Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced an upcoming rising fuel pricesamid protests over the serious political and social crisis affecting the impoverished Caribbean country.
“We will have to adjust the price of fuel”, Henry said in a speech last morning.
The interest of the Government is that fuels are available at stations throughout the country and “in a not too distant time we should find fuel regularly again”added the prime minister, the highest authority in the country after the assassination in July 2021 of President Jovenel Moïse.
Haiti has been facing an acute fuel shortage for at least three months, which has increased the price of basic necessities, public transport and the price of fuel in the informal market, where a gallon is sold for up to 2,000 gourdes. (about 16 dollars).
This situation is the origin of the protests throughout the country, which have already resulted in at least five deaths and injuries.
“The solution to the country’s problems does not go through burning barricades, disorders, the destruction of car windows or the destruction of people’s property,” said Henry in his speech, in which he warned that justice will prosecute all those who commit irreparable acts.
The State allocates more than 50,000 million gourdes (427 million dollars) in the fuel subsidy “for people able to pay for it at the normal price,” he said.
Regarding the political situation, Henry insisted on dialogue and said that before the end of the year “we must put the country in electoral mode and allow all those who want to take charge of the affairs of our country to participate in healthy and democratic competition. “.
The prime minister took advantage of the speech to once again demand help from the international community to improve the performance of the national police, providing it with the necessary and adequate means and frameworks, as well as to fight corruption and crime.
Haiti is plunged into a deep social, economic, political and violent crisis, aggravated by the assassination of President Moïse.
Added to this situation is the confrontation between armed gangs in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, which has already left more than 300 dead in Haiti and has led more than 3,000 people to flee.