Haiti: the transport strike transforms Port-au-Prince into a ghost town

An empty street in Port-au-Prince following the public transport strike, September 26, 2022. © RALPH TEDY EROL/REUTERS

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The call for a strike launched by public transport unions to protest against the increase in the price of gasoline entered its third and last day on Wednesday, September 28.

The movement was widely followed in the Haitian capital where all activities have been paralyzed since Monday.

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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince,

Marie André Bélange

Deserted streets, no public transport… Shops, private and public institutions are still keeping their doors closed this Wednesday, September 28 for the third day in a row.

A few rare private vehicles were circulating on certain roads.

The call for a 72-hour strike launched by the transporters' union had the desired effect in Port-au-Prince, where the kidnappers have resumed service since last weekend.

Wave of kidnappings

Several cases of kidnappings have been reported in recent days in the Haitian capital.

Among the victims are three employees of the Ministry of National Education and an executive of the institution, the director general of the National Office for Partnership in Education, Hervé Boursiquot.

He was kidnapped on the road to Frères, commune of Pétion-Ville, in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince.

While the country is on strike, a worker was killed Monday at his workplace during clashes between police and bandits from Simon Pelé, a neighborhood north of the Haitian capital.

The victim, deaf, is a guard of a textile factory.

He was hit by several projectiles in the back before dying shortly afterwards in the hospital where he had been admitted.

►Also read: Journal of Haiti and the Americas - Haiti, one step away from disaster according to the UN

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  • Haiti

  • Employment and Labor

  • Abductions

  • Unions

  • Transportation