(CNN) The US Embassy in Haiti warned its citizens Saturday to stay inside amid continued demonstrations in the capital of Port-au-Prince and a northern city following a fuel price hike.
Protesters have been demonstrating this week against a sharp rise in fuel prices ordered by the government.
Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant on Saturday announced a temporary stop to the price increases and appealed for calm. Prices for gasoline were to rise 38% while diesel prices were to go up 47% and kerosene 51%, the Haitian daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.
An estimated 120 American and 100 Haitian guests are staying in a Port-au-Prince hotel where demonstrators earlier tried to set fire to the hotel and get past security, said Stacy Librandi Bourne, an emergency medical professional from HERO Client Rescue who is at the Oasis Hotel.
After the Prime Minister's announcement, the situation calmed down, she said.
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(Reuters) - Haitian leaders pleaded for calm on Saturday as violent protests over fuel price increases entered a second day and U.S. airlines canceled flights to the Caribbean nation.
Prime minister Jack Guy Lafontant listends to President Jovenel Moise's speech during Lafontant's presentation in the National Palace of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 24, 2017. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares
Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant announced the temporary suspension of double-digit government hikes to prices for gasoline, diesel and kerosene on Saturday afternoon - just a day after they were announced.
But as local television footage showed, the government’s decision to back down did not keep angry residents from taking to the streets. Some demonstrators erected flaming roadblocks, while others attacked hotels and businesses.
“The poor people want to be able to eat,” one masked protester told Reuters TV as a car blazed behind him. “I want to tell (President) Jovenel (Moïse) that Haiti is not for him and his family. Haiti is for every Haitian. He needs to leave the country and leave the country to us so we can live.”
In a statement, Lafontant said the government strongly condemns the acts of violence and vandalism.
U.S. carriers American Airlines (AAL.O), JetBlue (JBLU.O) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE.N) announced flight cancellations Saturday to the capital Port-au-Prince citing civil unrest.
“Due to concerns over safety from unrest in the area, Spirit Airlines felt it necessary to temporarily suspend service to Port-au-Prince, Haiti Saturday,” the airline said in a statement. “We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused, but the safety of our guests and crew is paramount.”
A spokesman for the airline said it was not yet clear when flights would resume.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti advised personnel and Americans in the country to shelter in place.
The U.S. State Department said separately that it was aware of vandalism at a Best Western hotel, where media reports said Americans were staying, and at an American Airlines office in downtown Port-au-Prince.
“At this time, we have not received any reports of U.S. citizens injured in the incidents,” the State Department said in a statement.
On Friday, Haiti’s Commerce and Economic ministries announced that fuel price increases, including a 38 percent jump for gasoline and 47 percent for diesel, would take effect at midnight.
The now-suspended decision by Moïse’s government to raise prices was part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which requires the country to enact a range of austerity measures.
The U.S. airlines canceled all of their flights to Haiti Saturday as the country’s embattled prime minister called for Haitians to stop blocking roads and burning tires amid a civil unrest being triggered by the announcement of a sharp hike in fuel prices. Flights remain canceled until further notice despite Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant's announcement that the price adjustment was being temporarily suspended.
At least three people have died as a result of the violence that erupted Friday afternoon, including a police officer and security guard for a former legislative candidate and opposition leader. Also, two police stations — one in the city of Gonaives and the other in Carrefour on the outskirts of metropolitan Port-au-Prince — were set ablaze. Gunshots were fired during demonstrations in the capital city as well as the town of Cavaillon.
Protesters barricade a street in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville on July 7, 2018, to protest against the increase in fuel prices. Haiti's Prime Minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, on Saturday called for patience from residents of the Caribbean nation amid deadly protests over an unpopular fuel price rise. At least one person has died there in the past day. The capital has stood paralyzed since July 6, following the government announcement that gasoline prices would rise by 38 percent, diesel by 47 percent and kerosene by 51 percent starting this weekend. HECTOR RETAMAL AFP/Getty Images
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Spirit Airlines and JetBlue, which diverted its 1709 flight to Santo Domingo and then returned to Fort Lauderdale Friday night "due to the civil unrest," all announced flight cancellations Saturday to Port-au-Prince. The JetBlue flight was about 300 feet from the ground when it was diverted, said a passenger.
"Due to concerns over safety from unrest in the area, Spirit Airlines felt it necessary to temporarily suspend service to Port-au-Prince, Haiti," said spokesman Derek Dombrowski. "We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused, but the safety of our Guests and Crew is paramount. "
American Airlines canceled all of its flights including the one to Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, spokeswoman Martha Pantin said.
“Anybody’s going to Haiti? All flights are canceled,” a Broward County Sheriff deputy at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport yelled as he walked near the Transportation Security Administration check-in line.
Spirit Airlines announced Saturday that it had cancelled Sunday's flights into Haiti. As of late Saturday, it remained unclear if other international flights will resume on Sunday.
Check the status of flights to Haiti here.
The attacks, which appear to have overwhelmed a poorly-resourced Haiti National Police force that for the first time does not have the backing of a U.N. peacekeeping force, continued with fury Saturday with helpless residents and tourists watching as angry crowds attacked luxury hotels and the businesses owned by high-profile Haitians while demanding that President Jovenel Moïse pull back the gas hikes or resign.
Protesters destroy a poster of Haitian President Jovenel Moise as they demonstrate in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville on July 7, 2018, against a hike in fuel prices. Haiti's Prime Minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, on Saturday called for patience from residents of the Caribbean nation amid deadly protests over an unpopular fuel price rise. At least one person has died there in the past day. The capital has stood paralyzed since July 6, following the government announcement that gasoline prices would rise by 38 percent, diesel by 47 percent and kerosene by 51 percent starting this weekend. HECTOR RETAMAL AFP/Getty Images
The call for a rollback was echoed by Lower Chamber President Gary Bodeau, who tweeted that he was giving "Guy Lafontant and the government two hours to turn back" its decision.
Near the Toussaint Louverture International Airport a fiery barricade blocked parts of the road while an angry mob broke the front door of the Best Western hotel in Petionville with rocks. Outside, seven cars were set on fire. As black smoke billowed in the air, firefighters were no where to be found and the crowd of more than 300 men, holding machetes and batons, threatened more chaos. Elsewhere around the capital, businesses were pelted with rocks. Some were vandalized and looted.
"Every time you do it, the country becomes poorer," Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant said in a televised address early Saturday morning as he appealed for calm and patience from the population. "Every time you destroy a store, it's jobs that a Haitian will lose.
"I'm asking you for patience because the administration's vision is clear," he said referring to him and President Jovenel Moïse who has been in office 17 months. "It has a clear program that it has continued to execute."
Describing the government's plans to bring 2,485 miles of roads and 24-hour electricity to the country, Lafontant sounded more like a politician still on the campaign trail than one with a grip on the deepening crisis.
But as the crisis deepened Saturday, many wondered how long Lafontant had left in office. A vote of no-confidence on his government had been put on hold late last month amid questions about the legality of four of ministers who were appointed in a recent cabinet shake up.
Haitians trapped in the unrest describe it as spontaneous and symptomatic of a much deeper anger in the population with the increase in fuel prices being the last straw.
"Gas prices going up is not good for us and it's not good for you," one young man told a Haitian-American couple as they tried to negotiate their way through one of many road blocks in southern Haiti, trying to get to the outskirts of the town of Cavaillon.
On Friday, the Haitian government announced that fuel prices would be rising as of midnight. The increases were set at 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel and 51 percent for kerosene, the country’s Commerce and Economic Ministry said in a joint statement.
The Ministry of Social Affairs also announced new fares for public transportation, with some routes now going up as much as 50 percent.
While the price hikes would have affected everyone from the struggling construction company owner whose weekly diesel costs will now up go from $1,310 to $2,034 for 500 gallons, to the school teacher who will see her grocery bill increase, the poor is especially affected.
Since 2010, Haiti has lost nearly $770,750,000 in revenues by keeping gas prices low, government officials say.
"Only 25 percent of the population has benefited from the subsidization," Haiti's Finance Minister Jude Alix Patrick Solomon said Friday at a press conference about the fuel hikes. "It's difficult for you to be asking your international partners to give you budgetary assistance or support and at the same time you have revenue that you are not capturing."
The fuel hikes were part of an agreement that Haiti entered into with the International Monetary Fund. It has called on Haiti to make sweeping reforms in its public administration and raise gas prices in accordance with its 1995 law that calls for prices to be adjusted with every shipment. Failing to do the reforms can cost Haiti up to $96 million in budgetary support from international donors.
A graphic of the hikes went viral shortly after 2 p.m. Friday as Haitians were watching Brazil lose to Belgium during the World Cup. Right after the game ended, the violence erupted with crowds in several major cities setting up fiery barricades with tires cutting off major roads. A lot of people got trapped in offices, in restaurants, hotel lobbies and on the streets. They either had to abandoned their car and walk home or take refuge at a hotel or friend's house.
In Petionville, roads leading to wealthier hillside communities were targeted. Cars were pelted with rocks as residents attempted to make their way home. Protesters even cut off a detour to Montagne Noire that had become popular in recent days after upset residents in the Pelerin 5 community started protesting the demolition of several houses in the vicinity of the president's private residence days earlier.
The government claims the houses were the private property of the state, and they had to be demolished for security purposes. But residents objected saying they have had no due process.
In response to the violence, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince warned U.S. citizens to avoid certain area and at the height of the violence on Friday issued a shelter in place order to embassy employees.
At least one person is dead after protests in Haiti turned violent.
A steep increase in fuel prices has angered people who say they are already dealing with extreme poverty.
In February, Haiti's government agreed to reduce fuel subsidies in exchange for IMF aid.
Katia Lopez-Hodoyan reports.
