Haiti: thousands of demonstrators in the street against the constitutional referendum project
Audio 01:18
Several thousand people demonstrated in Port-au-Prince on Sunday March 28, 2021 to express their opposition to what they consider a desire to reinstate the dictatorship.
AFP - VALERIE BAERISWYL
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
The political crisis continues in Haiti.
His mandate contested since February 7, President Jovenel Moïse also faces a citizen challenge against his proposed constitutional referendum.
Several thousand people demonstrated in the capital on Sunday March 28 to express their opposition to what they consider a desire to reinstate the dictatorship.
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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince
,
Amélie Baron
Thousands in Port-au-Prince responded on Sunday to the appeal launched by Protestant churches and civil society organizations.
Faced with the security crisis and in the difficult socio-economic context that Haitians are undergoing, Marie Sheila Martinet refuses to hear about a
change of the Constitution
: "
In a country where Jovenel has lost all his legitimacy, where it is the gangs that lead , where we are deprived of everything: health, education, housing.
Can a president dare to say that he is going to hold a referendum?
"
Blind septuagenarian, Michel Péan also wanted to participate in this event.
The former Secretary of State for the Disabled does not mince words against the referendum project: "
I find it a joke because the heart of the Haitian problem is not a problem of the Constitution: since people have a totalitarian, dictatorial inclination, they do what they want, whether there is a Constitution or not.
So this referendum business is a joke.
"
"
In a country without judicial power, without legislative power, where everything is reduced to a president who governs by decree: that is enough to say that we are in a situation of dictatorship
", added the former Secretary of State for the disabled.
Failure to comply with the provisions of the Constitution
The executive power wishes the adoption of a new Constitution by a vote which would be organized on June 27.
Such a project stirs up criticism even in the camp of President Jovenel Moïse, because the chosen procedure does not seem to respect the provisions of the current Constitution.
Written in 1987, after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, the text currently in force declares that "
any popular consultation aimed at modifying the Constitution by means of a referendum is formally prohibited
".
The international community singled out
Against Jovenel Moïse, the parade was also intended against the international community, against what the demonstrators consider to be interference from the United States and the
UN
.
A very large number of people marched the Haitian flag in hand, but a handful also displayed the Russian tricolor and even called on Vladimir Poutine for help.
"
Long live Poutine, down with the Americans
" chanted a group of young activists, one of whom was waving a sign which read in Creole "
Biden, democracy does not mean interference
".
Mostly made up of young people, but with a noticeable presence of elderly people, the procession crossed without violence the main axes of the capital on Sunday.
Place de la Constitution, representatives of the opposition, civil society and Protestant churches gather to demonstrate against the proposed constitutional referendum.
Against what they see as US / UN interference, some are calling on Russia for help.
#Haiti pic.twitter.com/k33lGuZjvX
- Amélie Baron (@Ameliebaron) March 28, 2021
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To read: Security and political situation in Haiti, "the silence is broken"
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