearest here, always will be. He should bring the revolution to Haiti."
At another spot in the city, in a small encampment of homeless people next to the Port-au-Prince prosecutor's office, Richeline Sylva, a 20-year-old mother of two, sighs.
"Oh Chavez, he is very good and he says things that must be said," she said. Then she adds, "Like Obama. We were very happy when he was elected."
"That the United States and Venezuela do not get along is not our problem, But both those presidents could be ours," interjected another young woman, who introduced herself as Geraldine.
In the ruined streets of Port-au-Prince, it is easy to find people who express admiration for the presidents of the two countries among the most at odds with each other in the western hemisphere.
"Do you think the United States is occupying us?" Paul McKenso, a waiter at a hotel in once upscale Petionville asked a group of foreigners. "Now is not the time to be asking ourselves this. At least someone is helping us, and although we adore Obama here, oooh, Chavez is formidable."
The US military presence here is visible, distributing aid throughout the city.
But the flag and shield of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela can also be seen in public works in some of the city's most miserable slums.
"I think that if Chavez comes here, he can walk everywhere and nothing is going happen to him. Everyone knows him and respects him," said Royemon.
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