Thousands of people demonstrated in Port-au-Prince on Sunday to denounce the trend towards a new dictatorship they believe the Haiti government has and to criticize the international community’s support for President Jovenel Moise.
The Moise Executive’s claims that an “attempted coup” had taken place in the country last weekend were met with skepticism by the opposition and civil society, who denounced a series of illegal political arrests.
Moise claims his government at the head of the Caribbean country will extend to Feb. 7, 2022, but some Haitian political leadership confirms that his five-year tenure ended Feb. 7.
This discrepancy is due to the fact that Moise was elected in a vote that was overturned for fraud and then re-elected a year later.
On February 5, a spokesman for the United States Department of State stated that a new president would succeed after new elections to Moise “at the end of his term on February 7, 2022.”
But on Sunday, protesters questioned the legitimacy of the current president’s maintenance and the support that overseas is offering him.
“Despite all the kidnappings, the massacres in the working-class areas, the United States continues to support it. The money from the Petrocaribe fund is wasted, we don’t have good hospitals and the United States continues to support the government,” said Sheila Pelicier, a protester.
The demonstration was peaceful, although there were arguments between some of the protesters and the police, who used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Police officers also fired live ammunition into the air in Pétionville, an affluent city in the metropolitan area where a car was burned.