Independence Shopping Center, Gonaives, Haiti, Oct. 11, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @mbduvalier

Port-au-Prince, October 13 (RHC)-- In Haiti, citizens in the city of Gonaives looted buildings owned by Defense Minister Enold Joseph.  Previously, local journalists reported incidents at properties belonging to high-ranking officials such as Andre Michel, Marjorie Michel, Edmonde a Beauzile, and Rocardin St. Jean.

"It's a real hunt... Things took on another dimension in Gonaives.  After attacking and looting the First Instance Court and the Appeals Court, demonstrators attacked the companies of the Defense Minister," reported Gazette Haiti.  One of his burned properties is "Independence 1," a shopping complex housing a radio station, a convenience store and a hotel.  The National Police went to the place to assess the damage and contain the fire.

A similar fate befell the "Independencia 2" shopping center because "the protesters take everything in their path.  The situation is currently very tense," the Gazette Haiti pointed out.   The tweet reads: "An activist at Petit-Goâve says: 'We would rather destroy the country than continue to live under the imperialist colonial system of the United States, France, Canada, BINUH, and the Core Group'."

On Monday morning, the fissures within the local political elite became apparent once again.  Through an open letter, one of whose recipients is the United Nations Special Representative, the Haitian senators asked Prime Minister Ariel Henry to "immediately suspend" a resolution through which he calls for the deployment of a foreign armed force in the country.

Besides qualifying the Executive's decision as "serious," the ten senators in office consider that the Prime Minister has neither the authority nor the legal powers to request foreign countries to deploy a specialized armed force.

"Henry is usurping prerogatives of the President of the Republic, who is the head of state," the Haitian senators said, warning that the request for the entry of foreign troops is actually an attempt to stay in power by an "increasingly illegitimate, unpopular, and questioned administration."