Hundreds of protesters turned out in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince Sunday for a fourth day of demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise.
“This makes four days that people have been on the streets and the president isn’t saying anything. That proves that he’s incompetent,” said protester Louis-Paul Vlanel, as a barricade of tires burned nearby.
The protest came as The Core Group — composed of a senior UN official, the ambassadors of France, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the United States, and representatives of Spain, the EU and the Organization of American States — called on Haiti‘s politicians to enter dialogue over the crisis, lamenting the loss of life and damage caused by the protests.
A 14-year-old boy was killed and another young man was shot and wounded on the sidelines of a spontaneous protest in central Port au Prince on Saturday.
Police said at least two people were killed Thursday as thousands across the country protested following a call to action from opposition groups.
In a sign of the worsening crisis, several mayors canceled March 3-5 festivities in the run-up to the country’s annual carnival.
Faced with extreme poverty and 15 percent inflation over the past two years, Haitians were infuriated by a report calling out more than a dozen former ministers and senior officials for economic mismanagement and possible misappropriation of development funds loaned to the country from Venezuela since 2008.
The report also named a company that was then headed by Moise as a beneficiary of funds from a road construction project that never had a signed contract.
