Haiti suspends fuel price hike after protesters riot
By The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jul 7, 2018,
The Haitian government suspended a fuel price hike Saturday after widespread violence broke out across the capital and in the northern city of Cap-Haitien.
Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant had originally said the country needed to raise prices to balance the budget and gave no indication he would back down.
But his administration bowed to pressure after demonstrators took to the streets in protest.
A journalist from The Associated Press reported seeing several hundred people on Saturday attack a Best Western Premiere hotel in Petion-Ville, one of the capital's wealthiest neighborhoods. Guests were forced to remain inside as rocks were hurled through windows around 10 a.m. local time.
Security manned the building, but rioters shattered the main entrance before moving to another hotel.
No injuries or deaths were reported during the day's incidents, but at least three people were killed Friday as protesters used burning tires and barricades to block major streets. At one point they attempted to set a gas station on fire but were held off by police.
The demonstrations began after the Commerce Ministry and Economic Ministry issued a joint statement announcing an increase of 38 percent to 51 percent for gasoline, diesel and kerosene.
Government officials agreed to reduce subsidies for fuel in February as part of an assistance package with the International Monetary Fund. The agreement also included increased spending on social services and infrastructure and improved tax collection in an effort to modernize the economy of one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere.
After the Bullet
The injury follows its course,
first the shock, then a slow,
tranquil pause during which
one feels almost nothing,
but afterwards, in a lover's
arms, or alone, any
ordinary Independence Day,
death comes along.
Indran Amirthanayagam, c) July 4th, 2018
As violent protests continue over gas prices, U.S. airlines cancel all flights to Haiti
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
July 07, 2018 02:01 PM
Updated 21 minutes ago
U.S. airlines canceled all of their flights to Haiti Saturday as the country’s embattled prime minister called for Haitians to stop blocking roads and burning tires amid a civil unrest being triggered by the announcement of a sharp hike in fuel prices.
At least three people have died as a result of the violence that erupted Friday afternoon, including a police officer and security guard for a former legislative candidate and opposition leader. Also, two police stations — one in the city of Gonaives and the other in Carrefour on the outskirts of metropolitan Port-au-Prince — were set ablaze.
Spirit Airlines and JetBlue, which diverted its 1709 flight to Santo Domingo and then returned to Fort Lauderdale Friday night "due to the civil unrest," all announced flight cancellations Saturday to Port-au-Prince.
"Due to concerns over safety from unrest in the area, Spirit Airlines felt it necessary to temporarily suspend service to Port-au-Prince, Haiti," said spokesman Derek Dombrowski. "We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused, but the safety of our Guests and Crew is paramount. "
American Airlines canceled all of its flights including the one to Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, spokeswoman Martha Pantin said.
“Anybody’s going to Haiti? All flights are canceled,” a Broward County Sheriff deputy at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport yelled as he walked near the Transportation Security Administration check-in line.
The attacks, which appear to have overwhelmed a poorly-resourced Haiti National Police force that for the first time does not have the backing of a U.N. peacekeeping force, continued with fury Saturday with helpless residents and tourists watching as angry crowds attacked luxury hotels and the businesses owned by high-profile Haitians while demanding that President Jovenel Moïse pull back the gas hikes or resign.
The call for a rollback was echoed by Lower Chamber President Gary Bodeau, who tweeted that he was giving "Guy Lafontant and the government a second chance to turn back" its decision.
Near the Toussaint Louverture International Airport a fiery barricade blocked parts of the road while an angry mob broke the front door of the Best Western hotel in Petionville with rocks. Outside, seven cars were set on fire. As black smoke billowed in the air, firefighters were no where to be found and the crowd of more than 300 men, holding machetes and batons, threatened more chaos. Elsewhere around the capital, businesses were pelted with rocks. Some were vandalized and looted.
"Every time you do it, the country becomes poorer," Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant said in a televised address early Saturday morning as he appealed for calm and patience from the population. "Every time you destroy a store, it's jobs that a Haitian will lose.
"Every time you do it, the country becomes poorer," Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant said in a televised address early Saturday morning as he appealed for calm and patience from the population. "Every time you destroy a store, it's jobs that a Haitian will lose.
"I'm asking you for patience because the administration's vision is clear," he said referring to him and President Jovenel Moïse who has been in office 17 months. "It has a clear program that it has continued to execute."
Describing the government's plans to bring 2,485 miles of roads and 24-hour electricity to the country, Lafontant sounded more like a politician still on the campaign trail than one with a grip on
the deepening crisis.
But as the crisis deepened Saturday, many wondered how long Lafontant had left in office. A vote of no-confidence on his government had been put on hold late last month amid questions about the legality of four of ministers who were appointed in a recent cabinet shake up.
Haitians trapped in the unrest describe it as spontaneous and symptomatic of a much deeper anger in the population with the increase in fuel prices being the last straw.
"Gas prices going up is not good for us and it's not good for you," one young man told a Haitian-American couple as they tried to negotiate their way through one of many road blocks in southern Haiti, trying to get to the outskirts of the town of Cavaillon.
On Friday, the Haitian government announced that fuel prices would be rising as of midnight. The increases were set at 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel and 51 percent for kerosene, the country’s Commerce and Economic Ministry said in a joint statement.
The Ministry of Social Affairs also announced new fares for public transportation, with some routes now going up as much as 50 percent.
While the price hikes affects everyone from the struggling construction company owner whose weekly diesel costs will now up go from $1,310 to $2,034 for 500 gallons, to the school teacher who will see her grocery bill increase, the poor is especially affected.
Since 2010, Haiti has lost nearly $770,750,000 in revenues by keeping gas prices low, government officials say.
"Only 25 percent of the population has benefited from the subsidization," Haiti's Finance Minister Jude Alix Patrick Solomon said Friday at a press conference about the fuel hikes. "It's difficult for you to be asking your international partners to give you budgetary assistance or support and at the same time you have revenue that you are not capturing."
The fuel hikes are part of an agreement that Haiti entered into with the International Monetary Fund. It has called on Haiti to make sweeping reforms in its public administration and raise gas prices in accordance with its 1995 law that calls for prices to be adjusted with every shipment. Failing to do the reforms can cost Haiti up to $9 million in budgetary support from international donors.
A graphic of the hikes went viral shortly after 2 p.m. Friday as Haitians were watching Brazil lose to Belgium during the World Cup. Right after the game ended, the violence erupted with crowds in several major cities setting up fiery barricades with tires cutting off major roads. A lot of people got trapped in offices, in restaurants, hotel lobbies and on the streets. They either had to abandoned their car and walk home or take refuge at a hotel or friend's house.
In Petionville, roads leading to wealthier hillside communities were targeted. Cars were pelted with rocks as residents attempted to make their way home. Protesters even cut off a detour to Montagne Noire that had become popular in recent days after upset residents in the Pelerin 5 community started protesting the demolition of several houses in the vicinity of the president's private residence days earlier.
The government claims the houses were the private property of the state, and they had to be demolished for security purposes. But residents objected saying they have had no due process.
In response to the violence, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince warned U.S. citizens to avoid certain area and at the height of the violence on Friday issued a shelter in place order to embassy employees.
The true Haiti is safe and rich in culture
Our crime rate last year was significantly lower than those of the most popular tourist destinations in the region, writes Bocchit Edmond, Haitian ambassador to the UK
In a curious article by the comedian Romesh Ranganathan about a trip to Haiti to promote his BBC television show, he recounts unclothed babies, street gamblers, and dogs emerging from bushes to bark at unsuspecting tourists (Our man in Port-au-Prince: Wild dogs, voodoo potions, guns on the street and the threat of kidnap…, G2, 28 June).
And danger, apparently, lurks around every corner (despite the author never becoming victim to it – unless you count his incident with an ill-mannered dog).
Had Mr Ranganathan done his research, he would have known that Haiti is one of the safest countries in the Caribbean. Our crime rate last year was significantly lower than those of the most popular tourist destinations in the region, and we rank higher on the Global Peace Index.
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If a travel writer touring, say, London intentionally chose to stay in and tour only high-crime neighbourhoods, readers would be left with a very different and very lopsided impression of London. Naturally, travel articles about London don’t do that, but this is precisely what Mr Ranganathan chose to do in Port-au-Prince.
His inaccurate depiction of our country and his narrow-minded caricature of the “bizarre natives” in their (by his account) dangerous and dirty land is a process of “othering” that goes beyond simple ignorance and traces back centuries.
It’s a shame that his viewers will learn about our country via cultural stereotype. But when the BBC is ready, we invite it to send a proper journalist to Haiti to show the country as it truly is: complex, dynamic, flawed and rich in culture and history.
That way, we can both understand one another better.
Bocchit Edmond
Haitian ambassador to the UK
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Beryl bound for Caribbean islands, possibly as a 90-mph hurricane
BY JENNY STALETOVICH
- July 06, 2018 07:51 AM
Updated July 06, 2018 11:07 PM
Beryl, a tiny, fast-moving storm, will likely be a hurricane when it reaches Caribbean islands over the weekend hit hard by Hurricane Maria last year.
In an 11 p.m. advisory, National Hurricane Center forecasters said the storm continued to intensify Friday with sustained winds reaching 80 mph. Earlier, they had expected strong wind shear to weaken the storm before it neared the Lesser Antilles. But it now looks like Beryl will maintain hurricane strength as it crosses the islands late Sunday or early Monday, they said.
Because the storm is so small — hurricane force winds extend just 10 miles from the storm's center — forecasters said it's too soon to tell what islands may get hit. By late afternoon, however, several islands were already bracing for potential strikes. Dominica was under a hurricane watch and several surrounding islands issued tropical storm watches, with the strong winds possible by Sunday evening.
A potential impact on Puerto Rico, still recovering after Maria's devastation, remained unclear. With the storm tracking a bit more to the south than expected, the NHC slightly shifted the cone away from the island, but that could change over the next few days. The projected wind speeds also came down a tad to an expected peak at 90 mph in two days, but forecasters stressed there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Beryl.
At 11 p.m. Friday, Beryl was located about 890 miles east, southeast of the Lesser Antilles, moving west at 14 mph. Over the weekend, it's expected to speed up.
The storm should begin to weaken once it reaches the eastern Caribbean on Monday. However, forecasters warned that may not occur in time to spare the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where storms often trigger dangerous mudslides and flash flooding.
Because the storm is so small, forecasters say they've been less certain about their projections. Small storms can morph quickly — Beryl flared up from a depression Thursday morning to a hurricane in less than 24 hours. The storms can just as quickly lose steam.
For the next day or so, forecasters say low wind shear will likely allow Beryl to continue strengthening, at least until it nears Hispaniola.
Beryl is the easternmost hurricane to form from an African wave in July on record, according to University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Storms forming in the southern Caribbean, where waters are warmer, are far more common.