HAITI: Opposition leaders lead protests against President Rene Preval, say he is giving control of the country away to foreign donors

Record ID: 715810

  • Title: HAITI: Opposition leaders lead protests against President Rene Preval, say he is giving control of the country away to foreign donors
  • Date: 23rd April 2010
  • Summary: LES CAYES, HAITI (APRIL 20, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) LAWYER AND POLITICAL LEADER, REYNOLD GEORGES, SAYING: "This government is trying to intimidate us in order for us not to protest. And this dirty law that the parliament has voted is not in the interest of the people and we will not stand for this." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING: "WHETHER OR NOT, PREVAL MUST GO" (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) SENATOR YOURI LATORTUE, SAYING: "We are not afraid and we will never be afraid. Today, there is no one who can stop a Haitian from protesting. The constitution gave us this right since 1987 and there should be no immoral law that will tell us that we can not protest."
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HHY98FTADDT3UADC1A30ZQVW
  • Story Text: Some 2,000 protesters flooded the streets of the Haitian city of Les Cayes, calling for President Rene Preval to be removed from his post over two days of demonstrations.
    Les Cayes is a port and the country's third-largest city located on the southern coast about 100 miles (160km) west of the quake-shattered capital Port-au-Prince.
    Opposition leaders led the group of demonstrators on Wednesday (April 21), many of them refugees from Port-au-Prince who left after the January 12 quake to find shelter and food.
    They are angry over a new law passed by the Senate last week approving the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which is to have an equal number of Haitian and non-Haitian representatives.
    Opposition politicians say the commission is a violation of Haiti's sovereignty because it agrees to a foreign donor role in decision-making.
    They also accuse the government of trying to quell their voices of dissent.
    "This government is trying to intimidate us in order for us not to protest. And this dirty law that the parliament has voted is not in the interest of the people and we will not stand for this," said lawyer and political leader, Reynold Georges.
    The joint commission, to be co-chaired by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, and by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, will determine which reconstruction projects will receive backing from multibillion-dollar funding pledged by foreign donors.
    Protest leaders say it is "deceitful".
    "We are not afraid and we will never be afraid. Today, there is no one who can stop a Haitian from protesting. The constitution gave us this right since 1987 and there should be no deceitful law that will tell us that we can not protest," opposition senator Youri Latortue said.
    Rejecting these fears, Preval has told Haitians the operation of the commission would facilitate the release of massive reconstruction financing that will be administered through a Multi-Donor Trust Fund, to be supervised by the World Bank.
    He also said that the Haitian people are free to protest and criticize the government when they want.
    "In Haiti, President Preval accepts whatever is said to him. I will never argue back, I will never threaten anyone," Preval said.
    Alongside Bill Clinton, the other non-Haitians on the Commission are to include officials of international organizations, multilateral lenders and major donors.
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