Agence Haitïenne de Presse

When the group of 16 dismissed Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis on Saturday , it was euphoria.

These senators characterized themselves as stars, as heroes who raced to free the poor from hunger and misery. What altruism!

How far off they were from imagining that the consequences would arrive so quickly.

It was also far away from the time when the majority of the members of the group were regarded as bribe takers.... these 16 were able to extol senator Rudolph Boulos by electing him to the vice-presidency of the senate and to let him go less than two months later, although they knew for a long time already that Boulos had another nationality.

But that’s not all. The vote to censure on April 12, guided it is said, by objectives other than the high cost of living, is quickly turning into a nightmare for the country and the hunger demonstrators.

The two pronged measures - the presidency and the importers - for relieving the suffering of the vulnerable sectors, held up to justify the anti-Alexis attack, have still not materialized.

And if the violent demonstrations and plundering have ceased, quite happily, living conditions have not improved, even if they have not worsened. One even fears clashes between buyers and sellers of rice who wish to benefit from the promised fall of 15%.

Worse, a conference of funders in Port-au-Prince which was supposed to help out the fight against poverty, was put off indefinitely, a consequence of the decision of the 16, whereas, from their point of view, the departure of Alexis was supposed to take care of things for those demonstrating against the high cost of living.

Thus, these 16 have not yet gotten anything from their movement if only the head of Alexis, a senatorial gift with bitter taste.

But, the situation is likely to become more complicated: the victims of the break-ins of April 8 and those of the plundering having followed the events of February 29 2004 threaten to demand compensation.

The State’s ability to help those who have been victimized has therefore been more than destroyed.

In short, even if some people could have gained something from the immediate dividends, the demonstrations in the streets together with the damages and the vote of censure will only have poisoned an already difficult situation and compromised initiatives which were supposed to bring changes.

Could someone be thinking of trying again to do something to impose a PM? Could they think of preparing other attacks?

In any event people should count to 10 before endorsing or taking part in movements whose precise objectives they do not know and are likely to turn into a catastrophe and to endanger lives and goods.