Thousands took to the streets on Sunday in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, as well as Les Cayes in the south and Cape Haitian in the north to continue demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise. PetroChallenger activists teamed up with various grassroots groups, fanning out across cities to reiterate their message to government officials accused of corruption.
“Not only are we demanding the president resign, but we want him to remain in the country so he can be judged because the PetroCaribe trial must happen,” a protest leader told VOA Creole.
“We’ve been in the streets for several days now, and we will not stop until Jovenel resigns,” he said.
“Thieves belong in jail!” a protester, who said he is a member of the Sitwayen Revolte (Citizens Revolt) group, shouted. “We left our neighborhoods in the slums of the capital to put the president on notice that if he doesn’t leave voluntarily, we will force him to go anyway we can. We will not back down!”
Allegations against Moise
Moise is accused of fraudulently benefiting from funds generated by the PetroCaribe oil alliance with Venezuela.
The allegations were made in an official report handed to Haiti’s Senate on May 31. Haiti’s Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (Cour Superieure de Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif), a nonpartisan institution tasked with overseeing the government’s budget, prepared the report detailing irregularities and alleged abuse of funds generated under the PetroCaribe agreement. The $3.8 billion in oil revenue that went missing had been earmarked for infrastructure projects, education and social programs.
In a national speech on June 12, the president rejected allegations his companies misused funds from the PetroCaribe oil alliance and said he would not resign. Continue reading