Haiti's Capital Still Paralyzed On Second Day Of Protests

A second day of protests took place on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince and several provincial capitals of Haiti against fuel shortages, leaving at least one person dead, according to local reports.

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The protests have continued, despite the fact that the government announced the arrival of 500,000 barrels of fuel to the country, a cargo that so far has not reached the gas stations, where there are rows of hundreds of cars, motorcycles and people carrying cans.

Several roads and avenues in the city center of Port-au-Prince were closed by barricades and burning tires by frustrated citizens who have been suffering from not only the current gas shortage, but months of demanding their president Jovenel Moise step down over a major oil corruption scandal, a move he refuses to make.

Hundreds of the demonstrators chanted slogans against the president, and it was Vladimir Phebe, a young protester, who was shot dead in a Carrefour protest, according to the city's mayor, Jude Edouard Pierre. 

General Coordinator of the Unified Movement of Transporters of Haiti (MUTH), Duclos Benissoit, told Efe that the new shipment of gas will not solve the problem fuel shortages in the long run, or to pay the price the government is asking. 

"In the past, it was the people who blocked the country, now it is the government that does. The population is willing to buy fuel at a normal price, but not at the price that the government wants," said Benissoit. The unionist said the political and social situation will continue because Haiti has no protections against fuel price fluctuations in the international market. He denounces the authorities' and traders' tendency to increase the price of diesel for their own benefit.

"Fuel is a strategic product. Fuel is available. Suppliers keep it to sell on the black market." added Benissoit.

Nearly all summer protests took place in the Caribbean nation as civil society groups denounced the impunity of officials, the growing climate of insecurity, the inflation that exceeds 18 percent, and “the misery faced by the Haitian population,” in general said protest organizers during that time.