Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry said early Tuesday that he would bow to international pressure to try to save a country overwhelmed by gangs that some experts say have sparked a mini-civil war, as soon as a transitional presidential council is established. announced that he would resign.
Henry was Haiti’s longest-serving prime minister since the ratification of the country’s constitution in 1987, a remarkable feat in a politically volatile country with constant changes in prime ministers.
Henry made the announcement hours after Caribbean leaders and officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met in Jamaica to urgently discuss solutions to halt Haiti’s worsening crisis. Ta.
Henry is unable to enter Haiti because the country’s main international airport has been closed due to violence.
He had arrived in Puerto Rico a week earlier after being barred from landing in the Dominican Republic, but officials said he lacked the necessary flight plan.
Dominican authorities also closed their airspace to flights to and from Haiti.
It was not immediately clear who exactly would lead Haiti out of the crisis, where heavily armed gangs have burned down police stations, attacked the main airport and stormed two of the country’s biggest prisons.
As a result of the raid, more than 4,000 prisoners were released.
The violent attack left scores of people dead and more than 15,000 Haitians homeless as they fled their neighborhoods after being shot.
