Pair Emmanuel Marino Bruno
P-au-P., February 7, 2024 [AlterPresse] — The latest developments in popular protest movements, increasingly punctuated by violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in various towns in the provinces, are amplifying concerns among the population, notes the online agency AlterPresse .
In the mobilizations that continue across Haiti, different forces, opposed to the de facto team in power since July 20, 2021, are going so far as to call for revolution.
These calls would tend to reinforce the fear of possible generalized chaos in the country.
The interim period of the de facto government of Ariel Henry, which was installed on July 20, 2021 following a tweet from the international community, should end this Wednesday, February 7, 2024, according to article 20 of the agreement of December 21, 2022, signed between Ariel Henry and his allies, and recalled by opposition political parties and groups.
On the eve of the symbolic date of February 7, 2024, marking the 38th anniversary of the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship (François Duvalier September 22, 1957 – April 21, 1971, Jean-Claude Duvalier April 22, 1971 – February 7, 1986), news More aggressive demonstrations took place on Monday February 5 and Tuesday February 6, 2024, in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and several cities in the provinces, with a view to continuing to call on Ariel Henry to resign.
Scenes of looting and acts of vandalism were reported in the town of Pétionville (eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince), during anti-government protests.
Citizens, some of whom carried machetes, demonstrated in the streets of Pétionville and Delmas against the presence of Ariel Henry at the head of the country.
Heavily armed, agents of the Protected Areas Security Brigade (Bsap), who were traveling on patrols during a demonstration, were applauded by a crowd of protesters in Pétionville.
Deported on Thursday, November 30, 2023, after 6 years of imprisonment for money laundering linked to drug trafficking in the United States of Americathe former police officer, Guy Philipe entered Port-au-Prince as promised on Tuesday February 6, 2024 to participate, on Wednesday February 7, 2024, in the demonstrations aimed at demanding the departure of the de facto Prime Minister, Ariel Henry .
In Pétionville, Guy Philippe was welcomed with great fanfare by supporters.
His presence in the capital comes in a context of intensification of anti-government protest movements, dispersed on several occasions with tear gas by agents of the Haitian National Police (PNH).
These mobilizations against Ariel Henry continue to cause a paralysis of school activities, a slowdown in formal and informal commerce as well as public transport.
During his various interventions in the press, Guy Philippe called for revolution and civil disobedience to force Ariel Henry to leave power.
Arrested in Pétionville on Thursday February 5, 2017 by the Anti-Narcotics Trafficking Brigade (Blts), Guy Philipe served a 6-year prison sentence in the United States for money laundering linked to drug trafficking.
Furthermore, thousands of protesters demonstrated notably in the streets of Cap-Haitien (North), Cayes (South), Gonaïves (Artibonite), Thomassique, Thomonde, Hinche (Central Plateau), Port-de-Paix ( North-West), Jérémie (Grande Anse), Miragoâne (Nippes), Fort-Liberté, Ouanaminthe, Terrier Rouge and Trou-du-Nord (North-East)t-au-Prince), Petit-Goave (West, at 68 km south of Port-au-Prince).
On Tuesday February 6, 2024, armed clashes left one dead and four injured during mobilizations in Mirebalais (Central Plateau).
In Gonaïves, acts of vandalism were committed against the premises of the Vehicle Insurance Office against Third Parties (Oavct), customs and the northern section of the peace court, during demonstrations on Tuesday February 6, 2024.
One person was shot and injured during an anti-government demonstration in Hinche.
The day before, protesters, accompanied by Bsap agents, looted Hinche customs, Monday February 5, 2024.
“No environmental agent (of the Bsap), equipped with firearms whatsoever, and under no pretext, is authorized, whether in uniform or not, to circulate in the cities”according to a press release from the de facto government, made public at the end of January 2024.
From Monday February 5, 2024, any citizen caught with a weapon on the public highway during gatherings will be hunted down by the police. declares, in a press release dated Tuesday, February 6, 2024, the government commissioner at the civil court of Port-au-Prince, Edler Guillaume.
The offender will then be brought before the courts as part of a fair trial, threatens Edler Guillaume, 15th head of the Port-au-Prince public prosecutor’s office in 10 years, transferred in May 2023 from Hinche to Port-au-Prince .
It is prohibited to carry firearms or any other weapon that could endanger the lives of citizens, underlines the prosecution at the civil court of Port-au-Prince, while recognizing the right of the population to demonstrate, in accordance with article 31 of the Haitian Constitution of 1987.
“It is the same for those who opt for violence by deliberately attacking lives and property,” he adds.
The participation, in recent days, of the Bsap in street mobilizations alongside the population and supporters of former police officer Guy Philippe, who are demanding, loudly, the departure of de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, deemed illegitimate, would raise fears of possible clashes with police and armed forces serving the de facto power in place.
In addition to the armed pro and anti-Ariel Henry gangs, the Bsap has become a new force uncontrollable by the government in place, since the arbitrary dismissal of their leader Jeantel Joseph at the head of the National Agency for Protected Areas (Anap), structure in charge of the Bsap.
Concerns from Binuh and those close to the de facto power
In an interview given on February 6, 2024 to the BBC News channel, the special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Integrated Office (Binuh), the Ecuadorian Maria Isabel Salvador, reported how the security situation is deteriorating in Haiti.
She also signaled the urgency of rapid deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission (Mmas)authorized by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) since Monday October 2, 2023.
The spokesperson for one of the branches of the Democratic and Popular Sector (Sdp), Michel André, a fervent ally of Ariel Henry, invites the police “to assume their responsibilities in the face of drug traffickers and leaders of gangs, who seek to destabilize the country.”
The SDP says it supports de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry until he organizes elections and hands over power to elected officials chosen by the people.
“Haiti is not at war with any country. We are killing each other! For what ? What damn evil is pursuing us,” expresses, in a tweet, another zealous close to the power in place, Edmonde Supplice Beauzile, president of the political party Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats (Fusion).[embrcapr07/02/202409:00)[embrcapr07/02/202409:00)
