As protests and deaths escalate in Haiti, mayors cancel pre-Carnival parties

FEBRUARY 08, 2019 07:46 PM

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article225999135.html

A demonstrator draped in the Haitian flag, holds up a copy of the Haitian constitution, during a protest to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise and account of how nearly $2 billion from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe oil fund have been used by the current and past administrations, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. DIEU NALIO CHERY AP
There were more deaths and injuries in Haiti on Friday as Haitians took to the streets in a second day of protests, and the mayors of two major cities announced the cancellation of pre-Carnival street parties for this weekend.

Sen. Youri Latortue, who represents the Artibonite region, said two people, including an 18-year-old protester, were killed and 10 others were injured in a protest in the city of Gonaives that degenerated as police opened fire to disperse the crowd. He accused police of killing the 18-year-old at the port.

But a police source refuted the claim, citing a video that showed the teen in a conflict with armed agents at the port and not Haiti National Police officers, who were not at the scene.

In addition to Gonaives, protests were also reported in the southern cities of Port Salut, Jacmel and Les Cayes. In Port-au-Prince, the U.S. embassy issued security alerts for certain areas, including roadblocks and protests around Aristide University in Tabarre and near a police station in Delmas. It also reportedly asked embassy employees, along with those employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to leave a Petionville hotel over security concerns.

Asked about the veracity of the report, a Department of State spokesperson for Western Hemisphere Affairs noted the security alert issued for Friday and said: “We do not comment on personnel movements for reasons of security.”


Thousands of demonstrators march in the street of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, as they chant anti-government slogans during a protest to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise and an account of how funds from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe oil fund have been used by the current and past administrations.
Dieu Nalio Chery AP
With some schools remaining closed and many Haitians opting to stay home Friday, concerns are growing about the new wave of protests that are being fueled by Haitians’ frustrations over the rising costs of living and an economy in shambles. The mayors of Port-au-Prince and Petionville both confirmed to the Miami Herald that given the troubling situation, they were canceling Sunday’s Pre-Carnival street parties in their respective cities.

“The police are working non-stop, and with all of the trouble taking place right now I don’t think they can guarantee the security of the population. So we canceled,” Port-au-Prince Mayor Ralph Youri(cq) Chevry said.

The festivities usually draw thousands of revelers along with DJs and foot bands playing traditional Haitian Carnival tunes known as Rara in the walk-up to the pre-Lenten celebration.

“We are acting responsibly,” Petionville Mayor Dominique Saint-Roc said. “Given what’s developing in the country and how Feb. 7 unfolded yesterday with protests, I took the decision to cancel until the situation improves.”

Besides, Saint-Roc said, protesters appear to be “fixated” on his hilly city at the top of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. While home to the Jalousie slum, the city is also home to some of Haiti’s wealthy who drive $150,000 SUVs and other luxury vehicles.

Symbols of wealth, the vehicles have also become the targets of protesters’ frustrations. During Thursday’s countrywide protests, which marked 33 years since the fall of the country’s 28-year Duvalier family dictatorship and the two-year anniversary since President Jovenel Moïse took office, protesters hurled rocks at vehicles and set others ablaze.

Haitians don’t usually postpone Kanaval, the merrymaking celebration that begins several days before Ash Wednesday in many Caribbean and Latin American countries. But with a domestic currency in free fall, inflation at 15 percent annually and a deficit of $89.6 million in the nation’s budget for this year, some have argued that Haiti cannot afford the $2.3 million officials have allocated for Carnival and the country’s embattled leaders should cancel the party all together.

“We can’t afford festivities,” tweeted the Haitian actress Gessica Geneus, who has become a vocal critic of the country’s mismanagement of nearly $2 billion from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe oil program, and the population’s ongoing misery. “We simply don’t even have the money for it. What’s so complicated for them to accept?”

So far, the big party remains on. On Friday, following a meeting with rice importers to see how they can bring down the price of one of the main staples of the Haitian diet, President Moïse appealed to the country’s opposition to come “sit at one table so we can find a solution to the country’s problems.”

“We know that the country’s problems aren’t solely political. The country’s problems are social, economic and political,” he said. “We have to sit together and talk, so we can look each other in the eyes and put the country on the road to true change.”

Moïse’s calls for dialogue have for now been ignored by the opposition, which has called for his resignation.


JACQUELINE CHARLES


305-376-2616
Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas

Reparations for Haiti

https://twitter.com/ReparationsH


HaitiInfoProject

https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj

The French are responsible for the chaos in Haiti. This goes way back to 1799 since Napoleon staged a coup against the Directory in Paris, France.

It has gotten real. The masses are descending on neighborhoods of the corrupt elite.

the uprising continues in Haiti


In Haiti, bishops say country must ‘wake up’ to solve national problems

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/in-haiti-bishops-say-country-must-wake-up-to-solve-national-problems-81930


A woman walks past tire barricades set ablaze by demonstrators protesting in Port-au-Prince against Haitian President Jovenel Moise Feb. 10, 2019. Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb 14, 2019 / 12:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following deadly protests against Haiti’s president and the drowning deaths of at least 28 people in an illegal crossing to the Bahamas, the country’s Catholic bishops have said all Haitians must come together for a wise solution to the country’s dangers.

“We must wake up to take together the full measure of the danger that threatens us all. This is the moment to join our forces and our intelligence to save our common boat, Haiti, which is our pride,” the Catholic Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti said Feb. 11.

They cited the Gospel of Matthew passage in which the seaborne disciples cry out to Christ as their boat starts to sink: “Lord, save us, we are perishing!”

“The hour is serious because there is violence against life. We deplore the losses in both human lives and property recorded recently in illegal travel and demonstrations,” they added. “We take this opportunity to present our sympathies to the victims and relatives of the victims.”

Four days of political demonstrations against President Jovenel Moise drew thousands of people, but also led to unrest that contributed to four deaths and dozens of injuries, BBC News reports.

Opponents accuse Moise and other leaders of corruption after a court report alleged that Haitian officials and former ministers misappropriated loans from Venezuela made to Haiti after 2008. The report suggested the president had a role in the irregularities.

The protesters have called on Moise to step down. He has been president since 2017.

Haiti’s Catholic bishops stressed the urgency of the country’s situation.

“The hour is serious, the misery is increasing, the common good is threatened. The country is on the edge of the abyss! This situation cannot be prolonged,” they said. “Let us wake up to listen to God, Master of wisdom and Principle of all life. Let us listen to the people he loves so much.”

Migrants leaving Haiti by boat have sometimes risked their lives to enter other countries.

In early February, a boat of migrants sank six miles off the coast of Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands in the north of the Bahamas, BBC News reports.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force rescued 17 people, but the bodies of 28 migrants were recovered, BBC News reports.

About 300 people from Haiti have been caught attempting illegal entry into the Bahamas.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Caribbean. Sixty percent of people there live on less than $2 per day. The deadly boat sinking happened nearest to the island of Fowl Cay, where luxury villas cost as much as $4,300 per night.

People from Haiti who attempt illegal crossings also attempt to reach the Turks and Caicos Islands. Most migrants are intercepted at sea and deported back to Haiti.

The bishops’ Feb. 11 message fell on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Sick.

“We must find a solution of wisdom that takes into account the best interests of the nation and the defense of the common good,” the bishops said. “In this sense, we appeal to the citizen conscience of the various parties for a patriotic decision, even if only at the cost of great sacrifices.”

They asked for prayers for Haiti and for the country to turn towards God.


.