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 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 travelers are forced to pay for safe passage on the roads of which they’ve taken control.
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 authorized to go past roadblocks they arbitrarily set up to control traffic.
“The bandits distribute a small card to the drivers that 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.
A 38-year-old driver, Jonas Michel, has explained how organized the gangs are. He said the gangs have people assigned to different tasks.
“The bandits are very well organized. They want you to pay a fixed amount; if there is one dollar missing, they won’t accept it,” Michel told HCNN.
“They make you pay whether you carry passengers, goods or not,” said Michel, stating that “people driving cars or motorcycles all have to pay to be allowed to go their way through”.
The situation also badly affects the cost of transportation for many people who are requested to pay much more than usual in order to help the driver find enough money to pay additional fees to bandits.
Bandits often hijack truckloads of food products and construction materials.
“What is worse is that they operate in broad daylight and are totally unchallenged,” said Michel. There are several drivers who have refused to be part of this illegal enterprise, which also means they have to leave their vehicles at home and abandon, even if momentarily, their only source of revenue.
“It is practically impossible for us, drivers, to function under such conditions, but given our responsibilities we have to make the sacrifice,” Michel told HCNN.
CMC
