For days Jovenel Moïs immersed in his office in the center of Port-au-Prince, while his country slipped deeper into chaos. Haiti's president watched wordlessly as people marched out of poor neighborhoods like Cité Soleil, building barricades, setting tires alight, throwing stones at the security forces, plundering shops and gas stations, chastising Moïse for being incompetent and corrupt, and demanding his resignation.
The protests started on February 7th. Since then, nine people were killed, dozens were injured. For days, the country is paralyzed, schools and shops are closed, the local traffic has come to a standstill. Tourists are stuck in hotels, Haiti's economy and currency are in free fall. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Observers speak of the biggest rebellion of recent years in Haiti.
The head of state does not think about resigning
On Thursday night, the president turned to the public. About Facebook he let know that he does not think about resigning. Moïse accused the opposition of joining forces with the drug cartels to destabilize Haiti: "I will not leave the country to gangs, criminals and drug traffickers."
AP
Haiti's head of state, Jovonel Moïse
Moïse is a 50 year old, but youthful, slender bald man. His hair is part of the program - he belongs to the "Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale", the "party of the bald heads". The banana entrepreneur became president two years ago without any political experience. He had been suggested by his predecessor Michel Martelly. Opponents accuse Moïse of offering no perspective to needy people and, above all, millions of young people. More than half of the ten million Haitians are under 24 years old. Since last summer, the population has repeatedly vented their anger on the government in mass protests. But this time around, the demonstrations are not slowing down, but continue to swell.
Because now comes a new charge against the government. According to a report by the Court of Auditors, Moïse, his ministers and parts of the previous government have put money into their pockets. In Haiti - a country with a long tradition of protests and rebellion against governments - that's enough to get people into the streets angrily.
Money diverted from relief funds?
Specifically, the president and his colleagues allegedly plundered a $ 3.8 billion relief fund under the Petrocaribe program. The agreement, launched by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 2005, provides for Caribbean countries to receive oil at preferential rates. Haiti joined in 2008. According to a report published last week, the financial controllers are said to have been diverted to at least 2016 illegal hundreds of millions. Affected by the allegations are 15 ministers of the acting and the previous government. Even Moïse himself is said to have diverted money from the Petrocaribe program through one of his companies even before his political career.
REUTERS
Burning barricades on a street in Port-au-Prince
The situation in the Caribbean state is very similar to the situation in Venezuela. The platform "Secteur démocratique et populaire", which brings together opposition parties and civil society groups, calls for the unconditional resignation of Moïse and rejects any negotiations with the government. "This is a popular uprising, we are in the street, and the president can only go," said a young protester in Port-au-Prince. "A government that can not give us anything to eat has lost its legitimacy."
An international social case
More than half of the population has to survive with the equivalent of two dollars a day. 60 percent of Haitians are unemployed or employed in the informal sector.
The economic crisis joins the political crisis. In the past year, the Haitian economy grew by just 1.4 instead of the initially forecast 2.2 percent. Due to fuel shortage it comes again and again to power outages. The currency Gourde has lost much of its value against the US dollar over the past few weeks, which has made imported food much more expensive.
Haiti was an international social case even before the devastating 2010 earthquake that devastated much of the capital and killed nearly 300,000 people. Even today, the country is not viable without outside help. The annual per capita income is around $ 1,600, about seven times lower than in the neighboring Dominican Republic. Haiti ranks 168th out of 189 countries on the United Nations Development Index, even behind Sudan and Afghanistan.