Blinken will attend an urgent meeting with Caribbean leaders as Haiti’s violent crisis grows
KINGSTON, Jamaica — As the pressure on Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down or accept a transitional council mounts, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica on Monday as part of an urgent effort to resolve the country’s mounting crisis.
It was unclear if Henry, who was expelled from his own nation due to an increase in violence, would go to the private meeting. Members of the Caricom regional trade organization, which has been pushing for a transitional administration in Haiti for months as demonstrations called for Henry’s resignation, organized it.
According to U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, “the international community must work together with Haitians towards a peaceful political transition” on X, the former Twitter platform. Nichols is going to the conference.
However, there are still worries that the long-needed fix might not materialize. In a statement released on Friday, Caricom stated that although “we are making considerable progress, the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be,” the urgent conference in Jamaica was necessary.
On February 29, strong gangs in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, started attacking important government objectives. In addition to closing the major international airports and setting fire to police stations, gunmen have attacked the two largest jails in the nation, freeing almost 4,000 prisoners.
Numerous fatalities have occurred, and over 15,000 individuals are without a place to live after gang raids on their areas. Food and water supplies are running low at booths and stores catering to the poor people of Haiti. Dozens of containers carrying essential supplies are stranded in Port-au-Prince due to the closure of the main port.
After being refused admission into the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, Henry arrived in Puerto Rico last week.
Henry was in Kenya at the time of the attacks advocating for the United Nations-backed deployment of a police force from the East African nation, which has been postponed due to a court decision.
The number of people calling for Henry’s resignation is rising. He hasn’t spoken anything in public since the attacks started.
The U.N. Security Council declared on Monday that it expected a multinational force to deploy as soon as possible to assist put an end to the bloodshed and urged Haiti’s gangs “to immediately cease their destabilizing actions,” including sexual abuse and the recruitment of minors. It called on the world community to back the deployment of the Haitian National Police in order to support the force.
Concerned about the lack of political advancement, council members urged all political players to permit free and fair elections for the presidency and legislature.
Among the U.N. representatives present at the meeting on Monday are Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča, who oversees the Americas in the U.N. political office, Chief of Staff Courtenay Rattray, and Undersecretary-General Atul Khare, who oversees U.N. logistics.
According to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, the multinational force has to be deployed immediately and given sufficient funding.
Officials in Kenya are requesting around $230 million, while financing is now at $10.8 million.