Haiti is getting hotter, and I don’t mean the weather…

Many of the disputes and much of the unrest at the moment is political, not just who is in charge (or not) and what they do (or don’t) strand for but also a nod to history, with the marron or Bourgeoisie of Haitian society who are perceived (rightly or wrongly) to unfairly have all of the wealth and power.  One such manifestation of this was the recent beer shortage.  No laughing matter I assure you as we were on sever rations for nearly 6 weeks!  Apparently, a gang had surrounded the (only) brewery in Haiti (in Port au Prince, in the South) in a dispute with its bourgeoisie owners.  Not sure how the dispute was resolved but it has been, and beer is back in the depots.  Though of course the supply is as unreliable as always and the price is up!  It used to be around $15 USD for a crate of 24; but its $22 USD….  I guess that’s the basic laws of supply and demand! But less than a dollar a beer, works for me.

Anyway, some relief with beer coming back into circulation, but the fuel shortage continues.  It was less than $2 USDa gallon at the gas stations (when they had it), but all we have been able to get for the last 2 months is from the black market on the roadside.  That currently sells at $16 USD a gallon.  Yes, I did say two months; a different league to the recent fuel issues in the UK. 

So folk are fed up here, and the gangs even more fed up.  Many of the gangs are self-funding through kidnapping, extortion, racketeering, black market goods etc.  Now unfortunately, there is only one road out of the fuel depot down in Port au Prince and so of course the gangs control that; threatening and shooting at tanker drivers so effectively crippling supply.  They do it on the premise of anti-Bourgeoise action, but all they do is hurt their fellow Haitians.  Those with can hold out a lot longer than those without…

Anyway there will be 3 days of national protest next week during which the county will be locked down.   Roads will be blocked, banks and institutions shut down, not that many of the institutions are particularly effective.  We still have no real plan to elect a new President after the last one was assassinated on July 7… almost 4 months ago.  For myself and the other volunteers it will be no great hardship, we are very fortunate to have solar power, our own well, and plenty of food.  But for the Hospital it will be much harder; staff will struggle to get in or out, the fuel crisis gets worse as we are now down to a week’s worth of fuel.  And to get us in the mood some idiot starts burning tyres outside the hospital gates.  But it’s a half-hearted attempt at protest and we continue on, planning for the week ahead.