Latin Analysis: Why Haitians Want Jovenel Moïse Out of Office Now
Anadolu Agency
February and March 2021 has seen the small Caribbean country of Haiti in political crisis and extreme civil unrest. Protesters and government forces have reached a violent standoff against one another in the streets as protesters call for the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse. Moïse, who was supposed to have left office on February 7th has asserted that his term has one year left since he wasn’t sworn in until a year after he was initially supposed to.
Moïse entered office on February 7th, 2017, a year after the initial 2015 election due to voter fraud. For an entire year afterwards a transitional government held office. Another election was held a year later in November 2016, where Moïse won again. Haiti has five year terms, where presidents can hold two non-consecutive terms. Throughout Moïse’s term Haitians have been greatly disappointed by Moïse’s government, and have consistently demanded for his resignation since 2018, when widespread protests began.
Haiti has long suffered from political crises, struggling with bouts of authoritarianism, inept institutions, incredibly low economic growth, and widespread poverty. In 2017 it was revealed that the loans Haiti had been receiving from Venezuela through their Petrocaribe program was being used to fund corruption in the government. Petrocaribe was an oil alliance started by Hugo Chavez in 2005, allowing Caribbean nations to borrow oil in order to boost their economies.
Haiti’s borrowed oil was intended to help finance infrastructure projects and social welfare programs. However, this money ended up never seeing the light of day, all but disappearing, while Haitian taxpayers remained the ones responsible for paying these loans to Venezuela back. A senate probe was called forth to investigate where the money went, uncovering massive corruption and embezzlement of the funds by three consecutive government administrations. Although Moïse came into office after the probe, it was revealed that his banana company had received close to a million dollars to apparently help “fix roads.”
Once Haiti stopped receiving the loans, subsequent fuel shortages led to hiked prices, leading to the start of the mass protests against the government. Since then, Moïse has cracked down violently on protesters. Although Moïse has never held broad support, he is backed by the U.S. government, the police, and is allegedly aligned with violent gangs. These gangs have been wreaking havoc on society, being responsible for the surge in kidnappings over the last year, as well as the overall violence that has destroyed neighborhoods and been the cause of hundreds of murders. The kidnappings began as a business tactic for the gangs, holding members of the professional class up for ransom, and making a few thousand dollars once their family paid up. As these kidnappings became more frequent throughout 2020, more members of the working and lower classes were getting kidnapped, with no way for the family to pay the ransom. The gangs often kidnapped members of the opposition, making citizens believe that the gangs are aligned with the government, acting as another security force that injects fear into the population so that they won’t take to the streets.
This rise in crime directly corresponds with Moïse’s consolidation of power. He dismantled several government institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Unit, and the Central Financial Intelligence Unit, which had ongoing investigations that implicated Moïse. He created his very own National Intelligence Agency that changed the definition of terrorism to include anti-government protesters.
Moïse’s greatest offense on democracy has been his interference on electoral processes and Haiti’s fragile democratic institutions. In early 2020, Moïse let parliament’s term expire without organizing a subsequent election, ruling by decree ever since. On February 7th, 2021, the country's political crisis reached a boiling point as Moïse’s official term ended yet refused to step down. In response, protesters and police battled violently in the streets during the month of February. Opposition activists were then arrested and charged with planning a coup. He simultaneously ousted three supreme court justices and replaced them with supporters. Moïse claims that he has one year left in office, promising time and time again that he will leave office after this year. However, he is most likely buying himself time. A constitutional referendum is set for June, where it is anticipated that Moïse will expand his powers, and possibly change term limits or other presidential checks.
All the while the U.S. has maintained their support of Moïse’s government. Moïse first gained support of the Trump administration when he voted to not recognize the legitimacy of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The State Department backs Moise’s last year in office, resulting in one of the Biden administration’s first foreign policy failures. Biden has been outspoken about his democracy-first agenda, and yet his government is both turning a blind eye to a regime that is geographically very close to the U.S. Deportations of Haitians spiked in February, amidst some of the worst violence of Moïse’s term, despite promises on providing immigrants moratorium. It is the U.S.’s support of Moïse’s government that offers him stability in his rule, enjoying the U.S. government’s blind eye with his affairs. Although the pandemic and other domestic issues are first on Biden’s agenda, this humanitarian crisis should be a bigger priority.
Whether or not Jovenel Moïse is legitimate in having one more year in office, his calculated steps toward authoritarian rule is worrisome. For years now, the people of Haiti have been largely disappointed with his government, creating a situation where Moïse reverts to violence to suppress his opposition. Haitian’s have had enough of this violence, and of Moïse. Despite claims that he will leave office, he holds a secure spot in power for years to come.
