14358: (Chamberlain) Haiti capital residents heed strike call over gas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The streets of Haiti's
capital Port-au-Prince, normally jammed with traffic, were quiet on Tuesday
as citizens appeared to follow a call for a general strike against rising
gas prices issued by a group of trade unions.
     At several intersections, protesters set up flaming barricades to halt
traffic and in one part of town, the Bicentenaire section of Harry Truman
Boulevard, government buses and cars were turned back in a hail of bottles
and rocks, witnesses said.
      Many banks and schools were closed and there were almost no cars,
taxis or tap-taps -- as Haiti's brightly colored public trucks are known --
on usually congested thoroughfares.
     The strike, the second in as many months, was called by 11 of Haiti's
largest transportation unions on Monday as a protest against the spiraling
cost of gasoline and other fuel in the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8
million.
     Gasoline prices in Haiti have risen 85 percent to 90 percent since
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government ended long-standing fuel
subsidies at the end of 2002, with prices now averaging about $2.24 a
gallon.
     "I don't blame the taxi drivers for staying home," said merchant Jean
Aleus, as he looked glumly on near-empty streets from his kiosk near the
capital's central Champs-de-Mars plaza, where he sells beer and soda. "Gas
is too expensive, we can't continue like this."
     It was not yet clear how widely the strike was being followed in other
parts of the country.
     Government officials said a budget deficit of nearly $80 million and
increasing oil prices on the world oil market -- caused in part by an
opposition strike that has choked oil exports from Haiti's main supplier,
Venezuela -- had made it untenable to continue the fuel subsidies.
     "We have not increased taxes on fuel even though there has been a
significant increase in the price to import it," said Secretary of State
for Communications Mario Dupuy on private Radio Metropole. "The government
is making no new profit."
     The decision was also partly in response to a demand from the
International Monetary Fund that fuel subsidies be halted before the
disbursement of a $50 million dollar loan. The loan is part of over $500
million of international aid withheld since Haiti's disputed parliamentary
elections in May 2000.
     Tuesday's strike followed a protest on Dec. 4 when many of the
nation's merchants closed their doors to protest the beating by government
supporters of anti-government protesters in the capital. At least 15 people
were injured.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, was elected president in
1990 but ousted in a coup months later. U.S. troops helped restore him to
power in 1994 and he was elected to a second term in November 2000. His
government has been mired in a dispute over the results of the 2000
parliamentary elections, which observers say were tabulated in favor of
Aristide's Lavalas Family political party.
     In recent months, Aristide has faced a wave of protests and strikes
against what opposition politicians and other critics charge are
increasingly repressive and corrupt tactics.
     The government has called for new elections to be held to resolve the
crisis. But the opposition has rejected the proposal, citing security
concerns, and has instead begun to press for Aristide's resignation.
     "We support all peaceful movements of the Haitian people to
demonstrate their discontent, and we have encouraged our supporters to
observe the strike," said opposition politician Micha Gaillard on Tuesday.