On the road into Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, the traffic slows yet again. Jeeps and trucks skirt the body lying in the middle of the road.
Under the harsh afternoon sun the gaping wound on the dead man's temple is plainly visible.
Rocks used in the attack are strewn around the corpse. No one stops. No crowd is gathering at the scene. Stonings, after all, are commonplace here.
What is strange, however, is that the dead man's family have not come to move the body. And they won't come. Fear of being implicated in the man's purported crime ensures they will stay away from the corpse, which will remain where it is until the police eventually remove it.
A brutal system of summary, public justice has induced fear strong enough to make Haitians disregard even the ties of family.
Apathy abounds in Haiti; generations of oppression and crushing poverty have exacted their toll and community spirit has been almost extinguished.
It is ironic that Haiti, one of the first independent states in the western hemisphere, has failed to meet expectations of a smooth return to democracy, almost four years after the US sent 20,000 troops to restore the ousted president, Mr Jean Bertrand Aristide, to power. Not only are the wheels of democracy turning slowly, but Haiti appears to be on the verge of an abyss.
The concept of "people power" is alien to most Haitians, whose lack of empowerment has given way to the apathy shown everywhere by the shrugs of Haitian shoulders. Visitors to this part of the spectacular Caribbean island which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic encounter much shoulder-shrugging, particularly if they expect goods and services to reach developed-country standards.
The frustration of dissatisfied blancs is a constant source of amusement to Haitians. Following a two-hour wait for a simple transaction in a bank, a complaint produced nothing other than the ubiquitous shrug from the bank official and guffaws from the onlookers, most of whom had also been waiting over two hours.
The message is: "If you think this is bad, worse is to come."
Very little works in Haiti. Most roads are unsurfaced and dangerous, quite apart from the erratic driving that is a feature of life here. Electricity, where it exists, is sporadic at best. Regulated water supply is confined to a few wealthy residential areas and most people are left to find their own, often polluted, supply.
Telecommunications are barely adequate: 60,000 lines service a population of seven million. Raw sewage runs through the broken streets of Port-au-Prince and the disorder intensifies as people continue to move to the cities.
Haiti has been without a functioning government since last June when the Prime Minister, Mr Rosny Smarth, resigned over allegations of rigged elections. Parliament has rejected all three of President Rene Preval's efforts to nominate a new prime minister.
Last month Mr Herve Denis, an economist, was rejected for the second time by the dominant Organisation du Peuple en Lutte.
The governmental crisis and the accompanying attitude de blocage are being blamed for the persistent poverty and lack of development. Vital infrastructural work is at a standstill; public sector reforms have been delayed and attempts to privatise several state-owned companies have been derailed.
A World Bank report, due to be released this month, cites the political crisis as the principal factor preventing economic recovery. In reality, the difficulties arising from a fraught political situation have merely underpinned the problems facing an overpopulated country, with 80 per cent poverty and the lowest annual per capita income in the western world at US$250 (£155).
Most importantly, the political instability is affecting the flow of foreign aid which the country depends upon so heavily: Haiti has benefited from over $4 billion in aid in the last four years.
On a recent visit the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, stressed "the importance of ending the current paralysing political crisis, so that a prime minister can take office and international aid can flow more freely". If the stalemate ended, Ms Albright said, Haiti would have access to international loans from institutions such as like the World Bank.
Although historically the US has been Haiti's self-appointed protector, Washington can do little more to relieve the situation. Furthermore, ordinary Haitians consider outside interference to be at the root of many of their problems.
Last month the town of Cap Haitien was sealed off by demonstrators protesting at the continuing presence of a couple of hundred UN humanitarian workers.
However, at the moment Haiti seems more likely to be swallowed by the enemy within. Political and social troubles are being dwarfed by looming ecological disaster, arising mainly from deforestation which has stripped the country of 85 per cent of its trees.
Testament to this are the gouged, blackened mountains outside the major population centres, where trees are cut down for charcoal, the major source of fuel. Knock-on effects have included the erosion of topsoil and an increase in water salinity levels.
In Gonaives, the north-south pit-stop, the residents are slowly poisoning themselves with salt water, having no alternative supply. It is estimated that in five years the water available to Port-au-Prince's two million inhabitants will be undrinkable.
Many despair, but there are tiny signs of hope. A short-term tourism strategy is promoting visits by Haitian emigrants, renovating Port-au-Prince, reducing pollution and replanting.
For now Haitians have invested their greatest hope for the future in Mr Aristide, who lives "among the people" in a heavily-guarded mansion with his American wife and child.
The former priest and president, who delivered the people from the Duvalier dictatorship in the mid-1980s, is thought to be planning to seek the presidency again in 2000. If he does run, he will almost certainly win.
What is clear is that Mr Aristide is still scripting the nation's future from behind the scenes via his political party - wistfully called Put Order Into Disorder. Whatever Mr Aristide's plans, Haiti's future leader will have to confront the near-climax of an enduring crisis which may not yet be past repair.
