News : Zapping…

On November 8, 2026, a series of concurrent developments spanning public security, the upcoming national presidential electoral process, diplomatic operations, and public administration unfolded across Haiti, as documented by local Haitian news outlet HaitiLibre.
First, the United States Embassy stationed in Port-au-Prince issued an urgent public safety advisory for all U.S. nationals present in the country on Saturday, November 7, 2026. The notice confirmed that active security operations were being carried out in the Tabarre neighborhood, the district surrounding the embassy compound, with multiple reports of intense heavy gunfire circulating in the local area. Embassy officials explicitly urged all U.S. citizens to completely avoid the Tabarre sector until further notice to eliminate the risk of harm from ongoing clashes.
In parallel, Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) formally published the full, verified roster of 23 approved presidential candidates eligible to run in the upcoming national election. The diverse slate of contenders represents a wide spectrum of registered political parties and movements, including Marc Arthur Drouillard of the MRN party, Walsonn Sanon of ANFOS POU SOVE LONE, former Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph under the EDE party banner, and former interim President Jocelerme Privert running under the AYITI TRANSFOME platform, alongside 19 other confirmed aspirants. The CEP also published a downloadable public document listing all 105 fully vetted and approved formal political entities participating in the electoral cycle, accessible via the official HaitiLibre public records portal. The electoral body additionally issued a critical deadline reminder to all participating political parties, cross-party coalitions, and independent electoral hopefuls: the mandatory window to submit verified documentation proving registration of 30,000 party members and supporters would close sharply at midnight on Sunday, November 8, 2026, per the revised official electoral calendar first released by the CEP on October 28, 2026, which is also available for public download. One notable development tied to electoral eligibility saw Jean Ernest Muscadin, a high-profile anti-gang prosecutor widely known to local communities as “the gang hunter”, formally step down from his post as acting Government Commissioner at the Miragoâne Court of First Instance’s Public Prosecutor’s Office on November 6, 2026. Minister of Justice and Public Security Patrick Pélissier officially confirmed receipt of Muscadin’s resignation letter, a procedural requirement mandated under Haiti’s electoral decree for all public sector officials seeking to run for presidential office. Muscadin is set to appear on the ballot as the standard-bearer for the Fòs Chanjman Nasyonal (FCN) political party.
A minor incident at another diplomatic facility also made local headlines over the weekend: overnight on November 7, 2026, a small fire ignited in a technical utility room located near the main entrance of the French Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Local fire response teams arrived on site rapidly and fully contained the blaze before it could spread to other sections of the embassy compound. Embassy officials confirmed there were zero injuries or casualties resulting from the incident, and released a public statement extending their gratitude to the responding Haitian firefighters, as well as to all local and international well-wishers who sent messages of support in the wake of the fire.
Finally, Haiti’s General Directorate of Taxes (DGI) released a key administrative clarification for all national income taxpayers. The agency confirmed that the mandatory annual income tax return filing period for the 2025-2026 fiscal year will run from October 1, 2026, through January 31, 2027. In a widely anticipated clarification to eliminate public confusion, DGI officials stated that the pre-existing income tax scale, which was in place prior to the passage of the recently drafted new national Tax Code, will remain fully applicable to all income earned during the 2025-2026 fiscal period, in strict adherence to the longstanding legal principle that new tax laws cannot be applied retroactively to prior earnings periods.