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Haiti: Protesters call for Martelly’s resignation, lower gas prices
Anti-government protesters shut down Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince on Monday as the country plunged deeper into political and economic crises even as many prepared for the annual Carnival, normally a time of peaceful revelry.
The usually congested streets of the capital were largely deserted after opposition parties and a minibus drivers’ union called a two-day general strike to protest high fuel prices.
In downtown Port-au-Prince young men played soccer on some streets, while barricades were erected in several suburbs to try to block motorcycle taxi drivers who did not observe the strike action.
Haiti is in the midst of a political crisis after the previous prime minister was forced to resign in December and parliament was dissolved over the failure to hold municipal and legislative elections.
For three months, President Michel Martelly has faced protesters calling for his removal.
Haiti badly needs to raise cash from the sale of gasoline to pay off its mounting fuel debt with Venezuela’s preferential PetroCaribe program, which has ballooned to about US$1.5 billion.
The government “cannot lower the price of gas. It’s not that we do not want to, it’s because we are not able to,” the country’s Prime Minister Evans Paul said in a statement.
After a one-day fuel strike last Monday, the government announced lower fuel prices, reducing gasoline to 195 gourdes (US$4.25) per gallon from 215 gourdes (US$4.62).
