Haiti is on the edge of the abyss. The prestigious economist and politician Fritz Jean analyzes the situation that arose in the country after the coup attempt, with an alleged murder plan, denounced by the plenipotentiary president Jovenel Moise, who is considered illegal by broad sectors understand his mandate on the 7th of February. Jean claims that Moise, whom he calls “former president”, wants to establish a dictatorship in Haiti and accuses him of orchestrating an “imaginary coup”.
In the following interview, the President of the Observatory of the Haitian Institute of Public Policies (INHOPP) warns of the ‘explosive situation’ in a country deeply troubled by international support for the President questioned, although he expects an imminent rectification from the new US government. It also mentions the Haitian elites who contributed to the impoverishment of the population and the creation of a quiet apartheid society.
What is the current situation in Haiti after the events of Sunday 7 February? What is the origin of this crisis?
According to the Haitian constitution, former President Jovenel Moise’s term of office ended on February 7, 2021. The Supreme Judicial Council (CSPJ) and the Federation of Haitian Lawyers confirm this. The Haiti Bishops’ Conference recalls in a note of February 2, 2021 that the President of the Republic has applied the electoral law for deputies, senators and mayors in previous years. He thus affirmed the unity of the law for all elected officials, including himself, proclaiming that the law is one for all. So the bishops asked the former president to respect the constitution and accept the end of his term on February 7, 2021.
By clinging to power, the former president has rebelled against the mother law of the country and opposes all civil society organizations – human rights organizations, trade unions, academics, churches – who oppose this violation of the constitution and deconstruction of the remaining settings. To undermine any desire of state officials to respect the law and the constitution, the former president instrumentalized the National Police and arrested and humiliated a Supreme Court judge, Yvickel Dabresil *, for an imaginary coup d’état. In any case, the former representative appears to be obliging Haitians to accompany him in his alternate reality.
Following this unilateral decision by the former president of the republic to remain in power after February 7, 2021, through violence, the waste of state money with Washington lobbying companies and the manipulation of the media, Haiti is in an explosive situation.
By maintaining a predatory state that provides few basic services to the population, the Haitian elites have jointly contributed to the impoverishment of the population and the creation of a quiet apartheid society. The ultimate form of this configuration is the conquest of the state by a fringe of economic elites and a few entrepreneurial politicians, through the instrumentalization of state organs and the co-optation of armed youth groups to maintain their power. The current crisis is nothing more than a manifestation of the worsening conflict between these groups and the rest of the discouraged population.
Is the country on the brink of civil war, of armed confrontation?
I very much doubt there will be an armed confrontation in Haiti. If the crisis is not resolved in a reasonable time, there will certainly be some isolated skirmishes from citizens who are tired of the unsustainable level of economic and social exclusion. In addition, the symptoms of despair are visible: disorderly emigration to the islands of the Caribbean and Latin America; boats invading the shores of Florida, youth prostitution, the use of youth in armed gangs … The violence, already unsustainable with kidnappings, rapes and murders, will increase until civil society actors and those from the corporate world who Faced silent on constitutional and human rights violations, they join the demands of the workforce against the abuse of this rogue state. It is clear that the sometimes tacit support of actors from major world capitals in North America and Europe for current officials in Haiti reinforces their anti-democratic actions and contributes to fueling state violence. A clear stand for the rule of law will no doubt help defuse this social bomb.
The president of Haiti has denounced an attempted coup d’état with a plan to kill him.
How do you talk about a coup against a former president who goes to a carnival after an attempt on his life? According to the country’s constitutionalists and academics, the president’s term of office expired on February 7, 2021. In order not to deviate from the constitution, political parties and civil society personalities considered the election of a judge to the Supreme Court, under three names selected, to conduct affairs of state while presidential elections are held. One of the contenders is Judge Dabresil. If you can imagine a coup d’état, it must be against these three judges. To reasonable Haitians, this sounds like a bad script for a Hollywood movie played by mediocre actors.