If the deterioration of the already very precarious socio-economic situation is a breeding ground for the social mobilizations that are shaking Haiti, the PetroCaribe scandal is the catalyst. It seems important to us to offer a synthetic and popularized analysis of the causes of the current crisis. In this first paper, we focus on the Court of Auditors' audit of the PetroCaribe case.
Petrocaribe is an energy cooperation agreement, launched in June 2005 by Hugo Chavez, then Venezuelan President. The agreement, which is part of Venezuela's regional integration strategy, is concluded with some 15 countries in Central America and the Caribbean. In concrete terms, these States benefit from the delivery of oil at preferential rates, and with payment facilities (in terms of deadlines in particular).
Haiti, a signatory to this agreement, receives its first delivery in early 2008. The Development Assistance Program Management Office (DAPMO) was then created to manage the Petrocaribe Fund (it is also responsible for the implementation of two projects). It is a public institution, under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and whose Board of Directors is composed of six ministers and the Governor of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti[1].
BMPAD purchased oil from Venezuela and sold it to local Haitian companies. The profits were to be used to finance social and development projects. In June 2018, Venezuela, in view of its own difficulties, suspended the agreement with a series of countries, including Haiti[2].