Leaders gather to address Haiti’s crisis
As violence continues to spiral, the secretary of State travels to join a summit in Jamaica.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica on Monday in an urgent push to solve Haiti’s spiraling crisis, while pressure grows on Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign or agree to a transitional council.
The closed-door meeting did not include Henry, who has been locked out of his own country after surging violence at home.
Henry remained in Puerto Rico and was taking steps to return to Haiti once feasible, according to a brief statement from the U.S. territory’s Department of State.
The meeting was organized by members of a regional trade bloc known as Caricom, which for months has pressed for a transitional government in Haiti as protests demanded Henry’s resignation.
“The international community must work together with Haitians towards a peaceful political transition,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Nichols was to attend the meeting.
Concerns remain that a long-sought solution will remain elusive. Caricom said in a statement on Friday announcing
the urgent meeting in Jamaica that while “we are making considerable progress, the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.”
Mia Mottley, Barbados’ prime minister, said that up to 90% of proposals that Haitian stakeholders have “put on the table” are similar. These include an “urgent need” to create a presidential council to help identify a new prime minister to establish a government.
Her comments were briefly streamed by Caricom, in what appeared to have been a mistake, and then were abruptly cut off.
Attacks by powerful gangs on key government targets began Feb. 29 across Haiti’s capital of Port-auPrince. Gunmen have burned police stations, closed the main international airports and raided the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores of people have been killed, and more than 15,000 people are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling as stands and stores selling to impoverished Haitians run out of goods. The main port in Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.
Henry landed in Puerto Rico last week after being denied entry into the Dominican
Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
When the attacks began, Henry was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country that has been delayed by a court ruling.
A growing number of people have been demanding Henry’s resignation. He has not made any public comment since the attacks began.