PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (`) — Daily life in Haiti spiraled out of control last month, just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced fuel subsidies would be scrapped, causing prices to double.
Gunshots rang out as protesters blocked streets with iron gates and mango trees. Then Haiti’s most powerful gang took a drastic step: They dug ditches to block access to the Caribbean country’s largest fuel terminal and vowed not to move until Henry resigned and fuel and basic necessities prices plummeted.
The poorest country in the western hemisphere is in the grip of an inflationary vise that is pressuring its citizens and fueling protests that have pushed society to the brink of resilience. Violence rages and scares parents to send their children to school; Fuel and clean water are scarce; Hospitals, banks and grocery stores are struggling to stay open.
The president of the neighboring Dominican Republic described the situation as a “low-intensity civil war.”
Life in Haiti is always extremely difficult, if not downright dysfunctional. But the scale of the current paralysis and desperation is unprecedented. Political instability has been brewing since the still unsolved assassination of the Haitian president last year; The 30 percent increase in inflation has only made the situation worse.
“If they don’t understand us, we will make sure they understand,” said Pierre Killick Cemelus, sweating as he struggled to keep up with thousands of other protesters who marched during a recent demonstration.
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The gang-blocked tank farm has been out of service since Sept. 12, cutting off about 10 million gallons of diesel and gasoline and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site. Many gas stations are closed, others quickly run out of supplies.
Fuel shortages recently forced hospitals to cut essential services and prompted water utilities to shut down operations. Banks and grocery stores are also struggling to stay open as fuel stocks – and exorbitant prices – dwindle, making it almost impossible for many workers to commute.
A gallon of gasoline costs $30 on the black market in Port-au-Prince and more than $40 in rural areas. Desperate people walk miles to get food and water because public transportation is extremely limited.
“Haiti is in complete chaos now,” said Alex Dupuy, a Haitian-born sociologist at Wesleyan University. “There are gangs that basically do whatever they want, where they want, when they want, with complete impunity because of the inability of the police to bring them under control.”
Henry’s de facto government “doesn’t seem at all impressed by the chaos and probably benefits from it because it allows him to stay in power and delay organizing new elections for as long as possible,” Dupuy said.
Gangs have long held considerable power in Haiti, and their influence has only increased since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
Gangs control about 40 percent of Port-au-Prince, the UN estimates. Struggling to control even more territory, they have killed hundreds of Haitians – including women and children – in recent months and forced about 20,000 people from their homes. Kidnappings have increased.
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Henry has promised to hold elections as soon as it is safe, writing in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 24 that he “has no desire to remain in power any longer than necessary”.
“My country is in a multidimensional crisis, the aftermath of which threatens democracy and the very foundations of the rule of law,” Henry said. He condemned widespread looting and violence, saying those responsible “must answer to history and to justice for their crimes”.
US President Joe Biden, also addressing the United Nations, said Haiti is facing “political gang violence and an enormous human crisis.”
From 2004 to 2017, UN peacekeepers strengthened the country’s security and helped rebuild political institutions after a violent uprising toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But for now, any foreign intervention in Haiti is off the table.
Local political leaders have dismissed the suggestion of outside help, noting that UN peacekeepers in Haiti sexually abused children and sparked a cholera epidemic that killed nearly 10,000 people more than a decade ago.
The first round of protests in mid-September prompted France and Spain to close their embassies and banks in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Demonstrators attacked businesses, the homes of prominent politicians and even United Nations World Food Program warehouses, stealing millions of dollars worth of food and water.
The protests have since grown. Tens of thousands of people recently demonstrated in Port-au-Prince and beyond, including the northern cities of Gonaives and Cap-Haitien. They waved green branches and sang, “Ariel must go!”
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Elementary school teacher Jean-Wilson Fabre joined a recent protest as he ducked down a side street to avoid a cloud of tear gas thrown by police trying to control the crowd.
“He doesn’t do anything,” he said of the prime minister.
The 40-year-old father of two lamented the lack of food and water, the increase in kidnappings and the growing power of gangs: “Nobody is crazy enough to send their children to school in this situation. You will not be safe.”
Fabre is one of millions of parents who have refused to send their children to school despite the government announcing a scheduled return to classes on October 3 in a bid to restore some normalcy in an increasingly unstable situation.
Haiti’s courts were also scheduled to reopen on October 3, but the country’s bar association turned down an invitation from the prime minister to address the issue days earlier, noting that gangs are still a main court in Port-au-Prince, among other problems occupy .
“Things have only gotten worse under Ariel,” said Merlay Saint-Pierre, a 28-year-old unemployed mother of two boys who recently joined a protest wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a middle finger.
Hundreds of people have spent hours in line every day just to buy buckets of water. Delivery trucks cannot enter the neighborhood due to roadblocks.
“I’m scared of this water,” said 22-year-old Lionel Simon, noting he would use it to wash clothes and add chlorine before drinking it.
At least eight people have died from cholera in recent days and dozens more have been treated, according to local health officials, who urged protesters and gang leaders to allow fuel and water to flow to the neighborhood.
But Simon wasn’t worried about the cholera. His biggest concerns are gangs and an increase in young children carrying guns.
“We don’t know if life will go back to normal,” he said. “If you die today, you don’t even know if you’re going to make it to a morgue. They could be left on the street for dogs and animals to eat. The city has gone so crazy.”
Dupuy, the Haitian expert, said Henry was unlikely to resign as there was no international pressure on him to do so. He feared there would be no clear solution as the situation spiraled: “How much more boiling point can there be?”
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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