Cap-Haïtien: motorcycle taxi drivers demand the municipal council's departure

Several motorcycle taxi drivers demonstrated in Cap-Haïtien on Saturday, 17 October, to demand the departure of the city's municipal council. They were protesting a 1,000-gourde contribution that city hall is asking them to pay, which it says is meant to regulate motorcycle traffic in the city, Marche Longue Media reports.

Footage released by the outlet shows hundreds of motorcyclists riding through the streets of Haiti's second city.

The drivers' anger at city hall is not new. In July, Satellite509 reported that drivers whose motorcycles had been seized had to pay 20,000 gourdes to get them back, according to a city hall authorisation dated 20 July 2026 that the outlet reviewed. Several of them were already calling for the departure of the mayor, Michel Saint-Croix, and asking where the money collected was going.

For many young people in Cap-Haïtien, the motorcycle taxi is their only source of income. City hall had not publicly responded to the protesters' demands at the time of publication. NAGO will publish its response if it gives one.