the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 23, 2025
This article is translated from the May 24 issue, #1351 of Combat Ouvrier (Workers Fight), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in Guadeloupe and Martinique, two islands that are French overseas departments in the Caribbean.
On Tuesday, May 13, demonstrators caused a general power cut in the Port-au-Prince region and the Centre department. They forced the shutdown of the hydroelectric plant that supplies the entire region.
The director of Haitian Electric denounced sabotage. One of the organizers replied that the action was carried out to protest against insecurity, declaring: “We decided to stop the hydroelectric plant because the government has abandoned these towns to criminal gangs. The authorities refuse to deploy the necessary force to drive out the bandits and restore peace. As long as this situation persists, the power station will remain closed.”
Organized gangs, murderers and kidnappers are targeting the population. Raids in popular neighborhoods have resulted in over two million internally displaced persons, according to figures from non-governmental organizations. The inhabitants of the neighborhoods are driven out by the violence of the criminal gangs, who take everything they can find and then set fire to the houses. In the rubble, they set up armed posts to combat any police presence.
Most of the displaced victims have taken refuge in public buildings, on empty plots of land set up on the sly, or on the sidewalk in the street. Many are also trying to make their way out of the country, fleeing the incapacity or complicity of the authorities. But those who manage to cross over to the Dominican Republic are sent back after suffering the violence of the guards and the ostracism of a section of the population.
As for the workers in the few factories that are still open, they have been subjected to a wage freeze for the past three years. Today, with the devaluation of the gourde, the daily wage of 500 gourdes is barely equivalent to $3.80. With that, a worker can’t even buy a dish of rice with sauce in front of the factory—that’s the price of the journey to and from work. So, to bring home a few pennies, he has to walk and doesn’t eat at lunchtime.
At the same time, the price of everyday consumer goods has doubled or tripled, as have public transport and rent. Faced with their dwindling purchasing power, the workers are demanding that the authorities adjust their wages to take account of this inflation. This is not the priority of the Presidential Transition Council, whose members are jostling to run the state and help themselves to the public purse.
Their intervention against insecurity is a fiasco. The Haitian police force is outmatched and under-armed in relation to the gangs. As for the multinational security mission led by Kenya, it is ineffective and its deployment has remained limited to the airport area. In the first three months of 2025, more than 1,600 people were killed, according to the United Nations.
Asphyxiated by gang violence, the popular masses bend their backs and resist. They are waiting for the right moment, an opportunity that will enable them to take action, as they have done at certain times known as “bwa kale.” They are striving to pool their forces, build their own organization and rely on themselves.