• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Haiti

Haitian Teachers Will Go Back to Work Only If President Resigns 

  • Demonstration against Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince.

    Demonstration against Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince. | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 October 2019
Opinion

The teachers were joined by students, parents and other protesters who for a whole month have been demanding the resignation of the president.

Hundreds of teachers protested peacefully Monday in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince calling for the resignation of President Jovenel Moise as they warned this would be the only precondition for the resumption of the school year.

RELATED: 

UN Peacekeeping 15-year Mission Ends With Mixed Legacy in Haiti

The teachers were joined by students, parents and other protesters who for a whole month have been demanding the resignation of the president, who they accuse of aggravating the socio-political and economic crisis the country is going through.

“The school is closed today, it is our way to rethink education. Today, we need to form citizens, but for that, Moise and the other legal robbers must be locked up in the penitentiary,” the General Secretary of the National Union of Haitian Educators Josue Merilien said.

In other cities such as Cap-Haïtien in the northern part of the country, and Les Cayes located in the south, hundreds of demonstrators joined the teachers' mobilization, vowing they will continue the fight until the president steps down.

The teachers constitute one of the last groups to join the growing mass of social organizations and political platforms that demand the initiation of a new government capable to address the population’s most pressing problems.

More than 100 social, political and economic organizations and institutions recently signed a document calling for the creation of a national rescue government in order to achieve a successful transition, after more than two years of a failing presidency.

In their statement, they denounced the government’s loss of control of the state apparatus, and they stressed the chaotic situation the country is facing and that is paving the way to an imminent humanitarian disaster.

Within the opposition front, although the common objective is the removal of Moise, there is still dissent on the issues of the power transfer process and the formation of a new administration.​​​​​​​

For his part, Moise, said last week in a controversial press conference that he will remain in office despite the pressure.

“The Constitution is clear. People voted for me in the last elections. The Constitution specifies when I must leave power and how to do it. The power belongs to the people and the people have given it to me through the Constitution,” the head of state stated.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that about three million students do not attend schools since mid-September and the beginning of the daily demonstrations.

People

Jovenel Moise
Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.