Bandits openly impose toll stations on Haiti’s main roads

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, HCNN/CMC – Criminal gangs in Haiti have openly established their own toll stations to collect money from road users travelling by car or motorcycle, in defiance of police and government authorities, in several parts of in the Caribbean country torn apart by a deep political and humanitarian crisis.

Leaders of several drivers' unions have denounced the tactic by gangs to impose the illegal toll which travellers are forced to pay for safe passage on the roads they've taken control of.

Passengers often have to pay the equivalent of several hundred US dollars to be allowed to proceed.

“Recently, the bandits hijacked two buses, one carrying 30 people and another one with 18 people aboard, and those people had to pay money to be allowed to leave,” Mehu Changeux, a drivers' union leader, told HCNN on Thursday.

The criminal gangs have also made a list of the drivers whose vehicles are authorised to go past roadblocks they arbitrarily set up to control traffic.

“The bandits distribute a small card to the drivers who are forced to pay them an amount of money every Saturday,” said Changeux.

“They also have a form they hand out to drivers who have to subscribe and agree to regularly pay a certain amount of money to buy their right to cross safely certain areas.

“Otherwise, anything can happen. If you try to defy them they are ready to use their weapons.”

Several people have already been killed during such incidents over the past months, witnesses say.

Haiti has been mired in unprecedented political, social and humanitarian chaos for some time now and observers do not see, for the moment, any sign of improvement in the troubled country's situation.

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