The PetroCaribe corruption scandal has been at the center of Haiti’s political crisis, but many outside observers remain unfamiliar with its details. Here is what you need to know about the program and the allegations that have brought hundreds of thousands of Haitians into the streets.
PetroCaribe was an energy cooperation agreement launched by Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez in 2005, designed to allow Caribbean and Central American nations to purchase Venezuelan oil at below-market prices, with payment deferred over time. Haiti joined the program and, over the following years, received hundreds of millions of dollars in financing that was supposed to be directed toward development projects: roads, schools, hospitals, and social programs.
A 2017 report by the Haitian Senate’s court of auditors alleged that approximately two billion dollars in PetroCaribe funds had been misused or embezzled. The report named dozens of current and former government officials and private sector figures as implicated in the misuse of funds. Projects were found to have been awarded without competitive bidding, overpaid, or never completed despite full disbursement of funds.
A firm connected to President Jovenel Moïse was listed among those that received funds for a road project that lacked a proper signed contract. Moïse denied personal wrongdoing, but the allegations became the cornerstone of the opposition’s demand for his resignation and a full independent judicial investigation.