“The less institutions function, the more business” of “the national and international mafia”, points out writer Yanick Lahens

While the Haitian Prime Minister resigned on Tuesday, writer Yanick Lahens denounces “collusion between part of the political class” and the gangs.

In Haiti, if Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned, “it is much more the result of violence than of pressure from parties or civil society”, estimates Haitian writer Yanick Lahens, Wednesday March 13, on France Inter. From Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, she judges that this resignation “gave gangs a certain status. They said to themselves ‘now we are the national liberation army’ or ‘we want to make a revolution’.”

The author “think” that the gangs “have national and especially international sponsors”. Indeed, “due to its geographical position, Haiti is an ideal place of passage for all traffic.” “The less institutions function, the more it suits these people”, she says. She also denounces “a collusion between part of the political class” and gangs. “She used them to be able to go to the elections”she emphasizes.

Port-au-Prince, “a monster that devours and hides the rest of the country”

Yanick Lahens, winner of the 2014 Femina prize for her novel “Bain de Lune”, did not “never experienced such violence” in his country, which is going through an acute political and security crisis. “I live in a neighborhood that has been preserved so far. I cannot complain as much as those whose houses were looted, who saw their property disappear in smoke, who were raped or injured.” even “deaths”she says.

In Port-au-Prince, “it is the privileged neighborhoods that are protected from this violence”. So, “children can still go to school, there are even restaurants that are open, there are supermarkets, there are still private hospitals that operate while elsewhere, all this infrastructure has been destroyed”. “Perhaps some sponsors” of this violence “live in these neighborhoods,” she supposes.

However, there remains “hope”, according to her. This hope is found “apart from Port-au-Prince, which is a monster that devours and hides the rest of the country.” There is “another country in which there are very few police officers” even “no police at all, and where things work”. Some localities lead “a kind of self-regulation of their lives” And “take initiatives”. The rest of Haiti is “something else, fortunately.”