Hundreds of Haitians participated in a sit-in in front of the high court of auditors on Friday to demand an investigation into a diversion of Petrocaribe funds.
A social media campaign drew attention to the issue and led hundreds of young Haitians in front of the Superior Court of Accounts (Port-au-Prince) with some holding signs that read, “Where is the PetroCaribe money?”
“It’s an embarrassment that other countries are using (PetroCaribe) money for infrastructure and big projects and we do nothing,” Olrich Jean-Pierre, one of the protest organizers.
Demonstrators said “We’re here to denounce the thieves. They should turn over the PetroCaribe fund.
We’re starting a peaceful movement. If they don’t turn over the money this movement can take any form. It’s their obligation to turn it over.”
Venezuela’s PetroCaribe scheme, launched in 2005, has furnished about 12 Caribbean states with oil supplies under a flexible credit mechanism.
It obliging these states to pay cash for part of every shipment and finance the rest at low interest rates, or buy it with goods like food and clothing.
Carl Sandy Alcema
sandinio@hotmail.com