Reportage
One year after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the slow descent into hell for Haitians
The scarcity of fuel causes tensions in Haiti.
AP - Odelyn Joseph
Text by: Amélie Baron Follow
4 mins
On the night of July 6 to 7, 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in the bedroom of his private residence by an armed commando.
The vagueness continues on the sponsors of this attack, the country being unfortunately accustomed for decades to impunity.
The gangs, which were proliferating well before the murder of the Head of State, have drastically increased their grip on the country, to the point of transforming daily life into hell for the inhabitants, especially in Port-au-Prince where approximately three million people.
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From our correspondent in Port-au-Prince
,
An assassinated president, a non-existent parliament, a halt to justice, repeated fuel shortages: carrying out daily activities is a permanent challenge in Port-au-Prince.
And faced with the heinous kidnappings committed every day by gang members who no longer bother to hide their faces, the question is no longer how to live: the situation has become unlivable.
“
It is absolutely necessary to limit travel if there is no emergency, that's how it is, that's my formula.
If it's not urgent, I stay at home and we talk on the phone, ”
regrets Etzer Emile, economist.
In recent months, the list of neighborhoods where he dares to move has been drastically reduced: "
It's very difficult.
There are areas where I almost never pass and even less in the evening.
At the same time, there is no activity in the evening.
It is truly exceptional.
Personally, I travel a lot in the provinces.
I use the plane much more than before.
But in Port-au-Prince, it is very limited.
I don't go to the tobacconist, I don't go to see books, I don't go downtown.
So, I have no choice and I don't go out at night, except in an emergency.
I think it's the same for almost everyone.
Hospitals and doctors in a worrying situation
For fear of being abducted, many only go out in cases of extreme necessity, that is to say in the event of medical emergencies.
But faced with the stranglehold of the gangs on the country, the already too few hospitals are struggling to function.
Rishkard Juin has just finished his internship in orthopedics: "
Imagine, sometimes hospitals can't even get a supply of oxygen cylinders because the roads are blocked, because of shortages of fuel and all that.
And health professionals are very often targeted by gangs: doctors have been kidnapped within their clinics.
In response, many take the road to exile.
“
During this past year, many of my colleagues had to leave the country to go to the United States, Canada or France.
And it is something other than medicine.
They are afraid.
Less than a year ago, I have a friend who is married to another colleague, they had to move and had to leave the country because we kidnapped his wife.
He is someone who had never considered leaving the country, but overnight, because of the kidnapping of his wife, he had to leave.
I would like to live in my country.
I would like to practice my profession in my country with my compatriots.
But with this climate, it only destroys us, ”
says Rishkard June.
Massive exodus of populations
However, the fate of Haiti should not be summed up solely by the situation in Port-au-Prince.
Etzer Emile has also observed in the provinces that secondary towns are attracting more and more inhabitants wishing to flee the capital, in particular those who live in the suburban town of Croix-des-Bouquets and in the plain, where, between the end of April and in early May the gangs killed more than 190 people.
“I was surprised to see the people I knew who settled in Cap, Les Cayes,
Jérémie.
If you leave Croix-des-Bouquets which is reputed to be cheap.
But if you move to go to another area which is more expensive, it will be more expensive for rent.
So there are some people who opt for the province and it is still more and more common.
It does not mean that as long as everything is fine.
The constraints and the lack of fuel, and also the misery, the inflation and all that, with the same limitations of basic infrastructures, the money does not circulate.
The problems are there.
But at least people are not in great insecurity, ”
he says.
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Haiti
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