Haiti: Thousands protested against the wave of kidnappings and demanded the resignation of the prime minister

Several thousand people demonstrated on Tuesday in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince against the escalation of kidnappings and against the prime minister, who they denounce as incompetent to ensure the safety of the population from criminal gangs.

“Many people in the Haitian community are victims of the irresponsibility of the State,” regretted Robens Dorvil, a participant in the citizens' march.

“We are tired of being shot, of being kidnapped: we are asking Mr. Ariel Henry, as he has shown that he is incapable, to leave power,” the protester said, demanding the Prime Minister's resignation.

Haiti has been, for months, under the rule of gangs whose rule has extended far beyond the deprived neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince.

“According to the alerts we receive, we say that between five and ten people are abducted every day, with peaks that sometimes reach 20 a day,” said Marie-Rosy Auguste Ducéna, an activist with the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights.

“The West Department (where the capital Port-au-Prince is located) has become a maze of crime,” lamented the lawyer.

Demanding ransoms of several thousand dollars, and sometimes even hundreds of thousands from the families of their victims, even the poorest, armed gangs have imposed a climate of terror in Haiti's main city, where the streets are deserted as soon as night falls.

Citizens are forced to fend for themselves, as there are allegations that abductions are committed by persons wearing uniforms of the Haitian National Police.

For his part, a protester was shot dead by the police and an aircraft was set on fire after hundreds of people accessed the airport in the Haitian city of Les Cayes (southwest) on Tuesday and caused damage to the terminal facilities.

At the protest, dozens of protesters climbed on top of the fuselage and wings of a twin-engine aircraft, pushed it out of the airport and set it on fire.

A protester was shot dead, after police officers fired and fired tear gas to try to disperse the rally.

The events at Les Cayes airport took place in the context of a national day of mobilization, called by civil organizations to protest against insecurity and against the wave of kidnappings in the country.

In Les Cayes, activists were also protesting against a recent increase in airport fares, which has significantly increased the cost of domestic flights.

The plane has become practically the only safe means of transport between Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince.

Hardly anyone dares to travel by road because an armed gang has been in control of the neighborhood of Martissant, at the southern entrance of the capital for about a year.

At the airport protest, some of the protesters who boarded the plane waved a flag of Russia, a country that receives support from some sectors in Haiti to the detriment of the United States.

Haiti has been going through a serious institutional, security and economic crisis since 2018, but the situation deteriorated especially since the assassination.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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