Members of the G-9 gang federation and allies have restricted access to Varreux since September 12, where 70 percent of Haiti’s fuel is stored.

They built trenches near the depot, set up smoldering barricades, kept the area heavily guarded, and even challenged the Government to regain control.

All this occurred in the face of a resurgence of cholera, in which 18 people have died in health institutions, nine in prisons, and seven in the communities. At least one child sucumbed to the disease.

The trigger this time was the government’s announcement of rising fuel prices that doubled the cost of gasoline and increased diesel prices by 89 percent.

The protests, which until then criticized fuel shortages, inflation, increases in the basic food basket, and state management, worsened, and tens of thousands of people took to the streets to express their discontent with scenes of looting and violence.

Several organizations, including the United Nations, called to provide a humanitarian corridor to allow the distribution of the hydrocarbons that supply 86 percent of the country’s electricity.

mh/iff/oda/ane