Haitians Take to the Streets to Denounce Foreign Interference
Published 4 October 2019
The demonstration started in the morning near the capital's air terminal and headed towards UN facilities in Port Prince; the protesters demanded the mediation of the international organization to make president Jovenel Moise resign.
Despite some specific confrontations by some activists with the Police, protests developed under a peaceful environment in comparison to other violent acts that took place two weeks ago.
"We are going to the United Nations facilities to ask them to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the country," Rony Timothée, an opposition member, told EFE.
The demonstration came four days after the Core Group, which brings together UN and diplomats from several countries, held meetings with opposition groups, to try to mediate the serious political crisis that has kept Haiti without an effective government since last March.
Equipped with posters and hostile songs against the president and the international community, demonstrators said they were determined to stay on the streets until Moise resigned.
The march started in the morning at the airport and went to the UN office, in the Clercine area, near the capital's air terminal. Throughout the road, there was burning of tires and throwing stones and bottles at the police by some protesters, while the agents used tear gas.
Several opposition leaders such as Senators Evalière Beauplan, Nenel Cassis, Ricard Pierre and political activist Assad Volcy participated and went to the headquarters of the UN mission to send a spoken and written message.
"You have 24 hours to decide the fate of Jovenel Moise. No diplomatic mission can tell us what to do. We do not recognize diplomats asking for negotiations. Time has passed," said Beauplan.
Recently, the Core Group, composed by the special representative of the United Nations secretary-general in Haiti, ambassadors of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, European Union, United States, and the special representative of the OAS, have met with the political agents involved in the crisis in Haiti.
The opposition letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, requested that the organization give its full support to the Haitian people, who only want the president's resignation.
He also requested that the UN support the organization of the national conference and trials for the corruption case involving Petrocaribe and for the massacres of La Saline, Carrefour Feuilles and Tokyo.
"The country is on the verge of an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. We see on the horizon the spectrum of a huge explosion, like a roaring stream capable of taking everything in its path," says the note, which draws the UN's attention to the "explosive" situation in Haiti.
Source: teleSUR TV