Opposition groups in Haiti launched what they called “Operation Peyi Lòk” — Operation Country Locked — in March 2019, a coordinated effort to shut down the country’s economy and pressure President Moïse to resign. The operation involved roadblocks across major highways, calls for businesses to close, and demonstrations in cities and towns across the country.
The shutdown was remarkably effective in parts of the capital, with businesses shuttering, schools closing, and transport grinding to a halt in many neighborhoods. Organizers claimed the response demonstrated the depth of popular opposition to the Moïse government and the determination of Haitians to demand accountability.
The government condemned the shutdown as illegal and economically destructive, arguing that it was ordinary working people — not wealthy politicians — who suffered most from days without income. Officials pointed out that the families least able to absorb economic disruption were precisely those the opposition claimed to be advocating for.
The philosophical and practical debate over the shutdown tactic would continue throughout the year as organizers escalated and then moderated their actions in response to changing political conditions. For many Haitians caught in the middle, it was a debate conducted at the cost of their livelihoods and daily survival.