This is one of the better articles, I’ve seen discussing the President’s speech. It’s a bit long, so skim your way through it.
President’s speech calms Haiti protests, for now
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
On
the streets of Belair, a poor neighborhood that once championed Haitian
President René Préval, young men played dominoes, kids kicked around a
soccer ball and neighbors chatted in front of their houses Wednesday as
if it were a holiday. In Delmas, street vendors reopened for business
while the scent of burned rubber from blazing barricades still hung
heavy in the air.And around the National Palace on the Champ de Mars
plaza, Brazilian peacekeepers patrolled the perimeters while protesters
and nonprotesters sat side-by-side on park benches, reflecting on the
day’s events.Hours after Préval delivered a long-anticipated
address on national television, a sense of calm appeared to be
returning to Haiti’s capital. But the lack of immediate relief for
hungry Haitians fanned fears that protests would soon pick up again.Préval
announced fertilizer subsidies for farmers to boost national production
and a government plan to promote the production of eggs, chicken and
rice. He dismissed calls for ”easy economics,” saying the
impoverished country could not afford to remove taxes on imported basic
food staples. And he called for reason and solidarity, asking the
affluent — including government workers — to share their wealth with
the impoverished.”I understand your problems and your
despair,” said Préval, casually dressed in a buttoned-up blue Polo
shirt as he spoke on state-owned television. “I offer you sustainable
solutions . . . the road to national production and consuming national
products. But first of all, we need to get back on the road of peace
and work together.”Some in Haiti and South Florida agreed with Préval’s
assessment and urged quick action.”We
in the Diaspora are very concerned — we still have family down
there,” said Miami-based Haitian radio commentator Herntz Phanord.
“Everybody is suffering, except for a few families. It’s not fair.”NO
IMMEDIATE RELIEFPhanord said the private sector hasn’t done enough to bring in
goods or lower food prices to help the poor.In
Belair, Evens Henry, 21, said: “It’s not all about jumping up and down
breaking stuff. We have to get to work. If we get to work, we will have
food.”In his half-hour address to the population, Préval at
times aimed his words directly at looters, who earlier in the day
ransacked more gas stations, banks and government buildings. During the
speech, the sounds of U.N. peacekeepers firing rubber bullets to
disperse crowds peppered the background.”I order you to stop,”
Préval told the looters. “The police cannot accept violence, and the
people will not accept violence.””To the people of Haiti who are
demonstrating, who are suffering, I ask you to go home,” Préval pleaded.As
word spread around Port-au-Prince about Préval’s speech, residents said
tensions dissipated. But even though the demonstrations ended Wednesday
afternoon, it did not mean there was widespread satisfaction with
Préval’s message, several added.”Nothing has stopped. The cost
of living has not gone down. So the demonstrations have not stopped,”
said Sadrac Jean-Dupain, one of the thousands who stormed the streets
of the capital for a third consecutive day Wednesday morning.Equally
unimpressed with the president’s address was Louines Durandis, 56, an
unemployed father of seven. Durandis said that while he credits Préval
for pushing national production in a country that has become highly
dependent on imported food, the lack of concrete measures by the
president made his address nothing but talk.He had hoped Préval
would announce a two- to three-month reprieve on customs duties on
basic food staples being imported into Haiti. When that did not happen,
Durandis said, he became fearful protesters retreated only temporarily
to “reflect and strategize.”PAYING THE PRICE”Subsidizing
imported goods is not the solution,” Préval told the people. “Today,
we are paying the price for more than 20 years of bad political
decisions. I’d rather today, we subsidize national production.”Both
Préval supporters and critics voiced discontent at the lack of
immediate action coming out of his speech. Many said it was long
overdue and did not go far enough to quell the demands of protesters
who have been calling for Préval’s government to resign.”It was
time for him to speak about national production, but he did not speak
about what he is going to do about tomorrow,” said Pierre Leger,
President of the Chamber of Commerce for the Southern Department, where
protests first erupted last week.A one-time friend who has
become one of Préval’s harshest critics, Leger long warned Préval about
the impending social explosions, as did others.But the president
has shown an aversion to pressure. Even after Parliament called his
prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, for a vote of confidence in
February, and after warnings, Préval did not speak to the nation about
the challenges his government was facing.When he did address the
rising cost of food, he offered tongue-and-cheek responses such as a
now-famous admonition to Haitians: “If there is a protest against the
rising prices, come to get me at the palace and I will come demonstrate
with you.”His words came back to haunt him Tuesday when
protesters stormed the palace gates asking to see him, and U.N.
peacekeepers had to be called in.Special correspondent Jean-Cyril Pressoir and
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.