Haiti adopts tough stance ahead of referendum

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC

Justice and Public Security Minister Rockefeller Vincent has warned that the authorities will not tolerate any attempt to disrupt the June 27 constitutional referendum in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

“The Haitian national police and the government commissioners are formally instructed in order to secure the process and to crack down with the utmost rigour against any offender and any troublemaker, whatever their political affiliation or social status,” Vincent said.

He said that June 27 “is an important date for democracy in Haiti, where the Haitian people will vote by referendum on the need or not to change the current constitution.

“This act of national sovereignty must be exercised in complete freedom, honesty and security,” the justice and public security minister added.

Earlier last week, the Bishops Conference of Haiti called on President Jovenel Moïse to postpone the referendum as the country continues to be plagued by social and political unrest.

“In these difficult times in our history as a people, we hear the cries of our brothers and sisters, cries provoked by such terrible evils as the multiplication of heavily armed gangs that make the law and impose their diktats; violence in all its forms; kidnappings; insecurity that prevents free movement on the national territory; criminality; impunity; political instability; the deterioration of state structures; the high cost of living; the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Bishops Conference said.

The constitutional referendum will be the first referendum in the country since 1987. It was unilaterally proposed by the Moïse administration even as the opposition maintain calls to boycott the event.