On 1 November 2019 thousands of Haitians mobilised for the 100th anniversary of the murder of Charlemagne Péralte, an anti-colonial resistance fighter from the period of the 1915-1934 occupation by the United States. Their placards bore messages denouncing the government and imperialist puppeteers. The demonstrators denounced the US’ recent offer of ‘food aid’, which has historically been used to undermine development in Haiti. JACOB DEXTER reports.
Protests started in February 2019 and resurged in mid-September. The people of Haiti have been marching through the streets, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse (see Haiti: rebelling against imperialism on our website). The catalyst for this movement was 31 May when it emerged $2bn of loans from Venezuela, which was supposed to be spent on public projects as part of the PetroCaribe programme, had been embezzled as part of a plot in which Moïse was implicated. In response to the demands of the people, Moïse and his government have sought to cast them as the criminals. In February Moïse said ‘I, Jovenel Moïse, head of state, will not give the country up to armed gangs and drug traffickers.’ The Haitian government has now stepped up its efforts to repress the protest movement, but the people continue to struggle.
Until recently the protests were principally demanding the resignation of Moïse; however, since September the protesters have also taken aim at the Core Group, composed of ambassadors and representatives of the US, Brazil, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, the Organisation of American States, the UN and the EU. The Core Group acts as a ‘consulting’ organisation for the Haitian state, relaying the orders of imperialist nations and asserting dominance over the people. It was set up in the aftermath of the 2004 US-backed coup, with its purpose ostensibly to support the electoral process in transition. 15 years later it is still ‘supporting’ the country’. The Core Group has backed Moïse since his highly disputed election in 2016 and has released statements condemning the protests since they began. These statements patronisingly tell Haitians that ‘change comes through the ballot box, and not through violence’.
It has become clear to the Haitian people that the Core Group is keen on maintaining Moïse’s presidency, and as a result it has become a symbol of imperialist interference within the country. Now the ousting of the Core Group from Haiti has become a central demand of the movement, making the protests distinctly anti-imperialist.
Throughout August and September fuel became increasingly scarce, as Haiti’s loan repayments to fuel companies stopped and it became too expensive to import oil into the country. In this already dire time for working class Haitians, the government decreased fuel subsidies. Even once fuel started being imported in October, the government prevented its distribution. The removal of existing fuel subsidies by the state is one of the IMF’s key demands, so this manipulation of the market and prolonging the shortages artificially was a blatant attempt to get the people to cave in and accept the IMF-imposed price increase.
In the wake of this attack the Haitian people began a campaign of militant action, including large street protests, work stoppages and attacks on banks and police stations. During the peak of such actions, the Haitian state temporarily lost control of some areas of the capital Port-au-Prince. Police began using live ammunition to clear the streets of protesters, with the UN estimating that at least 42 have been killed since mid-September.
The political power of the protesters is clearly being felt amongst the Core Group, with reports that cracks appeared at a meeting on 30 September as the Canadian and French delegates called for Moïse’s resignation while the US and Brazil wanted him to stay in power (www.belpolitik.com, 1 October 2019).
On 4 October thousands of protesters gathered outside the UN ‘peacekeeping’ HQ in Port-au-Prince, erecting barricades to protect themselves from the police and called upon the imperialists to cut off their support for Moïse. Néhémie Joseph, a radio journalist, was shot dead in his car after being threatened by Haitian politicians on 11 October. His murder was followed by a huge public demonstration outside President Moïse’s home. The crowds were forced back by teargas grenades, but their message was clear: ‘Out with Jovenel!’ and ‘Out with the Core Group!’.
One placard on the November march included a Haitian proverb: ‘He who strikes the blow forgets; he who bears the scar remembers’. The working class in Haiti has not forgotten what colonialists and imperialists have done to them, and their struggle against these forces will continue.
