Drug cartels: Why Haitian leaders are targeted for death
Why are haitian leaders targeted for death? The facts are yet to be laid bare in the latest attempt this week, but historically, haiti, though considered the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, is said by international authorities to be the centre of an illegal but immensely rewarding trade in illicit substances which is behind political violence.
A New York Times investigation into the July 2021 murder of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse revealed that, months before his death, Moïse had begun compiling a list of powerful Haitian businessmen and political figures involved in a tangled drug trafficking network.
Moïse was assassinated on July 7, 2021 at home and First Lady Martine Moïse was shot multiple times in the attack. A group of 28 foreign mercenaries were alleged to be involved in the killing.
Just this week, on Monday night, January 3, 2022, Haitian sources disclosed that Prime Minister Ariel Henry was the target of an unsuccessful attempt on his life over the weekend by gunmen in the northern city of Gonaïves.
The day following, January 4, 2022, Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, a former member of the Colombian military, who was accused of being part of a mercenary group that tortured and killed Moïse and wounded his wife, faced court in the United States.
This followed his arrest in Jamaica, and attempted deportation back to his home country. Palacios was detained while transiting through Panama.
The frequent targeting of Haitian leaders for removal has been linked to cocaine trade.
Research sources assert that the illegal drug trade covers trans-shipment of cocaine and marijuana to the
United States, with Haiti being a major shipment route.
It is outlined that the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, places Haiti in “an ideal location” for drug smuggling between Colombia and Puerto Rico which itself is a Commonwealth of the United States.
Shipments from Puerto Rico are said to be loosely inspected by US Customs inspection and so, it is alleged, cocaine is also often smuggled directly to Miami in freighters from the location.
The estimate by US Government agencies is that 83 metric tons or about eight per cent of the cocaine entering the United States in 2006 transited either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.
Haitian security expert Michel Laguerre says Haiti became significant in cocaine trafficking in 1985.
Local police are alleged to receive pay-offs from their Haitian and Colombian partners oversight of incoming shipments.
Allegations have also emerged of drug trafficking reaching into the upper echelons of government. Leaders either participate or die, some research sources allege.
Recorded testimony from Jean Bertrand-aristide, the Roman Catholic priest who was elected and then ousted, indicated that Haiti’s drug trade was financed by Colombia’s Cali cartel. Aristide told the UN that each year “Haiti was the transit point for nearly 50 tons of cocaine worth more than a billion dollars, providing Haiti’s military rulers with $200 million in profits.”
The US Senate also heard testimony in 1988 that Haiti’s then-interior minister, General Williams Regala, and his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) liaison officer protected and supervised cocaine shipments.
The testimony also claimed that the then-haitian military commander Gen Henry Namphy with accepting bribes from Colombian traffickers in return for landing rights in the mid-1980s.
The inextricable link between the drug trade and their protectors is a puzzle that international onlookers, agencies and DEA agents from the United States will continue to try to understand and untangle.
The trade is worth billions to its participants and beneficiaries, it is claimed.
Globalsecurity.org, in its published commentary on the problem, concludes: “Reports of drug corruption are widespread and numerous. Haiti’s long history of economic and political instability has increased the attractiveness of the country as a significant transit point. Furthermore, Haiti lacks a functioning judicial system and a credible law enforcement element, making traffickers feel safe from potential arrest and prosecution.”