Iran war
Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit the hardest by rising oil prices that experts warn will deepen a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran has caused oil prices in the Caribbean nation to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals.
On April 2, Haiti’s government announced a 37% increase in the cost of diesel and a 29% increase in the cost of gasoline. With higher oil prices came a hike in the prices of essential food products.
Market vendor Mirline Chery said she is paying $2 more for the rice she buys to resell, and that she had to increase the price of a package of spaghetti by $3, but it is still not making enough of a profit.
Chery added that people are just eating less, “you wait at night to eat a light dinner, there’s no way we can eat three times a day anymore.”
With more needs and fewer resources, the families already spending most of their income on food will face impossible trade-offs.
According to the World Food Programme, almost half of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants already face high levels of acute food insecurity.
“The price of gas is making everything worse. I’m in misery. I can’t get enough to eat. There are no customers to sell to because people don’t come to buy,” said Manoucheka Jean Louis as she sat by her stall in the market waiting for customers.
Nearly 40% of Haitians are surviving on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.
Meanwhile, Haiti’s economy contracted for the seventh consecutive year, with inflation reaching 32% at the end of fiscal year 2025.
On April 6, Haitians dragged burning tires and other debris to block streets and protest the increase in fuel prices in Port-au-Prince, of which an estimated 90% is controlled by gangs.
Again this week, a smaller protest broke out in the same neighborhood, and police had to bring it under control with smoke guns and tear gas.
Taxi driver, Lucner Saint Louis said passengers are increasingly bartering fares, but he can’t afford to offer discounts. “People are unemployed or their wages are not increasing. We need to make the state do something for the population,” Saint Louis added as the country’s poverty and hunger deepen.
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