I meandered through the valley of L’Artibonite looking for the elixir of life, the balm that would soothe my wounds and rekindle my battered spirit for I’d been swinging at shadows feeling the brunt of wasted efforts. Djinns flew all around my head trying to enter my consciousness, fruits of the evil one lurking in the light burning a swath of molten lava on the land. Woe the poor farmer who tried to grow rice on barren soil, lest the harvest be not what he sought after. Restlessly I walked a path of illusions all wrapped in a neat media package presented by smiling evening stars hellbent on entertaining through expressions of doom. Alas dawn is fast approaching, chasing away the comfort and security of darkness, where beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, wrapped in a cocoon of worry less diffuse hue, sight be held. A flight of birds approached me piping in the morning dew, “Hello wise one, what has thou brought us in terms of knowledge?”
I gazed at them bemused at their ability to ask what was the key to our mutual needs and the wind blew them away toward the safety of the trees. The day would prove long and arduous.
As the situation in Haiti becomes worse Jovenel Moise, the current President of the country, is walking a tight rope, grasping at straws and stubbornly holding on to a position he neither earned nor deserves. Inflation is reaching 20 % as the Gourde is losing value every week, while government employees are not being paid. Most ministries are either dysfunctional or on strike, schools have had to end the year early because of the demonstrations and general insecurity, while even public markets are constantly disrupted because of shootings which forces merchants to pack up and run. Most people have a hard time making ends meet as prices of commodities rise constantly bringing the poor to near starvation. A vast majority of people are living in poverty and because of that they are ready to hit the streets any time there is a call since they have nothing to lose. It gives them something to do for the day, the opportunity to feel worthwhile in a society that constantly belittles you because of your precarious social status. The country is a powder keg ready to explode provided the right spark which the political opposition is ready to provide.
Many towns in the provinces are rising up and locking up government offices to show that these institutions do not do anything worthwhile. In Jacmel, Petit Goave and St Marc demonstrators clashed with police trying to prevent them from closing down government bureaus. In the provinces people are living through dire times as prices of food are even higher than in the capital. Insecurity is growing, as an example merchants in Gonaives closed their doors and took to the street after the murder of businessmen and daylight robberies made them incensed.
Petro challengers are displaying a second wind as some grass root organizations like Nou Pap Domi and Esklav Revolte have taken the baton and invested the pavement in an attempt to not only have the Petro Challenge case brought to court with the culprits of theft in jail and the money returned or assets seized but also President Jovenel Moise brought down and indicted for financial crimes. The president has had his name cited in the Administrative Court in association with the theft of billions from the Petro Caribe agreement. He is also suspected of money laundering, washing the ill gained funds from the Metro Caribe thieves in particular, so he cannot escape the verdict of justice. The President’s wife is also accused of using her position to sign the Dermalog contract in Europe with a couple of million dollars not accounted for during the transaction which was not approved at the proper levels. Both the president and his wife are accused of financial wrongdoings, an this is all in addition to their suspected involvement in the La Saline Massacre where dozens of people were killed in the Lavalas stronghold.
Adding to all this toxic coktail the Organization of American States (OAS) sent a mission to Haiti to try to help President Jovenel Moise stay in power. From the get go this mission was vowed to failure because Moise is on his last leg. He survives only because the Core group of countries “helping” Haiti is stubbornly supporting him. Without this international support, Jovenel Moise would have been chased from office after July of last year. As the whole world watches with curious disbelief the Core group of which the United States and Canada have a great influence has chosen to support a criminal who has worked with drug cartels and money laundering institutions. This is the kind of person our so called friends want as president of our country. You have to wonder about the kind of friends who want you to fail ar every turn. It lends fuel to those who are accused of believing in conspiracy theories when they say Europe and the USA will always sabotage our society to punish us for 1804. The OAS mission accomplished very little, speaking to President Moise, his allies and a few less radical opposition politicians with no result. Everyone stayed on their respective positions and Moise – the President – reiterated his stubborn will to stay in his post while Moise – the opponent refused to speak to the OAS along with Andre Michel, Schiller Louidor and Marjorie Michel all of them not wanting to waste their time.
No matter what misdeeds and murderous actions he commits, President Jovenel Moise is living on borrowed time. His demise is inevitable and the only question is how many will die and how much destruction will occur before the U.S. and our other friends realize they have to pack him up and pull him to safety, lest the population get their hands on him, which would be unfortunate and bloody. What will happen in the future after Moise is brought down in a big question mark. Will Haitians finally have the opportunity to work together for the betterment of the country or will we be manipulated by outside powers intent on keeping the population in quasi slavery, tools of international finance?
Dèyè Mon 