PORT-AU-PRINCE | Several thousand Haitians demonstrated on Sunday, in Port-au-Prince and in a few provincial towns, to denounce the upsurge in kidnappings committed by gangs and to accuse the government in place of seeking to impose a new “dictatorship”.
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Since the fall, Haiti has witnessed an upsurge in kidnappings for ransom that indiscriminately affect the richest inhabitants, and the majority living below the poverty line.
The demonstrators were moved by the assassination by strangers on Sunday morning of a 63-year-old pediatrician in front of his clinic in the capital. According to residents testifying to local media, they tried to remove it.
“In a country which is already sorely lacking in doctors … Malicious, malicious, killed this man and we do not feel that the authorities are motivated to solve this problem”, lamented a protester, Elysee Polycarpe.
Others have questioned the legitimacy of the president, Jovenel Moïse, and denounced the tendencies of “dictatorship” on the part of the power in place.
Mr. Moïse maintains that his mandate at the head of the Caribbean country runs until February 7, 2022. But this date is denounced by part of the Haitian political class, according to whom his five-year term ended on February 7. . This disagreement of date is due to the fact that Mr. Moïse was elected in a ballot canceled for fraud, then re-elected a year later.
Deprived of a Parliament, the country sank further into the crisis in 2020. Isolated, President Moïse governs by decree, fueling growing mistrust among the population. He announced the organization of the first round of presidential and legislative elections in September.
A constitutional referendum is also scheduled for June. This unprecedented procedure stirs up criticism even in the camp of Jovenel Moïse, because the chosen procedure does not seem to respect the provisions of the current constitution.
“We do not want to go to the elections with a government which violates our rights and which, from the start, will vitiate the electoral process”, reacted Pascale Solages of the anti-corruption organization Nou pap domi, participating in the demonstration.
Launched at the initiative of Protestant organizations and civil society, the peaceful march took place without incident or confrontation with the police.
In the capital, the thousands of people, who marched with the Haitian flag in hand, have also multiplied slogans hostile to the UN representative in Haiti, accused of downplaying the scale of popular gatherings.