After months of turmoil, violent protests have engulfed Haiti again after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would impose painful fuel price hikes last week—frustrating a population already grappling with soaring costs of living and political instability.
Thousands of Haitians took to the streets to protest the move and call for Henry’s resignation, in an outpouring of anger that underscores the grim state of Haiti’s living conditions. As inflation soared to record highs, gang violence displaced thousands and food insecurity surged, leaving 40 percent of people dependent on food aid.
Dominican President Luis Abinader said Haiti’s crisis amounted to a “low-intensity civil war.” “We must act responsibly and we must act now,” he said. “Thousands of people are dying.”
Henry was appointed Haiti’s caretaker leader after the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021—and later became a suspect in Moïse’s death. Despite his promises to hold elections and curb gang violence, neither has happened yet, further fueling criticism and public demands for political change.
Benjamin Hebblethwaite, an associate professor at the University of Florida, said Henry’s rule is seen as illegitimate. “Now we’re more than a year past the assassination, [and] he hasn’t organized any elections,” he said. “He has seen the society fragment in his own hands.”
In Port-au-Prince, gangs have been violently jockeying for power, with civilians paying the price. In July, over 470 people died, disappeared, or were wounded due to gang violence in a span of less than ten days, the United Nations said. It also warned that some gangs had started weaponizing food supplies and water in order to manipulate residents, further increasing malnutrition.
“The situation is spiralling out of control already,” Jean-Martin Bauer, the World Food Programme’s Haiti Country Director said in July. “The situation over the past 90 days has gotten worse … based on what is a very vulnerable place, we already had one million people in this city who were acutely food insecure.”
In a statement released Friday, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said that the unrest had “brought the country to a standstill.” “He warns that if the current circumstances continue, the already dire humanitarian situation faced by Haiti’s most vulnerable people will deteriorate even further,” the spokesperson said.