Mobilizations to Resume in Haiti amid Ongoing Political Crisis

Petro Challengers groups and Haitian opposition parties called Tuesday on the population to renew its commitment to social justice, to the fight against corruption, and to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, as the crisis deepens in the country.

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A sit-in will be held Wednesday, Aug 14, in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince to protest and demand clear responses to the ongoing crisis, as a big part of the population is starving. The Caribbean country is indeed going through a worrying situation of food insecurity. 

Civil society groups and opposition parties said the mobilizations should last at least ten days, and also denounced the impunity of the officials, the growing climate of insecurity, the inflation that is currently exceeding 18 percent, and “the misery faced by the Haitian population,” according to Moise Jean-Charles, one of the coordinator of the demonstration.

At the same time, the debates in the Haitian parliament to decide whether to impeach Moise have been delayed Monday for the third time. 

The first session to discuss the issue had been canceled last week due to a lack of quorum, and because the opposition was still seeking to obtain some thirty documents to support their accusations of “high treason” against the president, while  the second session was postponed for security reasons after dozens of Haitians gathered outside parliament to manifest dissatisfaction regarding the situation in the country, some of them throwing stones towards the vehicles of the members of parliament.

The sit-in is also organized as part of the first anniversary of the “PetroCaribe Challenge” movement.

The “PetroCaribe Challenge” challenge was launched last year on social media by Haitian filmmaker Gilbert Mirambeau Jr. under the slogan “Kote Kob Petwo karibe a?” (Where is the money from the Petrocaribe funds?).

Taken up and broadcasted by social media, the #hashtag soon became viral and millions of people took the streets of the Port-au-Prince and of various provincial cities to demand accountability for the use of PetroCaribe fund, allowed by Venezuela to help a number of Caribbean countries including Haiti.