Haiti gangs nix solutions to end the deadly violence

Barkley contract with Philly a win after Giants turned back on him

Officials behind an international diplomatic effort to quell deadly, widespread gang violence in Haiti learned that the brutal street gangs causing havoc also possess diplomatic clout. Hopes were high after Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced last week that he would resign once a transitional presidential council was created, the Associated Press reported. The gangs and their allies sought Henry’s removal.

In Jamaica last week, an emergency gathering of regional heavyweights from CARICOM — the Caribbean Community of nations, backed up by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — met to create parameters for a transitional council to restore a Haitian government. But the council plans were rejected by the gang leaders, former Haiti politicians, and proposed participants.

In Jamaica, CARICOM chair and Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali last week optimistically called for “quick and decisive action to bring the situation under control and to return the country to the Haitian people,” asking all stakeholders to “give a little” to reach a compromise, reported CARICOM.

Among them is Jean Charles Moïse, an ex-senator and presidential candidate who has teamed up with former rebel leader Guy Philippe, according to AP. They rejected the proposed council backed by the international community.

“The decision of CARICOM is not our decision,” Philippe said in a press conference last week. “Haitians will decide who will govern Haiti.”

Philippe, who helped lead a successful revolt in 2004 against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was recently released from a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to money laundering. Moïse said Haitians should not accept any proposal from the international community and is calling for a three-person presidential council he recently created to be implemented.

Aiding UWI students

Helping to smooth students’ paths through higher education, the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) will be hosting its annual awards gala on April 18 in Manhattan at 583 Park Ave.

Under the theme “The Legacy Continues,” the black-tie affair will recognize prominent individuals, including Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

Operating for more than a decade, AFUWI has provided 500 tuition scholarships to students across the Caribbean. With an enrollment of close to 50,000 students, UWI has regional campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and an open campus producing graduates in a wide range of fields. UWI has also fostered international partnerships, such as the State University of New YorkUWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development.

For more, visit uwi.edu. To learn about the gala, contact Marsha Wallace at 212759-9345 and send email to mwallace@ afuwi.org.

GroceryList

The GroceryList Jamaica business model — taking online orders from island residents and promising “same-day grocery delivery or pickup from local stores — is paying off. After a little more than a year in business, the firm has reached record sales revenue serving the island nation’s 14 parishes and serving diaspora shoppers in Florida.

GroceryList — cofounded by COO Jermain Morgan and CEO Rory Richards — is also popular with online shoppers in the U.K., France, Canada, Cayman, Bahamas, Antigua, and other countries, according to its website, grocerylistjamaica.com

Full disclosure: I root for the team whose 40-year-old fragile quarterback is a know-itall who hates vaccines, spins conspiracy theories and may be delusional enough to think that this time next year he could be vice president of the United States.

That means I might not be the expert on matters involving the New York Giants.

Still, I’m left with the question: What’s up with all the Saquon Barkley hate?

Last week, the popular Giants running back, who had professed his love for the team and his desire to retire as a Giant when his career ends, signed a free agent contract with the hated Philadelphia Eagles.

Then all hell broke loose. Barkley, 27 (photo), was quickly branded a turncoat, and derided morning and night on sports radio. He was deemed a public enemy, and one local talk show host dramatically said Barkley was “dead to me.”

Even the newspaper where I work had a front-page headline that called Barkley a “traitor.” A traitor?

The Barkley critics have taken too many blows to the head. It was the Giants who turned their backs on him.

Barkley, the face of the Giants for six years, was everything a team would want in a player.

He was talented, hardworking, upstanding and unselfish.

In 2022, after a stellar season in which Barkley totaled 1,650 yards from scrimmage, the team used its franchise tag on him instead of rewarding him with a better contract or letting him seek a better payday somewhere else.

Meanwhile, the team signed middle-of-the-pack quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million extension.

Barkley decided to end a brief holdout and play under a lousy contract, and do what was best for the team and his family.

“After having conversations and really breaking it down, the only way that I’m going to make a change or do something that’s going to benefit myself and my family is doing what I do best,” Barkley said at the time. “That’s showing up, playing the game I love, and do it at a high level.”

That Barkley was much more cordial than the Barkley who took the bait and responded to searing criticism about signing with the Eagles.

After WFAN radio host and former Giants running back Tiki Barber made the “dead to me” comment, Barkley went after him like he was a linebacker trying to blitz his quarterback.

“You been a hater since I got to New York,” Barkley posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Don’t smile in my face when you see me.”

According to reports, Barkley, who was looking for a long-term deal with guaranteed money — as is every player in the NFL — signed with Philadelphia a three-year, $37.5 million contract with incentives that could make the deal ultimately worth $46.75 million.

Reports said $26 million is guaranteed.

There are two knocks against Barkley that he can’t shake: He got injured a lot, and he wasn’t a quarterback.

He was taken second in the 2018 draft by a team that desperately needed a quarterback. Fans and the media seemed to hold that against him the entire time he was here.

Barkley’s contract is the equivalent of a touchdown in a league that has placed less value on the running back position.

It’s clear the Giants never intended to pay him what he thought he was worth. And that’s fine.

It’s a business.

But let’s not hate on Barkley for doing with his contract what he wasn’t able to do much with the Giants.

Win.