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Another protester killed in Haiti unrest
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Violent clashes between police and
demonstrators in Haiti left one person dead Wednesday and raised the death
toll in a week of unrest to seven.
A young man was shot and killed in Port au Prince in the afternoon not far
from the presidential complex, which was guarded police equipped with tear
gas, an AFP journalist observed.
Also, a journalist wounded — the latest confrontations in a week of
protests demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise.
“It’s a popular uprising: Haitians are occupying the streets so it is clear
that Jovenel (Moise) has no choice but to resign,” said demonstrator Prophete
Hilaire, who was marching across the capital.
“A government that cannot give its people nourishment and water must step
down,” he added.
A few meters from the presidential offices, clashes between young people —
many from poor neighborhoods — and the authorities became intense, with the
groups throwing stones and tear gas grenades.
Since February 7, at least six people have died as Haiti has been plunged
into political crisis, with everyday life paralyzed by protests and
barricades in the largest towns.
Demonstrators are demanding Moise quit over a scandal centering on the
Petrocaribe fund, under which Venezuela supplied Haiti and other Caribbean
and Central American countries with oil at cut-rate prices and on easy credit
terms for years.
A report released in January on the misuse of the money named a company
that was then headed by Moise as a beneficiary of funds from a road
construction project that never had a signed contract.
During his election campaign, Moise promised “food on every plate and
money in every pocket,” yet most Haitians still struggle to make ends meet
and face inflation that has risen 15 percent since his election.
BSS/AFP/RY/1638 hrs