https://sputnikglobe.com/20240310/blinken-reportedly-presses-henry-to-step-down-amid-haiti-turmoil--1117234757.html
Blinken Reportedly Presses Henry to Step Down Amid Haiti Turmoil
Blinken Reportedly Presses Henry to Step Down Amid Haiti Turmoil
Sputnik International
Just 700 miles from Florida, Haiti has fallen under a wave of violence as gangs and others urge Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down.
2024-03-10T03:40+0000
2024-03-10T03:40+0000
2024-03-10T03:40+0000
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Just 700 miles from Florida, Haiti has fallen under a wave of violence as gangs and others urge Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also reportedly pressed Henry to announce his resignation and a political transition in a series of “tense” phone calls on Thursday.This comes a day after State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied that the US had urged Henry to step down. The prime minister is a 74-year-old unelected physician who was sworn in July 2021 less than two weeks after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated.“We are not calling on him or pushing him to resign,” Miller told reporters on Wednesday. “But we are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and an inclusive governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections.”Thomas Shannon, a former undersecretary of state who was involved in the removal of two previous Haitian leaders, said the US' back-and-forth and lack of certainty over who would replace Henry is fueling the crisis.“It’s really up to the United States and CARICOM to really identify who’s got to run that place and then give them the resources to run it and the political muscle to run it,” said Shannon. The US is now considering deploying a Marine security team to Haiti amid the deteriorating security situation there, defense officials have said. The Marines would be deployed at the request of the State Department, the defense official added.The surge in violence first began last weekend after Henry left for a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states in Guyana. He then flew to Kenya for talks on deploying the east African nation's police to Haiti to curb gang violence — despite a high court ruling in Nairobi that the deployment would be unconstitutional.On February 29 when Jimmy Cherizier, an ex-police officer turned gang leader commonly known as "Barbecue" who leads a syndicate of gangs, vowed to stop Henry returning to Haiti. The government then announced a three-day state of emergency with a night-time curfew on Sunday after the gangs stormed two major prisons and freed 3,800 inmates.Henry has been unable to return to Haiti since the violence began. He was returning home on Tuesday when the Dominican Republican, with which Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, denied his plane permission to land. It was reported that he then headed for Puerto Rico, a US territory.Haiti’s new surge of unrest has caused a dramatic increase in the country’s humanitarian needs, displacing thousands, leaving many without shelter and without access to food and medical services, The New Humanitarian announced.But Haiti’s problems can be traced back to colonial times, when the nation became the world’s first Black republic in 1804 and was forced to pay billions to France in order to secure its freedom. The debt crippled the nation economically, and subsequent political problems and natural disasters have contributed to its turmoil.
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Blinken Reportedly Presses Henry to Step Down Amid Haiti Turmoil
Critics of the prime minister say he has no legitimate right to his position and have accused the US and its allies of trying to sustain a corrupt elite. The new surge of unrest is reported to have caused a dramatic increase in the country’s humanitarian needs, and has displaced thousands.
Just 700 miles from Florida, Haiti has fallen under a wave of violence as gangs and others urge Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also reportedly pressed Henry to announce his resignation and a political transition in a series of “tense” phone calls on
Thursday.
This comes a day after State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied that the US had urged Henry to step down. The prime minister is a 74-year-old unelected physician who was sworn in July 2021 less than two weeks after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated.
“We are not calling on him or pushing him to resign,” Miller told
reporters on Wednesday. “But we are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and an inclusive governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections.”
“For more than a year, the United States has encouraged Prime Minister Henry and other key stakeholders in Haiti to reach a compromise that will end the ongoing political stalemate,” Miller said in a statement. “In the past week, the political crisis in Haiti, combined with escalating violence and civil unrest, has created an untenable situation which threatens the country’s citizens and security.”
Thomas Shannon, a former undersecretary of state who was involved in the removal of two previous Haitian leaders, said the US' back-and-forth and lack of certainty over who would replace Henry is fueling the crisis.
“It’s really up to the United States and CARICOM to really identify who’s got to run that place and then give them the resources to run it and the political muscle to run it,” said Shannon.
“But what they’ve done so far is they’ve kind of left Henry to float, do what he can to manage his relationship with other parts of the state, like the police, and there’s been no real willingness to back him. The unwillingness of the United States to participate in any direct peacekeeping operation is just shameful.”
The US is now considering deploying a
Marine security team to Haiti amid the deteriorating security situation there, defense officials have said. The Marines would be deployed at the request of the State Department, the defense official added.
“Deploying a FAST platoon is one option at the DoD’s disposal should the DoS request assistance with security at the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince,” Maj. Mason Englehart, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces South, wrote on Friday.
17 February 2023, 13:28 GMT
The surge in violence first began last weekend after Henry left for a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states in Guyana. He then flew to Kenya for talks on deploying the east African nation's police to Haiti to curb gang violence — despite a high court ruling in Nairobi that the deployment would be unconstitutional.
On February 29 when Jimmy Cherizier, an ex-police officer turned gang leader commonly known as "Barbecue" who leads a syndicate of gangs, vowed to stop Henry returning to Haiti. The government then announced a three-day state of emergency with a night-time curfew on Sunday after the gangs stormed two major prisons and freed 3,800 inmates.
Henry has been unable to return to Haiti since the violence began. He was returning home on Tuesday when the Dominican Republican, with which Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, denied his plane permission to land. It was reported that he then headed for Puerto Rico, a US territory.
Haiti’s new surge of unrest has caused a dramatic increase in the country’s humanitarian needs, displacing thousands, leaving many without shelter and without access to food and medical services, The New Humanitarian announced.
But Haiti’s problems can be traced back to colonial times, when the nation became the world’s first Black republic in 1804 and was forced to pay billions to France in order to secure its freedom. The debt crippled the nation economically, and subsequent political problems and natural disasters have contributed to its turmoil. 
