Haiti: First-Ever Patriotic Forum Seeks Agreement to Confront Crisis

Haiti is holding its First Patriotic Forum which started Aug. 27 and will last until Aug. 31 in the small community of Papaye, located in the center of the country with the presence of left-wing and progressive sectors of society. 

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The four-day meeting aims at analyzing the current political crisis the Caribbean country is going through and at reaching agreements to get out of it. Leftist, revolutionary, progressive, democratic and national forces of all sectors, parties, and social movements who fight against the colonial, imperial and neoliberal policies in the country will participate in the great national conference.

The objective is to achieve a common understanding of the deep crisis in Haiti, its historical and structural causes and those who have been and currently are responsible for it, on both the national and international levels. 

Then they'll draw up a joint action plan to successfully achieve the resignation of the President Jovenel Moise, in order to then begin a popular political transition for the benefit of the majorities.

More than 250 leaders representing organizations of peasants, trade unions, youth and students, women, civil society, human rights, religious and business will gather. In addition to a dozen international delegates from countries including Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, and the United States will join the conference.

Among the social movements that will participate in the forum is the ALBA Movement which, in a declaration of support, expressed its concern "for the alarming situation in Haiti which is in an unprecedented social, political and economic crisis," that "has further worsened the alarming conditions of life for the majorities of one of the most impoverished and unequal countries in the region."

The intergovernmental organization listed in its declaration the historical problems faced by the Haitians, including high rates of unemployment, hunger, high cost of living, international occupation, corruption, ecological crisis, rural exodus, and the "new phenomena" of repressive paramilitary groups and criminal gangs that devastate the most vulnerable areas, perpetrating massacres.

Likewise, the activists of ALBA demanded the end of the government of Jovenel Moïse, which they say is "neoliberal, anti-people, illegitimate and anti-democratic."

The organization also praised the efforts shown by the country’s social movements to carry out a process of unity and organization for an alternative and democratic political project.

Moïse, widely unpopular in Haiti, took power in 2016 through elections that were recognized as fraudulent, to push Haiti on the brink of collapse. Since the beginning of the year, demonstrations have been ongoing to oust him. Last week, the lower house voted against a request to impeaching him.