Haiti’s president addresses nation amid violent protests

Haitian President Jovenel Moise has broken his silence after a week of violent protests demanding his resignation as the US announced it was pulling “non-emergency personnel” from the country over the deadly unrest.

In an address from the presidential palace on Thursday, Moise vowed not to “give the country up to armed groups and drug traffickers,” alluding to government officials who he said reportedly took to the streets along with “heads of gangs wanted by the law.”

“I heard the voice of the people. I know the problems that torment them. That’s why the government has taken many measures,” he said.

“I asked the prime minister to explain them and to apply them without delay to relieve misery.”

The demonstrators, angry about skyrocketing inflation and the alleged theft of nearly $2bn in Venezuelan oil relief to the island, are demanding Moise’s resignation.

Since February 7, at least seven people have died as the country has been plunged into political crisis, with everyday life paralysed as a result of protests and barricades set up in the largest towns. 

Reporting from Port-au-Prince, Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo said people had begun to pick up the pieces following days of unrest.

“Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Port-au-Prince and have practically burned down a good section of the city, he said. “This would normally be a bustling part of town with lots of commerce, it’s practically at a standstill.”

“Why are people so angry? A lot of it has to do with the PetroCaribe scandal where billions of dollars in money that was allocated for social development projects is simply unaccounted for. So not only are Haitians calling for the resignation of the president, saying that they have zero confidence left in the government, what they are asking is where that money went,” he added.

Populist pledges

Moise, a 50-year-old former entrepreneur who set up a string of businesses in the north of the country, where he hails from, burst on to the political stage two years ago with a populist message of building up the impoverished Caribbean nation.

His talk was backed up by his business background: past ventures included water treatment, the energy sector and agricultural production, the latter of which earned him his nickname, “Neg Bannan nan” or “The Banana Man” in Creole.

His business interests led him to a meeting in 2014 with the man who would become his political mentor, then-president Michel Martelly, a former singer who had once performed under the stage name Sweet Micky. He too had been a political newbie when he took the presidency in 2011.

But the financing of the plantation, launched in 2014 and bolstered by a $6 million government loan a year later, has been dogged by questions, which the president’s opponents are now using to stoke speculation about corruption.

In a report published last month, a court investigating mismanagement of a major development fund also found that Moise’s Agritrans banana firm had been paid to upgrade a road, but that no contract had ever been located by the investigating judges.

The US State Department on Thursday ordered out all non-emergency US personnel and their families amid spiraling unrest, citing burning tires, road blockages and rampant violent crime including armed robbery.

Canada also said it was closing its embassy in Port-au-Prince on Thursday due to “current volatility,” but would “continue to assess the situation in the coming days.”

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies