Haitians Reject Their President's Call for US Intervention as Island Nation Protests Continue

Despite demands this week from street protesters in Haiti that the U.S. government to stay out of the nation's affairs, the Trump administration announced Friday it was stepping in with fresh aid requested by the Caribbean nation's embattled President Jovenel Moise--the main target of the uprising's anger.

The Haitian government's request for the aid was confirmed by Moise in an interview with Radio Metropole on Monday.

"We are in a difficult time," said Moise.

But the protests seem unlikely to stop any time soon. Andre Michel, leader of the Popular and Democratic Sector opposition coalition, said October 23 that demonstrations and unrest would continue until there was a political shift.

"There will be a real political battle," said Michel, adding, "The whole country will rise."

Michel's promise appeared to be borne out Wednesday as doctors and medical professionals were the latest professional group to join the countrywide demonstrations and call for self-determination.

"We are demanding the international community step back," said one doctor. "We are strong people. We can take care of ourselves."

Protests against Moise exploded in October after over a year of unrest aimed at the country's corruption, economic instability, and the Haitian president's perceived kowtowing to western imperial powers--especially the U.S. Among the complaints from demonstrators was Moise's decision in January to join the U.S. and other members of the Organization of American States in a vote condemning Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

A government crackdown on the demonstrations earned the Haitian government criticism on Thursday from human rights advocacy group Amnesty International, which called for restraint.

"The images that we have verified shed light on human rights violations by the Haitian authorities," said the group's Americas director Erika Guevara-Rosas. "The security forces under the command of President Jovenel Moise have used excessive force. Such incidents must be investigated promptly, thoroughly, and effectively."

"President Moise must take urgent measures to ensure people protesting against his government can do so safely, without putting their lives at risk," Guevara-Rosas continued. "The police must stop using firearms carrying live ammunition in the context of protests and take particular measures to guarantee the safety of journalists covering the political and human rights situation in Haiti."

Calls for Moise to step down or be removed from office are growing.

"Almost all sectors of Haitian society have coalesced to denounce his ineptitude," Vania Andre, editor-in-chief of The Haitian Times, wrote in a letter to The New York Times on Monday. "Anything other than a formal impeachment proceeding against him is a direct assault on the will of the people and on democracy."

Protesters on Wednesday made clear that Moise's removal was just part of the solution to the country's woes.

"It's not only a question of demanding the president to step down," said one doctor. "The president represents the bourgeois class that's totally against the masses; this oligarch-controlled model is one that thrives on misery and exclusion."