(Port-au-Prince) Haiti has been the scene for several days of large demonstrations to demand the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who should in theory have left power on Wednesday, according to a political agreement signed in 2022.
According to local media, thousands of people have been demonstrating since the beginning of the week in the capital Port-au-Prince and across the country to demand the departure of the head of government.
“This Wednesday is D-Day. It’s the day Ariel Henry must leave power,” said a motorcycle taxi driver in Port-au-Prince.
“I hope he will listen to reason. Otherwise, the voice of the people will be listened to,” promised the demonstrator who did not wish to give his name.
According to an agreement concluded in December 2022 after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the current Prime Minister was to organize elections so as to leave power on February 7, 2024 to new elected officials.
PHOTO DAVE SANDERS, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry
No elections have taken place since 2016 in this small, poor Caribbean country and the presidency remains vacant.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in power since 2021, “has not provided any solution to our problems,” denounced another demonstrator.
“The country is being held hostage by gangs. We can’t eat. We can’t send our children to school […] We can’t take it anymore,” lashed out at this unemployed forty-year-old, who also did not wish to give his name.
Haiti is facing a serious political, security and humanitarian crisis, with armed gangs having taken control of entire sections of the country, and the number of homicides having more than doubled in 2023.
Dominican Republic in “state of alert”
The ongoing demonstrations are being held at the call of several opposition parties, joined by agents of the Protected Areas Brigade (BSAP), initially responsible for protecting forests and which is in rebellion with the government.
February 7 is an even more symbolic date as it marks in Haiti the anniversary of the end of the Haitian Duvalier dictatorship, in 1986.
According to local media, several of these demonstrations were the scene of clashes, notably with the police, and at least two people were shot and killed on the sidelines of the rallies.
PHOTO RALPH TEDY EROL, REUTERS
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in power since 2021, “has not provided any solution to our problems”, denounced a demonstrator.
Tuesday evening, a police station in Ouanaminthe, in the north-east of the country, was attacked by a procession, again according to these newspapers.
Major roads have been closed and schools across the country have been closed since Monday due to these protest movements.
The neighboring Dominican Republic announced Wednesday that it was in a “state of alert” and had increased security at its borders due to ongoing protests in Haiti.
The assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 plunged the poorest country on the American continent even further into chaos.
Faced with this crisis, the UN Security Council gave its agreement in October to send a multinational mission to Haiti led by Kenya to support the Haitian police overwhelmed by gangs.
But a Nairobi court blocked Kenya’s sending of police officers at the end of January. The Kenyan government announced that it would contest this decision, with the Haitian government maintaining hope.