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LatinNews Daily - 11 November 2021

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HAITI: Stark warnings over impact of insecurity and fuel shortages

On 10 November the US embassy in Haiti’s Port-au-Prince posted an alert urging US citizens to “make plans to depart Haiti now via commercial means”.

Analysis:

The alert cites “the current security situation and infrastructure challenges” – a reference to the security crisis, which has intensified since the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse (2017-2021) and recently made headlines following the mass kidnapping of 17 North American missionaries (who have yet to be released) as well as gangs’ blockading of fuel supplies which began last month over demands for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign, causing massive shortages.

  • Yesterday humanitarian NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) issued a statement in response to the fuel blockades warning that “nearly all public and private health facilities in Port-au-Prince have stopped or limited admissions to only acute cases, or closed their doors due to similar problems”. It adds that further closures are possible, “with some hospitals expected to run out of fuel for generators in two and a half weeks”.
  • The lack of fuel is affecting other essential goods and services, with potable water supplies reportedly in jeopardy. On 7 November Haiti's national water agency Dinepa announced that it lacks fuel to continue pumping drinking water to numerous areas of the capital.
  • On 9 November Frantz Elbé, the director of the national police (PNd’H), said that measures taken so far to allow for the safe distribution of fuel had failed to produce results. He said that while a security corridor had been set up from the Varreux port terminal in Port-au-Prince and goods such as rice, cooking oil and cement were getting through, gangs were blocking tanker lorries carrying fuel.

Looking Ahead: Despite appeals from the likes of Dominican President Luis Abinader for the international community to intervene, the US continues to rule this out. During a two-day visit to Haiti this week, Todd Robinson, US assistant secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, was cited by the media as acknowledging the gravity of the threat posed by gangs but said that “at the end of the day, it’s not going to be the international community that comes to Haiti’s rescue. It’s going to be Haitians.”

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