Haiti prime minister appeals for calm. U.S. condemns violence as Hurricane Fiona nears
Eight days after Haiti was on the verge of anarchy with violent protests and looting following an announced government hike in the price of gas, diesel and propane at the pump, the country’s prime minister appealed for calm Sunday as it braces for torrential downpours from Hurricane Fiona.
Ariel Henry, who delayed a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, condemned the violent acts that blocked roads and targeted schools, foreign embassies, banks and money transfer houses. Not even a United Nations World Food Program warehouse in the northern city of Gonaives was spared — nor were the private homes of government supporters and members of the business community.
“I am launching an appeal for calm,” Henry said in a national address. “I am telling everyone that I understand your frustrations.”
Henry’s speech was the first time in a week he had spoken out about the civil unrest that was bringing Haiti to its knees and forced foreign embassies to announce the temporary shuttering of their doors, along with banks and others businesses. With the exception of the Dominican Republic and eventually the United Nations Secretary-General, foreign governments had not made any public statements about the ensuing chaos.
On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince finally broke its silence by issuing a statement condemning the violence.
“The right to gather and protest is fundamental in any democracy. However, the United States strongly condemns the acts of violence, looting, and destruction that have recently occurred in Haiti and those who instigated these events for their own ends,” the embassy said. “We call on Haitians to express their views in a peaceful manner that respects humanitarian actors and law enforcement and allows unfettered access to Haitians in need in order to provide food, water, and medical care.”
Since December, international partners and organizations have mobilized more than $294 million in new commitments for Haiti; however, additional support is urgently needed, including contributions to a recently established UN Security Basket Fund.
The U.S. said it was continuing to encourage Haitian interlocutors to reach agreement on an inclusive political agreement that will allow elections to take place as soon as conditions permit.
“Haitians throughout the country and across the social spectrum need to create the conditions that will allow a democratically elected government to take office as soon as possible,” the embassy said.
Henry, who hasn’t had it easy since becoming prime minister after the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, said he was saddened by the loss of businesses, and the private property that had been looted, burned and attacked. He “strongly condemns,” he said, all of the violent acts that unfolded in different parts of Haiti.
A hurricane named Fiona was approaching the country, he said, and experts warn that it can bring a lot of rain and flooding to the northern regions of the country.
“Unfortunately there are people who went and looted the warehouse where they had pre-positioned products and materials for civil protection, and [nongovernmental organizations] that can help the population,” Henry said. “It is urgent that all the roads are unblocked as of today if we want to be prepared to bring relief, food, water, medicine, gas, to the affected areas.
“There is no politics in this,” he added. “Those who would like to take charge of the country, show the population that you have a conscience.”
A week ago Sunday, Henry announced that the government could no longer support keeping fuel prices low at the pumps. It was costing Haitian coffers $400 million a year, and it fueled a lucrative black market, he argued. Last month, for example, fuel was selling on the streets in some parts of Port-au-Prince for anywhere between $15 and $25 a gallon after two suppliers stopped ordering, exacerbating an already chronic fuel shortage.
In response, Haitians took to the streets in a mission to lock down the capital, and secondary cities. They erected barricades with burning tires, and blocked roads with whatever they could find: aluminum sheeting, concrete light polls, tree branches. With residents unable to leave homes, banks, money transfer houses — even charitable warehouses were attacked and looted. Beachfront homes of the wealthy, some of whom had called on the government authorities to crack down on corruption and tax dodgers, were pillaged and even partially burned.
“There is nothing that can justify the amount of damage... we saw over these past days,” Henry said in his national address, listing sectors that had been on the end of the vicious attacks. “No one can say it was because of [fuel prices] that they pillaged people’s businesses; they destroyed the homes of political figures; they attacked the homes of government officials. No one can say it was because of gas that they sent people to violently attack schools, universities, hospitals; to steal the seed stocks in the Artibonite and the stocks of vaccine that were for 118 communes.
“Everyone understands that it was not because of gas that they looted the warehouse of an international organization that had food for school canteens and to help people during the hurricane season,” he said, referring to WFP. “Everyone could see that it was men with big guns who were at the head of a lot of the protests.”
Henry said the attacks were the works of those who opposed the government’s recent reform efforts, to control contraband and the entry of illegal weapons and ammunition at its ports, and to stamp out the flourishing black market on fuel that provides tens of millions of dollars in ill-gained revenue to those involved.
The savings from the reforms, he said, are going to go into the purchase of seeds and fertilizers for farmers, job creation in 571 communities across the country and an expansion of social programs like community kitchens. Also school children will receive one hot meal.
If Henry and others were hoping his speech would calm the streets, it appeared to have an opposite effect as barricades began going back up in some areas, to once more block roads. In the past week, more than 100 groups in the U.S. have called on President Biden, who has been receiving daily briefings of the civil unrest in Haiti, to drop support for Henry.
Additionally, a civil society-led coalition in Haiti, the Montana Accord, condemned the fuel increase, saying it was yet proof that Henry wanted to remain in power. Others also called for his resignation.
While not addressing his critics directly, Henry said he remains open for dialogue and committed to staging “proper elections for us to hand over the leadership of the country to the person the Haitian people elect freely.”
“I still believe we can do politics differently,” he added.
This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 8:48 PM.
