Haitians hope for fuel supplies after police break up gang blockade at terminal

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haitians on Saturday hoped for a quick return of fuel supplies after police broke up a gang blockade that for two months had left the economy without gasoline or diesel and triggered a humanitarian crisis. 

Haiti’s National Police said in a statement late on Friday that it took back control of the Varreux fuel terminal, where the G9 gang coalition had dug trenches and set up barricades to prevent fuel distribution.

Despite the police operation, it was still too soon say when trucks would be able to access an area that was the site of heavy shooting in confrontations between police and gangs on Thursday. 

“We don’t know exactly when fuel deliveries will begin,” said one source with knowledge of the situation. “Trucks need to have safe passage also.”

Haiti’s fuel stocks have been running low as importers struggled to get paid for subsidies that keep fuel prices low on the Caribbean nation, and due to difficulties in obtaining dollars from the central bank, sources have told Reuters.

The gasoline and diesel shortages had halted almost all economic activity, including in transportation and hospitals, and forced many local business owners to shut operations.

Last month, the United Nations warned that the country was facing acute food insecurity.

The coalition of Haitian gangs demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has run the country since shortly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last year.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Sao Paulo and Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince)