Gas prices fuel 1-day strike in Haiti

On Aug. 8 (Haïti-Progrès, Aug. 10), the Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti (APCH) held a countrywide, one-day strike over a sharp, unannounced increase in fuel prices. Jean Winston Bazile, spokesperson for APCH, said, “This is a warning strike, asking for the collaboration of the people. Our next step will be to park all our minivans in front of the offices of the Ministry of Com merce and the National Palace. Because we cannot continue to function this way.

”On Aug. 8, the Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti (APCH) held a countrywide, one-day strike over a sharp, unannounced increase in fuel prices. Jean Winston Bazile, spokesperson for APCH, said, “This is a warning strike, asking for the collaboration of the people. Our next step will be to park all our minivans in front of the offices of the Ministry of Com merce and the National Palace. Because we cannot continue to function this way.”

Changeux Méhu, president of APCH, added, “We are determined and we cannot continue to enrich rulers who take no consideration of the precarious life of the poorest sectors of Haitian society. It is necessary that this change; we can’t tolerate such acts.”

The people who use the APCH minivans, which supply the only mass transit available throughout Haiti, supported the strike, even though it forced them to walk to work. “We have had enough. We can’t accept such a situation, which increases our misery,” was a typical response of those interviewed.