Whose plan was it to install new leaders in Haiti?
In the early days, at my previous site, Haiti got a fair bit of coverage. For the simple reason that Canada always played a heavy hand in the ongoing misery in that impoverished nation.
A proposal to install new leadership in Haiti appears to be crumbling as some political parties rejected the plan to create a presidential council that would manage the transition
Jean Charles Moïse, an ex-senator and presidential candidate who has teamed up with former rebel leader Guy Philippe, held a news conference Wednesday to announce his rejection of the proposed council
backed by the international community.Moïse insisted that a three-person presidential council he recently created with Philippe and a Haitian judge should be implemented.
“We are not going to negotiate it,” he said in a loud voice as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “We have to
make them understand."His ally Philippe, who helped lead a successful revolt in 2004 against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and was recently released from a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to money laundering, said
no Haitian should accept any proposal from the international community.In a video posted Tuesday on social media, Philippe accused the community of being complicit with Haiti’s elite and corrupt politicians and urged Haitians to take to the streets.
“The decision of Caricom is not our decision,” he said, referring to the regional trade bloc whose leaders presented the plan to create a transitional council. “Haitians will decide who will govern Haiti.”
Caricom and Canada– A Freshly launched strategic partnership
Launch of the Canada-CARICOM strategic partnership
Pursuant to the Co-Chairs’ Statement of the Second Meeting of the Canada-CARICOM Foreign Ministers’ Group, the Canada-
CARICOM Strategic Partnership is hereby launched by Leaders at the Canada-CARICOM Summit in Ottawa, 18 October 2023.
Other high-profile Haitian politicians declined to participate in the proposed transitional council. Among them were Himmler Rébu, former colonel of Haiti’s army and president of the Grand Rally for the Evolution of Haiti, a party that is part of a coalition awarded a spot on the transitional council.
Caribbean leaders who announced the plan for the transitional council did not respond to messages for comment.
The plan emerged late Monday following an urgent meeting involving Caribbean leaders,
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinkenand others who were searching for a solution to halt Haiti’s crisis of violence.Hours after the meeting, Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once the council was in place, saying that his government “cannot remain insensitive to this situation.”
Henry remains locked out of Haiti because gang attacks have shuttered the country’s airports. He is currently in Puerto Rico.
The gang attacks began Feb. 29, when Henry was in Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force. The deployment has been temporarily suspended.
This is a rather familiar scenario. I’ll explain in short order
Update begins- March 13/24 just before 6:00pm est
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto today to discuss the expeditious deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to provide security and stability to the Haitian people, including immediate next steps to facilitate deployment.
Notice the lack of concern for the Palestinian people in Gaza as Israel continues it’s ethnic cleansing, from Blinken and pals. Clearly different goals and agendas are at play!
Secretary Blinken and President Ruto underscored the United Nations Security Council’s stated expectation that the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti deploy as soon as possible to provide support to the Haitian National Police. Secretary Blinken updated President Ruto on commitments by the United States and other international partners to support the mission.
I’ve also added a link regarding Canada and CARICOM’s Strategic Partnership- Freshly launched in October 2023
2 replies on “Updated: Plans to Install New Leaders In Haiti Crumble”
Hi Penny,
The fate of Haiti has been a source of sorrow for me almost my whole life. I visited Port-Au-Prince, Christmas 1967, back in Medieval times when cruise ships still docked there on the colonial tour the empire vacations. I was 11 years old, Papa Doc Duvalier was still in power, we actually saw him drive by in an open top motorcade. He was tossing out pennies to the peasants from a bucket full as he drove along. It’s the worst poverty I’ve ever seen and it can only have gotten way worse.
Some times I think the colonizer countries have enslaved Haiti with decades of reparation payments and sanctions to punish the nation for the 18th Century slave revolution of Toussaint L’Overture. Some have called that the only “successful” slave revolution in history, but I find it difficult to describe anything that has happened in Haiti with the term “successful”.
And to think that at one time Haiti was the richest most profitable sugar colony in the Spanish kleptocracy. Before centuries of neglect and erosion it was a fertile land that supported a thriving local economy. Now it is a wasteland of exploitation and forgotten dreams.
Hi Mark
thanks for sharing that memory.
And some history regarding the slave revolt- I’d read about it previously.
When I think about Haiti, I think about – real estate and location, location, location.. And can’t help but consider the real possibility that Haiti is kept, intentionally down, so it can continue to be exploited by the more powerful global players.
There are times I wonder why it is Dominican Republic remains relatively unscathed while Haiti is under constant/consistent attack by outsiders?