The country is in total disarray following the outward blockade of the head of the Transition. Armed groups are in virtual control of Port-au-Prince, following attacks on February 29 and March 1, 2, 3 and 4, 2024 against police stations, courts, prisons and ministries. The government, it has to be said, is in disarray. No one is in charge. But the struggle to overthrow the authorities in Port-au-Prince is not confined to the capital and its suburbs. The population of the country’s nine other departments also intend to give the government no respite in its mobilization. Moving northwards, beyond the West department, there have been countless demonstrations in recent months, weeks and even days.
In the Artibonite department, for example, the population is still on a war footing, particularly in Saint Marc and Gonaïves, where a crowd, a sort of human tide, totally paralyzed the Gonaïves conurbation during the week of February 7, 2024. In Bois-Marchand, a district of the city, demonstrators looted and set fire to several food supply depots belonging to shopkeepers and charitable organizations. The departmental office of the Ministry of Cooperation and Planning was reduced to ashes, along with two vehicles belonging to the State, while the population blamed the Prime Minister for these acts. A little further north, towns such as Cap-Haïtien, Fort-Liberté, Hinche and Ouanaminthe were the scene of weeks-long protest movements, and the populations of these regions proved to be an important force for the opposition and BSAP* in their fight against the regime. Cap-Haïtien, the regional capital, hosted huge demonstrations practically every January and February 2024.
Although Monday February 5, 2024 was curiously quieter, schools, banks and shops all remained closed and, until the beginning of March, were still operating in slow motion.
As we said at the outset, the provincial towns were the main sentinels of this revolt against the authorities. Throughout the day of February 7, the population led an anti-Ariel Henry front, waving the black and red flags of the Pitit Dessalines Party and the Russian flag. During the protests, demonstrators attempted to block the road leading to the Cap-Haïtien airport and ransacked several private businesses. The police had to intervene, using tear gas and gunfire at man-height to put an end to the looting. The day before, on the Place d’Armes, Jean-Charles Moïse had given a press conference to denounce the police for acting beyond their limits, preventing the population from exercising their rights. The whole of the Grand-Nord was mobilized, as was the Nord-Est.
In Fort-Liberté, the department’s capital, the population also took to the streets and called for the Prime Minister’s resignation, as did other towns, notably Terrier-Rouge, where demonstrators attacked the commune’s police station.
People carry a mock coffin with a photo of Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the US and Canada flags. [Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters]
In Trou-du-Nord, at dawn on February 5, the population had gathered in the town center and was preparing to storm the local police station.However, faced with a strong police presence to protect the station, the demonstrators had to turn back. On Route Nationale N° 6, just outside Ouanaminthe via Fort-Liberté, residents of the Nord-Est department mobilized all day on February 7, 2024, supported by BSAP officers. These towns are far from being the only ones in the department where there were major demonstrations during the week that rocked the regime. Ouanaminthe is a medium-sized town in the Nord-Est department. Situated on the border with the Dominican Republic town of Dajabon, Ouanaminthe was one of the first towns to mobilize against the government.
A protester waves a Russian flag in front of the US embassy in Port-au-Prince. [Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo]
The refusal of the Port-au-Prince authorities to support the peasants in the construction of the canal is certainly at the root not only of BSAP’s setbacks with the government, but also of its rallying behind the various calls from opposition leaders, notably Guy Philippe, to join the protest against Ariel Henry. As a result, as in the Central Plateau, BSAP agents in the North-East are becoming the leaders of the protest, with their own methodologies of attacking the authorities head-on by provoking them. Several public institutions have been attacked, looted or set on fire by BSAP men, but also by the population who have nothing to lose. This led to joint demonstrations between Monday February 5 and Thursday February 8, 2024. Supporters of Jean-Charles Moïse’s Pitit Dessalines political platform and BSAP officers fraternized and toured the city practically every day. Very angry with the government, the residents attacked several public and private institutions. The town hall, the customs office, the Tribunal de Paix, Paryaj Pam, the Haitian Red Cross, etc. were all set on fire by the protesters.
A protester jumps burning tires during a protest against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Ouanaminthe has become an important point of anti-government protest, with the presence of hundreds of BSAP agents on its territory. The town has set itself up as a precursor for being the first to say NO to Ariel Henry, and the population is a pioneer in the movement to overthrow the government.Despite the apparent calm, BSAP and the local population remain mobilized and continue to make their voices heard in the city from time to time.Finally, let’s head back along Route Nationale N° 3, towards Hinche in the Centre department.The first thing we notice is that there isn’t a single village along the route that hasn’t been in anti-government revolt mode since the protests began.On Wednesday February 7, 2024, the entire town of Hinche was paralyzed and lived under tension throughout the day.
A mob looted several government buildings, including the departmental office of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the town hall and the Papaye customs office. The special police unit, UDMO (Unité Départementale de Maintien de l’Ordre), also intervened on a large scale, arresting several protesters in the Centre department, notably in Hinche, Belladère and Mirebalais, where the streets were crowded. In this part of the country – Nord-Est and Plateau Central – the fight for Ariel Henry’s departure is even tougher. More radical. More violent. More consistent. The reason is simple: the support and participation of BSAP agents, when they themselves are not at the origin of anti-government protest movements. Among the towns in these two departments, without establishing a hierarchy in terms of the number of demonstrations recorded, there are two that take the cake. These are Ouanaminthe, whose commitment to the battle has already been demonstrated, and Hinche. Two towns with very different topography and administrative and institutional organization.
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Hence the tug-of-war between the government and BSAP. Ariel Henry’s power is being challenged by the opposition, which is clamoring for his resignation, and the population has also entered the fray, dragging along the BSAP, which has been supporting it since September 2023 in its conflict with the government.
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Schools, public markets, private businesses, public institutions – absolutely everything remained closed due to the violent demonstrations led by the BSAP, which never laid down its arms despite the government’s formal notice.
