for his "failure" to secure the Môle, and finally resigned his position as a result of the military threats.The U.S. backed down from the confrontation, and seven years later secured Guantanomo Bay as a Naval base in the region. Demographics Môle-Saint-Nicolas has a population of about 4,000 people, with another 20,000 spread throughout the rural areas nearby. The town has running water from a run-of-river channel constructed in the 1970s, which feeds a reservoir above the town and is distributed via PVC pipes to spigots throughout the town. Economy Local fishing is a major industry in this part of the country. The production and distribution of wood charcoal is another major industry of the local people. There is a port for transporting charcoal to larger cities that utilizes wooden sailing vessels to transport the major fuel for cooking in Haiti. Charcoal production has devastated the original forest that once covered this area. The landscape surrounding Mole looks more like the high desert of Arizona than a lush tropical island that was first described to Europeans by Christopher Columbus. Tourism is still a growing sector with its natural beauty of fine white sandy beaches, caves, and wide bay sheltered from the winds, also a clear and bluish sea with corals where multitudes of multicolored fish live and an exotic and luxuriant panorama. Its streets are traced to cordeau and its colonial vestiges and fine gastronomy are also important. Transportation The road network of Haiti is in general decrepit, with roads in Nord-Ouest being no exception. However, in Môle-Saint-Nicolas itself, the roads are passable in a sturdy vehicle. There is a dirt airstrip, Môle-Saint-Nicolas Airport, to the north of the town which is serviced by two airlines: Mission Aviation Fellowship and Sunrise Airways. Health A medical clinic in the town has been staffed by Slovakian volunteer doctors from a private university, since the end of 2006. See also Môle Saint-Nicolas affair References External links Populated places in Nord-Ouest (department) Communes of Haiti