Since the assassination of President Moïse in July 2021, the security situation in Haiti has become increasingly worse. Now the Caribbean country’s criminal gangs appear to have achieved a political goal.
Haiti’s interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, who is stuck abroad because of gang violence, has agreed to resign, according to the Caribbean community of states Caricom. A seven-member presidential council will be established for the transition to elections in Haiti, which will appoint a new interim prime minister, Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali announced after a meeting of heads of government of Caribbean states in Jamaica. Powerful criminal gangs that control large parts of Haiti and almost the entire capital Port-au-Prince had called for Henry’s resignation.
Henry took over the reins of government in Haiti as interim prime minister on July 20, 2021, around two weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Moïse had chosen him as the seventh prime minister of his term less than 36 hours before his death. However, Henry had not yet taken office before the assassination attempt.
Under the aegis of the 74-year-old neurosurgeon, elections were postponed several times due to the security situation and have not been rescheduled to this day. The poor Caribbean state, which is not even as big as Brandenburg and has around eleven million inhabitants, currently has no elected national officials – neither a president nor a parliament.
Gangs violently paralyzed large parts of the country
According to the United Nations, criminal gangs controlled around 80 percent of Port-au-Prince even before the current wave of violence began. The situation has escalated completely since the end of February and a nationwide state of emergency is now in effect. The two most powerful gangs joined forces and demanded Henry’s resignation – otherwise there would be a civil war, threatened the gang leader Jimmy Chérizier alias “Barbecue”. Bandits paralyzed large parts of Haiti with their violence: They attacked, among other things, police stations and airports, and there have been no flights to and from Haiti for more than a week. More than 4,500 prisoners were also forcibly released from prison. Diplomats from the EU and the USA as well as the German ambassador have now left Haiti.
The latest escalation of events coincided with Henry’s trip abroad to Guyana and then, on March 1, to Kenya – the East African country had agreed to lead a UN Security Council-approved security mission in Haiti. He last flew to Puerto Rico on March 5 after the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti, did not grant him permission to land. Dominican President Luis Abinader declared Henry persona non grata for security reasons.
The pressure on Henry to resign his office grew ever greater. The United States, which many Haitians and political experts say has kept Henry in power, called on him to accelerate the political transition toward elections. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the Caricom meeting in Kingston and spoke of an untenable situation for Haitians. According to Guyana’s President Ali, the Presidential Council that is now to be founded should be composed of representatives of Haitian society and politics.
