Prime Minister resigns following violence

Friday he badured on Twitter that he would not resign. However, Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant abruptly announced his resignation Saturday, a week after deadly violence sparked by the government's attempt to raise fuel prices.

"Before coming here, I handed my resignation to the President of the Republic. (…) The President of the Republic has accepted my resignation and, as I say, I am in the service of the Republic, "said Jack Guy Lafontant to the deputies. Accompanied by all his ministers, the head of the government was in the Chamber of Deputies because parliamentarians demanding his departure from power had summoned him.

The population is also calling for the departure of President Jovenel Moses

Several hundred protesters marched Saturday in the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince to demand the departure of the Prime Minister but also President Jovenel Moise. "It's not just a question of changing the Prime Minister because, day by day, the people are suffering more and more from misery, unemployment, insecurity, hunger," said Fleurette Pierre. "Jovenel must also leave but not in exile: he will go directly to prison for the money wasted," said the protester living in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the capital.

The resignation of the prime minister puts a term to a week of political and social tension, after the wave of violence in the country on July 6, 7 and 8. Last Friday, the government announced a 38% increase in gasoline prices, 47% gas oil and 51% kerosene, starting Saturday, July 7th at midnight. Before returning to his decision after the violence that erupted in Port-au-Prince, the capital.