Haiti Gripped by Violent Protests Amid Calls for President’s Ouster
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/28/world/americas/haiti-protests-moise.html
(Site ezilidanto) Mr. Moïse has not been seen publicly since Wednesday morning, when he issued a prerecorded address appealing for calm and offering to form a unity government in the aftermath of several failed attempts to appoint a new prime minister, who would be his fourth nominee in just over two years.
MEXICO CITY — Burned-out cars, makeshift barricades and shuttered businesses signaled a week of unrest in Haiti, where protesters are demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse and more violent protests are feared.
Streets, schools and banks were closed throughout the country, bringing the economy to a standstill. Shortages of oil, power and food abound. The nation’s currency is in free fall, and allegations of corruption linked to Mr. Moïse have brought the nation to a crisis point.
“To me it is obvious: The president, particularly, doesn’t govern anything at all right now,” said Fritz Jean, a former prime minister and past governor of Haiti’s Central Bank. “In fact, we are in a state of vacancy right now.”
The message was roundly rejected by the political opposition and by Haitians on the street, who responded with spontaneous violent protests on Wednesday that culminated in demonstrations around the country. The resulting damage — burned and looted businesses, blockaded streets, cars set ablaze — has left Haitians fearing the worst.
On Saturday, André Michel, a leader of the opposition, called for the country to remain shut down “until the resignation of Jovenel Moïse. No gifts will be given here.”
“Those who are guarding the barricades blocking streets need to remain,” he said during a talk show on Saturday.
The government is without a confirmed prime minister. Inflation is nearly 20 percent, growth is expected to be a paltry 1.5 percent, and the government has not voted on a budget in two years. The Haitian gourde, the nation’s currency, has fallen dramatically in the past five years.
“If he doesn’t leave the country without conditions, we will resort to looting,” a protester, Cadet Jean Donis, said of the president.
The current round of confrontation began with Mr. Moïse’s attempts in July 2018 to end fuel subsidies, a move encouraged by the International Monetary Fund. Though Haiti was in desperate need of cash, its people, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, revolted.
The government canceled the plans hours later, but violent protests persisted, leaving at least seven dead. Fueling the discontent, in no small part, were corruption allegations that have long dogged the nation, most recently alleging misuse of billions in aid that flowed into the country after the 2010 earthquake.
The fuel subsidy crisis precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant in July 2018. Mr. Moïse then named a new prime minister, Jean-Henry Céant, a well-known lawyer and former presidential rival, to form a unity government. Six months later, Mr. Céant was fired.
New problems surfaced months later, when Mr. Moïse was hit directly with corruption allegations after a Haitian court published a wide-ranging report on the nation’s mismanagement of a Venezuelan oil subsidy program.
The report noted that two companies controlled by Mr. Moïse before he took office received the same government contract to build the same road in northwest Haiti.
Though Mr. Moïse has denied the allegations, the report further outraged anti-corruption organizations and his opponents.
A campaign spread widely on social media, calling for transparency and an accounting of how the money was spent. Protests connected to the campaign engulfed the nation in October and November of last year, bringing more violence and death.
Since then, opposition senators have blocked Mr. Moïse’s next two choices for prime minister. The most recent hearing took place on Monday, and ended in chaos when a governing party senator, Jean-Marie Ralph Féthière, pulled out his gun and opened fire in the Parliament yard, wounding a photographer for The Associated Press and a bodyguard.
In the past week, oil tankers have delivered fuel to the country, but the turmoil has made it difficult to resupply distributors.
The cycle of economic and political turmoil has sapped the nation and left it in a state of gridlock. The most recent events, and in particular Friday’s protests, have left Haiti reeling.
“We are telling the people who live in the Cité Soleil area and the Haitian population to rise up to overthrow this government,” Francois Pericat, a protester, told The Associated Press on Friday, referring to a poor and densely populated part of the capital, Port-au-Prince. “President Jovenel Moise is not doing anything for us, just killing us.”
Haiti's President Cancels UN Speech
By Sandra Lemaire, Jean Robert Philippe
September 24, 2019 09:24 AM
Matiado Vilme and Renan Toussaint in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report
WASHINGTON / NEW YORK / PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti's President, Jovenel Moise, will not travel to the United States as planned Tuesday (September, 24th), to speak before the United Nations General Assembly. The president issued a statement late Monday announcing that Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond would lead Haiti's delegation to the U.N. and speak before the general assembly on behalf of the nation.
The cancellation comes after news of a postponement of his departure for New York, and on the heels of a chaotic, violent day at the Haitian Senate that saw two people wounded when a Senator fired his gun ahead of a vote to confirm the prime minister designate. An AP photojournalist and a parliament security guard were wounded during the incident.
People run as Haiti's Senator Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere holds a gun in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 23, 2019.
Corruption allegations
President Moise and some members of his government are mired in controversy and corruption allegations.
On Sunday, opposition Senator Youri Latortue accused him of "misappropriating" Haitian passport revenue collected by the Embassy in Washington to finance his trip to the U.N.
"Minister Bocchit withdrew $298,000 US dollars from a government bank account for President Jovenel's trip. He took an additional $60,000 from the New York Consulate account. That's a total of $348,000 U.S. dollars. Plus the Haitian money they withdrew," the senator alleged.
Senator Latortue said that money should have been used instead to help the victims of a mass flood in the southern town of Petit Goave on Saturday, which killed several people including children and damaged homes.
He also alleged that the large sum of money was not needed because the U.N. finances the trips of the leaders of member countries and their hotel stays for U.N. General Assembly.
But Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond refuted the allegation in an exclusive interview with VOA Creole at the United Nations.
"If Senator Latortue felt there were irregularities, he knows there are institutions in place which can deal with such matters. In addition, Senator Latortue was an advisor to a president of the republic, he is well aware of the rules and regulations the chief of state must abide by. So he therefor knows that the Haitian Embassy in Washington is in charge of planning the President's visit to speak at the UNGA. And since he was also adviser to the former prime minister of Haiti - he knows these rules well," Edmond said.
Responding to the assertion that the U.N. finances leaders' trips to speak at the UNGA, the foreign minister said " This is false. There are 193 member nations, each delegation is responsible for the expenses of its members."
Edmond quipped that the senator should verify his information before making such accusations.
Demonstrators chant anti-government slogans during a protest against fuel shortages and to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 20, 2019.
Mass protests
During mass protests on September 20, where thousands took to the streets of Port-au-Prince to demand the president's resignation, several protesters told VOA Creole that President Jovenel Moise shouldn't be making any speeches at the U.N.
"Jovenel will not represent us at the United Nations!" a protester from the Cite Soleil slum of the capital who was in the streets after the shooting incident at the parliament said. "International community, United States, please take him off our hands."
That sentiment has been echoed by members of the oppostion as well.
A group of protesters blocked a road near the national palace Monday with a white box truck, then painted red graffiti saying "Jovenel we're waiting for the keys".
‘This was supposed to be our emergency flight out of here.’ Haiti closes international airport
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 01:03 PM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 14 MINUTES AGO
Hundreds of U.S.-bound passengers stranded in Haiti after smoke was smelled inside Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Tuesday. COURTESY OF DARA KAY COHEN
As if things weren’t bad enough in Haiti, where residents woke up Tuesday to find banks, most schools and other businesses closed after a day of tension in Port-au-Prince and other major cities, now international travelers cannot fly out of the country.
Ernst Renaud, the director of operations at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, told the Miami Herald that the airport is closed until 6 a.m. Wednesday after workers were unable to get rid of the smell of smoke due to electrical sparks in the departure lounge.
“We are taking the decision to protect passengers,” Renaud said. He added that domestic flights, which use a different terminal, are not affected.
Asked whether passengers, who had been waiting since 6 a.m. to fly out of Port-au-Prince, had been informed, Renaud said it wasn’t his job but that of the individual airlines to do so. By 12:30 p.m. some still had no done so.
Hundreds of U.S.-bound passengers stranded in Haiti after smoke was smelled inside Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Tuesday. Dara Kay Cohen
Passengers arriving at the airport to take flights out early Tuesday found crime-scene investigators with cameras wearing white coats and blue latex gloves at the airport. As the large crowd formed at the entrance, there was no electricity inside the airport.
“There was every type of police unit you can imagine, and some of them were heavily armed,” said Dara Kay Cohen, a Fort Lauderdale-bound passenger. Cohen, a researcher into gangs and vigilantism at Harvard University, said they didn’t see any firefighters but there were ambulances.
“The only information we’ve been able to find is through our own cell phone,” she said around noon before Cuba-bound passengers were informed in Spanish that the airport was closed.
Cohen, who had spent 10 days in Haiti and wasn’t scheduled to leave until Saturday, said she and a fellow researcher decided to reschedule their departure for Tuesday after crowds marched into Petionville on Monday, throwing rocks, burning cars and setting a business on fire after looting it.
In protest of the deteriorating situation, which occurred after a senator shot two people, including a journalist, in the yard of the Haitian Senate on Monday, a number of private businesses announced their closure for Tuesday and Wednesday. In a press note, the banking association asked all commercial banks to remain closed to protect their employees.
“This was supposed to be our emergency flight out of here,” Cohen said.
A source told the Herald the problem was an electrical fire in the departure lounge area, which workers were attempting to clean up. However, after hours, the smell persisted.
The website for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City showed JetBlue’s 11:06 p.m. flight from JFK to Port-au-Prince was delayed to 6:43 p.m.
Two outbound JetBlue flights, one from JFK and the other from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, were diverted after take off Tuesday morning.
Businesses, Schools Closed as Haiti's Capital Reels from Political Chaos
By Sandra Lemaire, Matiado Vilme
September 24, 2019 02:58 PM
WASHINGTON / PORT-AU-PRINCE - Businesses and schools were closed Tuesday in Port-au-Prince as Haiti's private sector protests the insecurity and chaos that has overwhelmed the nation.
Meanwhile, AP photojournalist Dieu Nalio Chery is recovering from a bullet wound in his jaw that he sustained when a Haitian ruling party senator fired his gun in the parliament yard. A parliament security guard also sustained a bullet wound in the stomach. He is recovering after being treated at a nearby hospital.
Senator Ralph Fethiere pulled out his gun and fired when opposition supporters began yelling at him and approached him aggressively as he was getting into his vehicle.
Ruling party Senator Ralph Fethiere fires his gun outside parliament in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 23, 2019.
The senator, one of two ruling party lawmakers who were photographed with guns in hand Monday as members of the Senate gathered for a confirmation vote on Prime Minister designate Fritz William Michel, was not arrested. He issued a statement condemning the incident and defended his actions, claiming he was the victim.
"(I) vehemently blame certain ill-intentioned armed individuals who did not hesitate to open the door of (my) vehicle to physically aggress (me). The impact of the bullets on (my) car were duly noted by an officer of justice," the statement said.
In an interview with local radio station, Senate Leader Carl Murat Cantave said he too was hit by supporters of opposition lawmakers at the parliament.
"Violence has no place in Haiti's political process," a spokesperson with the State Department Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs told VOA, "even as we recognize the importance of forming a government to address Haiti's urgent priorities."
Looting, attacks
The condemnation follows a day of looting and attacks after angry protesters took to the streets, reacting to news of the Senate shooting. The Banque de L'Union Haitienne (BUH) in the upscale suburb of Juvena was looted of rice, corn meal and other items stored on its upper level floors, then later set on fire.
Haiti's sports minister-designate told reporters she was carjacked as she left the Karibe hotel, also in Juvena, where Michel and members of his cabinet gathered to await news about the Senate vote. She was unharmed after leaving her car to the assailants and returning to the hotel.
Haiti has struggled to end chaos since March of this year, when Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant was forced to resign in a no-confidence vote.
President Jovenel Moise's current choice for the prime minister position is accused of corruption, prompting attempts by the opposition to block his confirmation vote by vandalizing parliament. While the lower chamber of deputies approved Michel's nomination on Sept. 3, the Senate has tried and failed five times to approve him.
Some observers question if the country's current leaders are fit to lead.
Jovenel Moise, who at first delayed a trip to New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, canceled his visit late Monday. He said Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond would represent Haiti at the UNGA and deliver the speech in his stead.