U.S. and Canada Warn Against Travel to Haiti as Violent Protests Continue

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A protest this week in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, where there have been demonstrations calling for the president to resign.CreditCreditJean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock

By Kirk Semple

Feb. 15, 2019

The governments of the United States and Canada have warned people not to travel to Haiti as violent protests against President Jovenel Moïse continued on Friday in the capital and other cities in the Caribbean nation for the ninth straight day.

Protesters, who have demanded Mr. Moïse’s ouster, have blocked roads with burning tires, metal fencing and cinder blocks, paralyzing transportation in the capital, forcing the closing of businesses, government offices and schools, and causing shortages of food and fuel. Clashes between demonstrators and the police have left several people dead and spread fear throughout the population.

The sustained unrest this month is the latest eruption of public anger at the Moïse administration and, more broadly, the Haitian government over economic malaise and rampant corruption.

In its travel advisory, the State Department urged American citizens not to travel to Haiti due to crime and civil unrest.” In another advisory, the United States Embassy in Haiti urged Americans “to strongly consider departing as soon as they safely can do so.”

The United States government has also ordered the departure of all “nonemergency” American personnel and their family members.

The Canadian government, in its starkly worded advisory on Thursday, said: “Avoid all travel to Haiti.”

The uprising this month is a continuation of protests that began last year, spurred by a social media campaign focusing on allegations that Haiti’s government had misappropriated billions of dollars intended for reconstruction after a devastating earthquake in 2010. The money had come from a Venezuela-sponsored oil program, PetroCaribe, which sent discounted oil to Haiti.

An investigation by the Haitian Senate accused former government officials of having embezzled the funds.

While the protests last year were initially centered on demands for an accounting of the missing money, and for prosecutions of those responsible, they quickly evolved to become a referendum on the Moïse administration. The anger has been fueled by the nation’s worsening economy, which has suffered soaring inflation, anemic growth, flagging exports and a ballooning budget deficit.

On Thursday night, Mr. Moïse, who won the presidency in November 2016 after a lengthy electoral process marred by allegations of voter fraud, made his first public statements since the current spate of protests began on Feb. 7.

Rejecting the demands for his resignation, the president called for dialogue with his opponents and promised to announce economic measures in the hope of subduing the discontent.

“I heard the voice of the people,” he said. “I know the problems that torment them.”

But protesters, unmollified, once again took to the streets on Friday. Demonstrations erupted in various neighborhoods around the capital and elsewhere in the country. The police in Port-au-Prince fired tear gas and rubber bullets at one contingent of protesters.

In a travel advisory posted Thursday, the State Department painted a grim security picture of Haiti.

“Violent crime, such as armed robbery, is common,” it said. “Local police may lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents, and emergency response, including ambulance service, is limited or nonexistent.”

On Friday, The Canadian Press reported that 113 tourists from Canada who have been trapped by the unrest in a Haitian resort would be evacuated in helicopters to the Port-au-Prince airport and then flown out of the country.

This week, an international governmental group that monitors Haiti called on the country’s leaders to engage in “a constructive and inclusive dialogue” to resolve the crisis.

The group — which includes representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and several other countries — also urged the Haitian government to accelerate structural reforms.

“Change must come through the ballot box, and not through violence,” the group said.

As the protests have gone on, Mr. Moïse appears to have become more isolated, with an increasing number of leaders from civil society and the political class, including some allies, urging him to engage in dialogue with opposition leaders or even to resign, analysts said.

“You have seen people close to him making statements, expressing concern over the lack of leadership, the lack of comments, the lack of a plan to address the crisis,” said Jake Johnston, a research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which is based in Washington.

Mr. Johnston said that while it’s conceivable that Mr. Moïse can weather this immediate crisis, unless he takes “concrete action” to address the economic malaise and evidence of corruption, “the likelihood of him being able to maintain a coalition that support him in power will be more and more difficult.”

Andre Paultre contributed reporting.