By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian President Rene Prevaltold demonstrators to "cool it" on Wednesday as he sought toend days of angry and violent protests over soaring food pricesin the impoverished Caribbean nation.
"To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stopbecause it is not going to solve the problem," Preval said in anational television and radio address.
"Poze," said Preval, telling protesters in Creole to "coolit" in a recorded message from the ornate National Palace,protected by barbed wire and U.N. peacekeeping troops backed bytrucks and armoured personnel carriers.
Preval's much anticipated address, in which he spoke ofpossible subsidies to increase domestic production of stapleslike rice and other foodstuffs, came a day after demonstratorsparalyzed the capital and tried to break though the palacegates to demand government action over the cost of food.
At least five people have been killed during a week ofviolent demonstrations in the poorest country in the Americas,where 80 percent of the population makes do on less than $2 aday and few have full-time jobs.
A combination of high oil and fuel prices, rising demandfor food in wealthier Asia, the use of farmland and crops forbiofuels, bad weather and speculation on futures markets havepushed up food prices worldwide, prompting violent protests ina handful of poor countries.
Small groups of protesters returned to the streets ofPort-au-Prince on Wednesday to rebuild barricades taken down bypolice overnight and columns of thick black smoke rose fromparts of the sprawling city as demonstrators set fire onceagain to piles of tires.
Scores of people crowded around television sets waiting forhours for Preval to speak.
There were sporadic reports of looting in some areas andmany roads were impassable due to the unrest.
"You haven't seen nothing yet," Jeanti Mathieu, a22-year-old with dreadlocks, said as he helped erect a streetbarricade made of wrecked cars, concrete blocks and debris.
NATIONAL PRODUCTION
"We are waiting for the government to tell us what it isgoing to do. Otherwise you can expect the worst," he said,speaking shortly before Preval's address.
Despite such threats, the Haitian leader said hiscash-strapped government could ill-afford to bow to demandsthat it lift all taxes on food imports. He said money was toosorely needed for road building and other projects.
The government earlier announced a multimillion-dollarpackage of investments in agriculture and infrastructure tocreate jobs and boost food production.
"Instead of subsidizing the price of food products comingfrom abroad, we'd rather subsidize national production," Prevalsaid. "I propose that the price of fertilizer be subsidized by50 percent and even more," he said.
"It's not with violence and with easy economic decisionsthat we will solve the problem of the high cost of living. Itis by supporting national production," he added.
He said public sector workers with salaries of about $800per month would be asked to forego 10 percent of their wages,to free up money for other uses, but stressed that Haiti had nocontrol over global food prices.
Haitians say prices of rice, corn, beans, cooking oil andother staples are skyrocketing. The cost of rice and some othercommodities has virtually doubled in six months, while energycosts have also soared because of record oil prices.
U.N. peacekeepers, deployed to Haiti after former PresidentJean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004 in an armed revolt,fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators on Tuesdayto prevent them from overrunning the presidential palace.
Preval's election in 2006 raised hopes that Haiti mightfinally tread a path toward stability after decades of violenceand turmoil in this nation of 9 million people, who share theisland of Hispaniola with the wealthier Dominican Republic.
(Writing by Tom Brown; editing by Michael Christie and ToddEastham)
(For more stories on global food price rises, please seehttp://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/agflation)
