Haiti’s security crisis is reaching a breaking point. An alliance of armed gangs is pushing the country’s prime minister to resign, placing the United States in the middle of a power struggle to take over the country. Aiming to ease the standoff, the Biden administration is increasing pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Henry to allow a transfer of power.
The United States did not actively “invite or pressure him to resign,” said Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman. But, he added, “we are urging him to accelerate the transition to a stronger and more inclusive governance structure.”
The impasse signals a major inflection point in Haiti, which has been plagued by near-perpetual crises in recent years, as tempers flare in the country of 11.5 million over widespread unrest, food shortages and lack of progress on the path to democracy. elections and restore a sense of security.
The standoff emerged after Henry, who has been supported by the United States since becoming Haiti’s de facto leader following the president’s assassination in 2021 Jovenel Moïsefailed to return to Haiti on Tuesday due to doubts about the safety of landing at the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince, which has been targeted by gang attacks in recent days.
Mr. Henry, after instead landing in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, has made no public statement about his whereabouts or his plans to return to Haiti. Meanwhile, as scenes of looting and disorder leave many people in Port-au-Prince on edge, gang leaders have rushed to fill the power vacuum.
“If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’re going straight towards a civil war,” said Jimmy Chérizier, a major gang leader and former police officer known more widely as Barbecue. said journalists in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.
Mr. Chérizier and other gang leaders rampaged around Port-au-Prince last week, clashing with police and attacking the airport, bank offices, government buildings and prisons, including the country’s largest penitentiary. country, allowing thousands of prisoners to escape.
While several gangs appear to be behind the latest wave of unrest, security experts warn that any gang alliance tends to be fluid and subject to change. It is unclear whether gang leaders are pushing for a specific role in governing the country.
Gunshots were heard early Wednesday morning in several parts of Port-au-Prince, despite a curfew aimed at keeping people off the streets outside of normal business hours. At least one court building was partially burned Wednesday and the airport remained closed.
The deteriorating security situation is limiting the choices available to the United States, which has traditionally had enormous influence in Haitian politics. The Biden administration has made clear that there are no plans to send American soldiers to Haiti to maintain order.
“What we have asked the Haitian prime minister to do is to advance a political process that leads to the establishment of a transitional presidential council that will lead to elections,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. she told reporters Wednesday. “And we think it’s urgent – that it’s urgent that he moves forward in that direction and starts the process of getting the people of Haiti back to normal.”
While members of Haiti’s opposition have criticized the Biden administration for continuing to support Henry, U.S. officials and analysts have said the prime minister is the only leader with some legitimacy.
“Henry is there to get us through the election,” said Keith Mines, vice president of the Latin America program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “He IS in the position for a reason, not because he is particularly popular, but because he has a thread of constitutionality that no one else has.”
A US government official said Caricom, a union of 15 Caribbean countries, had been at the forefront of calls for the Haitian prime minister’s immediate resignation.
Speaking on the topic to discuss sensitive issues, the official added that the United States has no other Haitian partner who could serve as an alternative to Henry, and said that calling for the prime minister’s immediate resignation would only create more chaos in a country already on the brink of collapse.
“Now they’re stuck with something even more unpleasant, with no way out, no alternative to the crisis,” said Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia, referring to the Biden administration’s options regarding Haiti. “The gangs now have an overwhelming superiority.”
Gang violence is worsening Haiti’s already acute humanitarian crisis. About 15,000 people have been forced from their homes in recent days by the escalating violence, including many who were already displaced, said Martin Griffiths, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator. About 313,000 people in Haiti are currently displaced, the UN said.
Widespread hunger is another pressing concern, with around 1.4 million people in the country currently facing emergency levels of hunger. second to the World Food Programme.
Overall, “almost half the population needs humanitarian aid,” She said Mr. Griffiths, who is also the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. “The crisis in Haiti is deteriorating at an alarming rate.”
Another wild card in the crisis is Guy Philippe, a former police commander who rose to international fame when he helped lead a 2004 coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Although Philippe has enjoyed hero support in some parts of Haiti, he was arrested and taken into US custody in 2017.
He was sentenced to nine years in prison for money laundering. After serving part of his sentence, the United States released and deported Mr. Philippe to Haiti in November, a move that experts liked to pour gasoline on a bonfire.
Mr. Philippe immediately got to work traveling the country trying to drum up support for what he called a “revolution.” He allied himself with a rogue environmental group called the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas (or B-SAP) and criticized Mr. Henry, who he accused of taking part in Mr. Moïse’s assassination and of conspiring with gangs.
On Wednesday, Philippe told the New York Times that he was eager to help Haiti establish security and the rule of law. “I am ready to join any council or team that truly wants to work for the well-being of the Haitian people,” he said.
The growing sense of chaos in Haiti is also raising questions about Kenya’s plan to conduct a security mission in Haiti, which the Biden administration has been pushing for over the past year. Mr Henry flew to Nairobi last week and on Friday he signed the agreement with the Kenyan authorities.
Under the plan, Kenya would provide at least 1,000 police officers for the mission, which the United States had pledged to support with $200 million and Canada with nearly $60 million. Other countries, including Benin, Chad, Bangladesh and Barbados, have also committed to sending personnel as part of the mission.
“The agreement was signed by someone without legitimacy,” said Monique Clesca, a Haitian democracy activist and former United Nations official, stressing that Haiti’s currently non-functioning parliament, and perhaps its future leader, would have to approve the ‘agreement for the mission to move forward.
However, others in Haiti say Kenya’s plan is still on the table. “It’s a fait accompli,” said Claude Joseph, a former prime minister and leader of one of the political parties in discussions to replace Mr. Henry. “We have to move forward with the plan. We need it, as soon as possible. We need a strong police force with international support.”
Michael Crowley, Natalie Kitroeff, David C. Adams, André Paultre AND Francesca Robles contributed to the reporting.
