RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Haitian President Jovenel Moise called on Tuesday all the country’s forces to dialogue for the signing of a 25-year political agreement, in a context marked by the worsening of the governmental crisis and the climate of insecurity in the Caribbean nation.
“I ask everyone, all the social, economic, and cultural forces of the country, to come together for a dialogue to find a solution to put the country on the rails of development for the next 25 years,” he said.
According to Moise, all presidents who come to power will stay within this 25-year plan defined among all the nation’s forces, so he invited all actors to agree to carry it out.
“A plan in which there is no transition. A plan in which there are no personal interests. A plan that does not seek to enrich a small group at the expense of the impoverished majority. A plan in which we can democratize credit in the country,” he said.
“We must get to work today,” Moise said, “So, start looking at the indicators that are in red, work to turn them into yellow and then into the green.”
For Moise, the country is facing “a great opportunity to turn this crisis into an occasion to put Haiti on the rails of development,” said Moise, who criticized the opposition for waging what he considers an all-out war against the reforms he intends to lead.
Since February 7, there have been virulent protests organized by the opposition, which demands the departure of Moise from power because his mandate ended on that date, accusing him of wanting to establish a dictatorship in the country.
“I launch a last appeal to all the forces of the country for a definitive dialogue to find solutions to the crisis that plagues the country,” said the president, convinced that Haiti has been in crisis since the assassination of the father of the nation, Jean Jacques Dessalines, in 1806.
That direction “that we have been taking for 218 years is that of political struggles, political assassinations, exiles and imprisonments for no reason”, which lead nowhere but to where the nation is today. “That means misery, division. These directions are not in our favor,” the head of state said.
If there is no change, of course, “the country will have to know worse times than today,” he warned, “the waves will be stronger if we do not change direction now (…). My brothers and sisters who are in the political opposition, let us unite to get the country out of the situation in which it finds itself”, insisted Moise.
The president made these declarations in the framework of the celebration of the flag and the university every May 18, a few hours before the beginning of the anti-government demonstrations announced by the political opposition and civil society parties to demand him to leave power.