Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced on Monday night that he would resign “immediately” following the establishment of a “presidential transitional council” aimed at taking steps toward holding presidential elections.
Mr Henry’s announcement follows the near complete collapse of the country’s political infrastructure this week after he visited Kenya seeking law enforcement assistance to quell the increasingly powerful gangs overrunning the country. It was announced. While Henry was out of the country, an armed militia led by Jimmy “Barbeque” Sheridier was formed. G9 family A group of gangsters plan a large-scale jailbreak. Surrounded Port-au-Prince airport made it impossible for the prime minister to return home. Chéridier has long called for the ouster of Haiti’s entire political class and last week threatened to plunge the country into “genocide” if Henry did not resign.
Haiti’s current wave of turmoil began with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot in the presidential palace in 2021. Moïse had appointed Henry Prime Minister just days before Henry was assassinated. The country has not had a president since then. Henry has been trying to organize the United Nations for months. phone A “multinational security assistance” mission to Haiti, given that Henry’s legitimacy as the country’s leader is questionable and the public’s desire to deploy foreign police on Haitian soil is minimal. As a result, external parties are hesitant to participate.
“For more than a week, our country has seen an increase in acts of violence against our citizens.According to Haitian newspapers, in a message published late Monday, Mr. Henry said, “Assassinations, attacks on law enforcement, organized Looting and destruction of public and private buildings.” le nouvelleist. “The government I lead cannot remain indifferent to this situation. As I have always said, no sacrifice is too great for our country, Haiti.”
“The government I lead will leave immediately after the establishment of the Presidential Transitional Council,” he promised.
“The government I lead will leave the council as soon as it is installed. We will continue to settle current events until a prime minister and government are appointed,” Henry added, calling on Haitian civilians to “remain calm”. .
The “Presidential Transition Council” is a product of the emergency situation. meeting On Monday, a meeting of member states of the regional organization Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Jamaica, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also in attendance.
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“We support the plan to create a broad, comprehensive and independent presidential university,” Blinken said. Said It added that the council must “take concrete steps to meet the immediate needs of the Haitian people” and “enable the rapid deployment of multinational security assistance missions.” The council also said it would “create security conditions that will help hold free and fair elections, allow humanitarian assistance to reach those in need, and put Haiti back on the path to economic opportunity and growth.” ” concluded. ”
Blinken also announced that the Pentagon will “double authorized support for this mission from $100 million to $200 million, bringing total U.S. support to this effort to $300 million.” .
That money would likely go to Henry’s replacement as leader of the council.according to le nouvelleistthe council is made up of seven people, all representing the remnants of Haiti’s most powerful political party.
“The religious sector and civil society organizations are asked to submit one representative each to the Presidential Council in an advisory capacity or as an observer,” the paper added.
It remains unclear when the council will take power and when Mr Henry will formally resign, but political parties invited to appoint members have 24 hours to submit their candidates to the council as of Monday. There is a need.
Jimmy Chéridier, a former elite police officer known as Barbeque who now runs a gang federation, holds a press conference on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in the Delmas 6 neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Oderin Joseph/Associated Press)
Cheridier, considered the most powerful man left in the country, told ABC News on Monday. promised He said that if Henry resigned, his gang would “call for a truce” and his fighters would “automatically stop attacking police stations”, but that a war against the state would require all political elites to I made it clear that it would continue until he was satisfied that he had been eliminated.
“The first step is to overthrow Ariel Henry, and then we will begin a real fight against the current system, a system of corrupt oligarchy and corrupt traditional politicians,” he explained. It is reported that he did. “We’re not only fighting Ariel Henry, we’re also fighting all of his accomplices of some sort.”
Mr Chéridier also accused the international press of supporting the “assassination”. [his] character. “
“My message to the international community, especially the United States, which has a long-standing relationship with the Haitian people, is that we cannot continue to treat the Haitian people that way,” he asserted.
Chéridier also hinted at presidential ambitions, telling ABC News, “It’s not for me to decide whether I want to be president or not.” It is up to the Haitian people to decide who should become president and lead the country.Personally, I consider myself a servant. [of the country]”
Chéridier issued a public statement on Monday declaring a “bloody revolution” and warning hotel owners not to harbor politicians.
“We are not in a peaceful revolution. We are having a bloody revolution in this country because this system is an apartheid system, an evil system,” said Chéridier. SaidAccording to a Reuters translation.
“We are taking this opportunity to send a clear message to all hotel owners in the country who are happy to hide politicians in Montana, Caribe, and in their hotels. “We are going to corner them step by step, including the hotels where they are,” he said. warned.
The past two weeks of domestic unrest has reportedly forced as many as 15,000 people to flee the capital, leaving them homeless and overwhelmed in displaced persons camps on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
