By: Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis.com

On May 17th a few thousand supporters of Fanmi Lavalas and the National Popular Party marched through the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The marchers appeared united in calling for the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the country, the departure of foreign soldiers, and over condemnation of the mass layoffs that took place in the civil sector workforce during the interim government of Alexandre Boniface and Gerald Latortue.

Following the overthrow of Aristide's elected government in 2004, a neoliberal economic framework with backing from international financial institutions was put into effect by the interim government. Haiti maintains one of the lowest rates of public sector employment in the developing world.

A fourth plank of the march was to call for the freedom of political prisoners. Some human rights investigators report that nearly a hundred political prisoners, such as René Civil, remain in jail. However, last month the New York consul of the Haitian government claimed that there are "no political prisoners" in Haiti. Under the Perval government a number of those jailed by the interim authorities (and described as political prisoners) have been releaesd from jail.