Haiti braces for unrest as opposition demands new president

Haiti braced for a fresh round of widespread protests on Friday, with opposition leaders demanding that President Jovenel Moïse step down next month, worried he is amassing too much power as he enters his second year of rule by decree. Hundreds of people in Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien, Jacmel, Saint-Marc and Gonaives marched in support of the opposition, with dozens of demonstrators briefly clashing with police in the capital although the protests remained largely peaceful.

Opposition leaders are demanding Moïse's resignation and legislative elections to restart a Parliament dissolved a year ago. They claim that Moïse's five-year term is legally ending, arguing that it began when former President Michel Martelly's term expired in February 2016.

But Moïse maintains his term began when he actually took office in early 2017, an inauguration delayed by a chaotic election process that forced the appointment of a provisional president to serve during a year-long gap. Moïse is a former banana farmer who won 56% of the vote against three opponents in the 2016 election.

He made some progress on rural infrastructure projects during his first two years in office. Then the end of subsidised Venezuelan oil aid to Haiti fueled chaos in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. Without the help, the economy shrank, and investigations found questionable spending of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in aid from the Petrocaribe program run by Venezuela.

Protests began over the Petrocaribe misspending and protests snowballed. "They stole the Petrocaribe fund of more then 4.2 million US dollars," said Andre Michell, Haiti's main opposition leader at a meeting earlier this week.  "That money could have been used to change the life of the Haitian people."

Haiti's international backers have echoed some of the opposition's concerns, calling for parliamentary elections as soon as possible.

They were originally scheduled for October 2019 but were delayed by political gridlock and protests that paralyzed much of the country, forcing schools, businesses and several government offices to close for weeks at a time.

Moïse has called for a constitutional referendum in April followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in September, with runoffs scheduled for November.

"Haiti cannot afford another transition. We need to let democracy work the way it should," Foreign Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press, rejecting calls that Moïse step down in February. Joseph said Moïse remains open to dialogue and is ready to meet anytime with opposition leaders to solve the political stalemate.

He also said the constitutional referendum won't give Moïse more power but said changes are needed to the 1987 document.

"It is a source of instability. It does not have checks and balances. It gives extraordinary power to the Parliament that abuses this power over and over," Joseph said.

Haiti is still trying to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.

Its economic, political and social woes have deepened, with gang violence resurging, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming more scarce at times in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day.

The demonstrations have been fueled largely by demands for better living conditions and anger over crime, corruption allegations and price increases after the government ended fuel subsidies.

The most violent protests occurred in 2019, with dozens killed, and some worry about even more violence as the opposition steps up its demands that Moïse resign amid fears that elections will be delayed once more.