You’re probably not going to hear about this on any U.S. news outlets, but our brothers and sisters in Haiti are facing some pretty ugly realities right now, and are in serious need of our prayers more than ever.
There’s a couple Haitian news sites I monitor daily, and this week’s collection of news items has been particularly disturbing and unsettling. Four reports released in just the past 24 hours:
1) On Wednesday of this week – a few days prior to the official start of “hurricane season” on June 1 – torrential rains and flash flooding in the metro Port-au-Prince area left 1 person dead, and 5 others still missing. Several homes were destroyed, and a number of bridges on Haiti National Route 1 were damaged.
2) Haiti has experienced a record inflation rate of 17.7% over the past year. Even more concerning, the cost of food staples in particular has jumped 21.5%, leading to even greater food scarcity for the vast majority of Haiti’s population.
3) The Haitian government has exhausted all its financial resources for subsidizing the cost of diesel and gasoline. Fuel prices are expected to soon skyrocket, immobilizing transportation, further straining all levels of Haiti’s fragile economy, and creating a highly precarious situation that impacts many people’s basic survival needs.
4) This is in many ways the most disturbing storyline, in that it is sheerly the result of human causation. For a bit of context, and to catch you up on recent events…
Similar to some European countries, Haiti has both a President and a Prime Minister. Last month, a new PM was legally appointed, and a Senate session was scheduled for Sunday May 12 to ratify his official policy statement and his newly appointed cabinet ministers. However, 4 Senators belonging to the minority Opposition Party aggressively disrupted the session to the point where it had to be postponed. The news report from that day read:
“Beyond the lively verbal exchanges, Senators Beauplan and Belizaire even came to blows. In light of this distressing spectacle a closed session was held, obliging the members of the Ministerial Cabinet to accompany the Prime Minister to a separate meeting room. Returning from behind closed doors, after long hours of hard talk and heated debate, the four senators of the Opposition Party, who demanded control of the sovereign commissions and refused all compromises and proposals, forced [the Senate Majority leader] to postpone the ratification session.”
The Senate ratification session was rescheduled for two days later, Tuesday May 14. Here’s the news report from that day:
“Violence in the Senate – the Opposition Party wins a 2nd victory, PM ratification postponed once again: The ratification session of the General Policy of the Prime Minister, originally postponed from Sunday, was suspended again today due to the hostilities of the same 4 Opposition Party Senators. The suspension was forced by a near-all-out brawl in the Senate, where the opposition and the majority senators came to blows, throwing chairs and other objects at the head, offering a sorry spectacle of our senators worthy of a fight of schoolchildren. The Opposition used megaphones to make their voices heard, creating such a cacophony that the [Senate Majority leader] decided to postpone the session for a second time, stating, ‘I have the law, the regulations and the Constitution to respect. Unfortunately I do not have any legal provisions against a senator who imposes himself and says that a session is not going to be held. In this kind of situation I can do nothing other than suspend the session to avoid the worst. I will meet with the opposition senators to seek adequate internal solutions.’ ”
Over the past two weeks there were several meetings between Senators from both parties, and considerable concessions were made to many of the Opposition Party’s demands. The ratification session was then rescheduled for yesterday, Thursday May 30 at 8am. On Wednesday night the Senate Majority leader called on all Senators to “demonstrate ethics, morals, and compliance with the law,” issuing the following statement:
“The constitution charges me with the responsibility to convene the Assembly of Senators to debate, and vote or not vote, on the Prime Minister’s General Policy Statement. Everything is ready (meeting room, protocol, security) for the session of Ratification of the General Policy Statement of Prime Minister Jean Michel Lapin tomorrow, May 30 at 8am. I call on all Senators to demonstrate ethics and compliance with the law to make my task easier during the session. I will do what is necessary to facilitate the dialogue between the protagonists. It must continue. Only dialogue can solve this crisis in the Senate.”
So after all that…yesterday’s headlines:
“Ransacking of the Senate: National and international reactions
“The Senate sitting room floor was ransacked early this morning by 4 senators of the opposition [names listed] to prevent the holding of the ratification session for the 3rd time. Following these acts of vandalism there was a physical confrontation between members of the general population and activists who came to reinforce the 4 Opposition Party Senators. Majority Senator Ronald Larêche was targeted in his vehicle by opposition activists, who broke his windows and the windshield of his vehicle as he tried to flee Parliament.
“Agents of the Haiti National Police were called to the scene, and after firing gunshots into the air and discharging cannisters of teargas in a show of force, the HNP units were able to restore order and calm by around 12pm.
“Following this staggering event, the reactions and the condemnations of these acts multiply. The international community, including representatives of the UN and ambassadors of Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, United States of America, France, the European Union, and the Organization of American States, condemns these acts of degradation committed against the Senate.
“A statement issued by the Canadian Embassy reads: ‘This deplorable event goes against democratic principles. Canada calls for a national dialogue aimed at solutions to the security, economic and social crisis affecting the Haitian population.’
“Senator Joseph Lambert condemned this ransacking, stating, ‘Today, fellow senators have seriously regressed. The Senate is a space for debate over controversial issues, but these men used brutal force to make up for their inability to engage in substantive debate.’
“Senator Dieudonné Luma Etienne said, ‘It is regrettable to see that violence prevails over the democratic gains of my country, and that violence is used as a political tool by politicians.’
“Senator Kedlaire Augustin stated unequivocally that he views the four opposition senators as ‘state terrorists’.
Meanwhile the 4 Opposition Party Senators are visibly proud and satisfied, boasting of their actions and claiming to have sacked the Senate ‘in the interest of the people’. One of them even went so far as to say, ‘When one is a minority, everything is a matter of strategy to achieve one’s ends.’ “
