Serious political crisis in Haiti: at least seven people died in violent protests against the government

Haiti is cracking. The island has been living for a week Violent clashes between police and protesters who are demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, who has been in power since 2017, and who has left at least seven dead, the last one on Wednesday.

Protesters, mainly young men, came out Wednesday in the streets of the capital to insist on the resignation of Moses, who has always silent after a call to dialogue.

A young man was killed a few meters from the offices of the presidency. His access was blocked by the police. A journalist was shot in the forearm during a shootout between police and protesters in the center of the capital.

Clashes between security forces and young people, mainly from working-clbad neighborhoods, were intense and prolonged: the first fired bullets and tear gas, but the latter threw stones.

The demonstrations take place in the middle of a severe economic suffocation, aggravated this year by a sharp depreciation of the gourd, the official currency, and by the electricity crisis resulting from the shortage of gasoline.

The Haitian economy, where more than half of the 10 million people survive on less than $ 2 a day, increased by only 1.4% in 2018, one of the lowest in the region. The demonstrators also demand justice. alleged irregularities in the Petrocaribe program, through which Venezuela provides oil to this country at low cost. According to one report, at least $ 2 billion of Petrocaribe would have been diverted.

"It's a popular insurrection: Haitians are occupying the streets and it is clear that Jovenel has no choice but to resign, "said one of the protesters at the press agency AFP Prophet Hilaire.

"A government that can not give food and water to its population should resignbut it is also necessary that the bourgeoisie decides to stop monopolizing all wealth. In the neighborhoods, we are more numerous, "he warned.

Assad Volcy, one of the opposition leaders, told the Efe news agency that he "can not go back". "We must solve the problem of inequality and hunger," said Senator Yurt Latortue, former ally of Jovenel Moise, called on the president to step down. to charge "for avoid chaos and more blood"

Schools remain closed since last Thursday, when the protests began, while commercial activity and public transport service are virtually nil.

During these days of events, many companies and service stations they were looted and burned public and private vehicles, exacerbating the insecurity situation in this impoverished Caribbean country.

On Tuesday, 78 inmates from a small town jail in the south of the country escaped at a time when an anti-government demonstration was being held in front of the police station next to the prison, witnesses said. An investigation was opened to determine the exact circumstances of this escape.

The UN and a coalition of Western countries have called for opening a dialogue and have lamented the deaths and damage caused by the protests.