Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who has been under pressure to resign, is once again standing his ground.
In a 2 a.m. address to the nation Wednesday that was prerecorded and released while most of his crisis-plunged nation slept, Moise said he will not run away from his responsibility, will not respond to political violence with violence and was _ once more _ offering dialogue.
He also signaled that he may be ready to jettison his latest choice as prime minister, Fritz William Michel, and his cabinet, saying he was proposing the formation of "a national government of unity."
"We have a responsibility to assume our responsibility in front of the nation and history," said Moise, whose last public address was on Aug. 14 when he announced the re-establishment of the Haitian army. "It is because of this I am extending my hand to all of the forces of the nation, for us to sit together to form a national unity government that has the capacity and legitimacy to address together the urgent problems the country is undergoing."
The proposal, along with the call for dialogue, were quickly rejected by members of the opposition. They criticized Moise for not taking any responsibility for the political and economic crisis shaking Haiti, and said he has repeatedly shown a lack of follow-through with his dialogue request, is not interested in any political accord, and has lost the ability to summon anyone to the negotiating table.
"Once again Jovenel Moise has shown the Haitian people and the entire world, proof that he cannot do the job," said Edmonde Supplice Beauzile, a former senator and member of the Lower Chamber of Deputies who now heads Fusion, a moderate political party. "After several months of silence, several months of mobilization where the Haitian people have clearly said they want Jovenel Moise to resign without conditions, he showed that he's afraid to look the Haitian people in the eyes.
"The time he chose to make a declaration, 2 a.m. in the morning, when I believe that most people are sleeping," she added. "He doesn't understand anything about this huge crisis that is shaking the Haitian people."
Attorney Andre Michel, who represents a more radical arm of the opposition known as the Democratic and Popular Sector, said the only solution to the crisis is Moise's resignation. He announced protests for Friday throughout Haiti to demand the presidents' departure.
But some, however, may not be waiting until then. After a day of paralysis but calm Tuesday, tensions appeared to be rebuilding Wednesday. Some streets around Port-au-Prince became blocked by fiery barricades, an indication that Moise's 15-minute address may have done little to lower political tensions or break the impasse that has plagued most of his presidency, now in its third year.
Moise began his address by saying he had canceled his appearance at this week's United Nations General Assembly in New York in order to address the problems engulfing the country. They were many, he said, in his speech, which did not provide a road map on how he planned to form a government of consensus, or say whether Michel had been asked to resign from the prime minister's post.
Moise did say that after multiple attempts by the Senate at a ratification vote, he had concluded that the chamber was not up to the task of fulfilling its constitutional duty to give Haiti a legitimate government. Two successive governments, Moise noted, had failed to win Senate confirmation over the past six months and six hearings had to be aborted. One government was headed by Michel, and the other by Prime Minister Jean Michel Lapin, who resigned prior to Michel's naming on July 22.
Mentioning Lapin in his address, Moise said he had instructed him to take all measures necessary to address security problems in the country's interior. A proliferation of gangs in Haiti has led to parts of the country being shut off. Gangs have also been terrorizing the population in some rural communities and blocking cargo trucks out of the capital from passing.
"The first duty of the state is to secure the lives and property. All arrangements will be made for the resumption of activities," Moise said.
Moise also said he also had instructed a government commission to address the minimum wage to bring relief to workers. He made no mention, however, of the recent fuel crisis that had paralyzed activities throughout Haiti for over four weeks, and created life threatening conditions at hospitals. He also did not mention Monday's shooting incident in the yard of the Senate by one of his political allies in the chamber, Sen. Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere, which led to an Associated Press photojournalist and security guard being shot.
Fethiere, who has not been charged, said he was defending himself against a crowd of protesters. Others have disagreed and are demanding an investigation and the lifting of his immunity from prosecution that he receives as a lawmaker.
The incident happened during a second attempt to confirm Michel, whose nomination has been plagued by corruption allegations, which he has denied.
Addressing the violent protests and paralysis that have marked his tenure, Moise said "if violence could build Haiti ... if preventing children from going to school could build Haiti ... it would have already been done."
"I will not respond to violence with violence. I will respond with dialogue," he said. "Haiti is for all of us."
