Santo Domingo.-The Dominican personnel evacuated from the embassy in Port-au-Prince and that of the consulates in Haiti are safe and sound in the country and the government gave guarantees to the population yesterday that the border is secured.
A statement released from the National Palace by Homero Figueroa, spokesman and director of Strategy and Communication of the Presidency, indicates that the embassy and consulates will operate again when the violence in Haiti ceases and the safety of Dominican diplomatic personnel is guaranteed.
He specified that the evacuations concern the civilian personnel of the diplomatic mission and consulates and have the purpose of “protecting the physical integrity of Dominican personnel against the risks posed by violence resulting from the political, economic and social crisis.”
three other countries
The Dominican diplomatic legation is not the only one that has opted for closure. Also that of Spain, as reported by an Efe dispatch, had closed at least during Thursday “due to the serious situation facing the country, the scene of violent protests in recent hours.”
According to the agency, this measure had also been adopted, at least, by the representations of France and Canada. Efe does not specify if the closure of the diplomatic missions of these other two countries was limited to yesterday or if it will last indefinitely, as it seems the case of the Dominican.
a trigger
Haiti has been a bonfire for a long time, but the announcement of increases that in some cases almost double the prices of petroleum-derived fuels and in others, such as gasoline, more than double it, has filled the country of barricades.
With the new prices, gasoline will cost 570 gourdes (now costs the equivalent of two dollars and would cost 4.83 dollars), diesel 670 gourdes (it would cost 3 dollars to 5.75 dollars) and kerosene 665 gourdes (the price of now it is equivalent to 3 dollars and would become about 5.65 dollars).
According to the Henry government, it must raise the prices of these oil derivatives to end the black market and because it can no longer sustain subsidies in this field.
According to the website of the Port-au-Prince newspaper Le Nouvelliste, the violent demonstrations of discontent in Haiti had reached communities that until now had remained on the sidelines.
protests and looting
“Quiet for a long time while other municipalities rebelled against the socio-economic situation, the long gasoline shortage, Léogâne is waking up this week. This Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the streets to say no to the rise in the price of gasoline announced by the government”, notes Le Novelliste.
He also refers to cases of looting in Gonaïves, at the Cáritas headquarters. The population also looted the facilities of the World Food Program (WFP) in the early hours of yesterday, Thursday.
“Despite the interventions of the police who launched tear gas, this did not prevent more people from intervening in the premises to stock up on food stored in this space.
In the midst of the looting, a fire of unknown origin broke out in the facilities of this international organization. Without firefighters, officials are content to observe the damage,” the newspaper reports.
Sea the leva
Before President Henry’s announcement made this week’s announcement that has taken the population to the streets to protest and loot, Haiti lived in an environment of violence driven by armed gangs that have been active for months even in the capital, Prince Port.
At least in the final days of April and the first ten days of last May, the central plain of Haiti, the Cul-de-Sac, was a battlefield between gangs with a death toll of hundreds of people and massive rapes. .
Living with this serious challenge has perhaps desensitized the government to the risk of protests over price increases.
assassination
– More than a year
President Jovenel Moïses was assassinated at his residence in Pétion Ville on July 7 of last year, 14 months ago, and the Haitian State has still been unable to close the case and regularize the lack of a president.
Announcement Sharpens Haitian Crisis
Lorema. The situation in Haiti has deteriorated even more in the last hours after the announcement of the rise in fuel prices, in the midst of massive anti-government demonstrations, a dispatch from the Efe news agency reported yesterday.
Port-au-Prince, the capital, was paralyzed yesterday in anticipation of discontent over what is expected to be a sharp rise in the prices of basic necessities and public transport, although the date of application of the increases announced by the government is still unknown. government of Ariel Henry.
This will make life even more difficult in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, which is experiencing a serious economic, socio-political and institutional crisis, aggravated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
