MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Fla. (CNN/WSVN) — The U.S. Embassy in Haiti warned its citizens Saturday to stay inside amid continued demonstrations in the capital of Port-au-Prince and a northern city following a fuel price hike.
Violent protests have sparked in response to the sharp rise in fuel prices ordered by the government, leading to the cancellation of all flights to and from Haiti.
The U.S. embassy’s website says armed demonstrators are manning some of the roadblocks.
Plumes of thick black smoke filled the skies as protesters set fire to tires and cars in a Port-au-Prince street.
In a phone interview with 7News, South Florida resident Genji Jacques, who has family in Haiti, described the chaos.
“People are rioting on the streets. I have a family,” he said.
Due to the unrest, Jacques said, his family is stuck in Haiti and now forced to live in fear.
“They can’t go out anywhere. They can’t move,” he said. “They’ve barricaded everywhere. They’ve shut everything down in Haiti.”
At least three people have been killed. There are no reports of U.S. citizens in Haiti being injured, the embassy said.
Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant on Saturday announced a temporary stop to the price increases and appealed for calm. Prices for gasoline were to rise 38% while diesel prices were to go up 47% and kerosene 51%, the Haitian daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.
An estimated 120 American and 100 Haitian guests are staying in a Port-au-Prince hotel where demonstrators earlier tried to set fire to the hotel and get past security, said Stacy Librandi Bourne, an emergency medical professional from HERO Client Rescue who is at the Oasis Hotel.
After the Prime Minister’s announcement, the situation calmed down, she said.
U.S. officials told tourists and missionaries to shelter in place.
“Do not attempt to travel at this time. Avoid protests and any large gathering of people. Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks,” a State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs official said.
U.S. resident Stacy Librandi Bourne spoke with 7News on the phone from her Port-au-Prince hotel.
“It sounds like the government is doing everything they can to promote peace and compromise to try to get things back to restore calm at this time,” she said. “It seems a little bit more calm right now … I think it seems possible that some peace might be restored.”
US group encounters trouble at roadblock
A youth group from Bradenton, Florida, that was scheduled to return from a missionary trip in Haiti is stranded until at least Monday, Executive Pastor Dewayne McFarlin said.
The group from Bradenton’s Woodland Community Church left Neply, Haiti, early Saturday for a 3 p.m. flight from Port-au-Prince International Airport, McFarlin said. Only a few miles into the approximately 30-mile journey, the group, which includes middle school- and high school-age children, encountered armed individuals demanding payment for access to the roadway, according to McFarlin.
They talked their way past the roadblock, but elected to turn around when they came to second group of armed individuals who had erected a blockade of burning tires on the road, McFarlin says.
A local colleague of McFarlin’s was riding on a motorcycle a few miles ahead of the missionary group’s bus. The friend called him to say that the road ahead was filled with similar impromptu “checkpoints,” McFarlin said.
“They weren’t government or police,” McFarlin says. “Just people taking advantage of the situation.”
The group returned to Neply but McFarlin said he thinks they won’t get out until Monday at the earliest.
Cancelled flights
American Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines said Saturday they have cancelled flights to Haiti.
At Miami International Airport, a group from Texas were on their way to the Caribbean country for a mission trip when they saw their plans drastically change.
“All we can do is really pray for the people there being affected, and also talk with the contacts we have and do whatever we can,” said group member Zachary Richards. “If we need to send anything, help, pray, we’ll do what we can to help them through it.”
Meanwhile, South Florida families with loved ones in Haiti are doing what they can to get them back home safely.
“I believe that they should leave early,” said Jacques. “I’m going to encourage my brother, if I can get in contact with him again, if the line goes up again, to leave early. They have to get out of there.”
American spokesman Curtis Blessing said the airline cancelled seven flights and will re-evaluate the situation Sunday.
Spirit said it will resume service as soon as possible.
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