Caricom says its focus isn’t boots on the ground in Haiti, but bolstering police force

NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS

The deployment of foreign troops to help Haiti address its ongoing gang violence is not currently the focus of the Caribbean Community, the chairman of the 15-member regional grouping said Friday.

“The path to bringing peace and stability to Haiti at the moment does not include boots on the ground, but rather building up the security mechanism that is in place,” Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said during the closing press conference of the 44th regular meeting of Caricom. “That is the Haitian national police; working and resourcing them as best we can, for example ensuring that food is provided to them, they are paid on time and at the same time expanding the force to be able to ensure they have the capacity to deal with the issues that are there.”

The Caribbean Community’s focus on strengthening the Haitian police comes after some observers had hoped Canada would lead a multinational force into Haiti, which

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested in October. His request was supported by the United Nations Secretary General as well as the Biden administration, which penned a resolution in the U.N. Security Council supporting such a deployment. But months after the request, few countries have stepped forward.

Jamaica earlier this month said it was willing to participate and as late as Wednesday was exploring how to support such an effort.

Henry, who had hoped that leaders would finally visit Haiti so they could see the unfolding crisis, told the Miami Herald that “we desperately need help in order to avoid total collapse.”

“We are doing a lot of talking,” he said. “It’s time for action.”

During the Bahamas gathering, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended, the leader continued to show reluctance to deploy his troops into Haiti. In both private and public discussions, Trudeau emphasized his government’s efforts to bolster the Haitian police and spoke of past failed efforts of large military deployments in Haiti. He also highlighted his government’s “robust” issuance of sanctions against members of Haiti’s political and economic elites whom Canada accuses of supporting armed gangs.

Davis said leaders feel that “in some of the other initiatives that’s been taken by international partners, like sanctions, that will also work because it cuts the funding to armed gangs and other criminal organizations.”

Last month, the head of the U.N.’s political office in Haiti, Helen La Lime, commended the international community’s efforts to help train the Haitian police, including $92 million the United States has spent on armored vehicles, bulletproof vests and the training of new SWAT members since July 2021. But La Lime said such efforts are not enough and despite some progress against gangs, the police cannot sustain the effort.

The force, which has 9,000 officers, is increasingly fractured and suffering from low morale. Officers are also illequipped, poorly paid and often lack bulletproof vests and event bullets to do their job.

In recent weeks, the force has also been rocked by several killings, which last month led to officers taking to the streets in violent protests while also refusing to go to work as a result of a lack of equipment.

Now, added to the problems is a new humanitarian immigration program launched by the Biden administration on Jan. 5 for nationals of Haiti and three other countries.

During discussions, Henry, trying to explain the challenges the program has created, told leaders that at least 600 officers have applied for passports to benefit from the program, which requires a financial sponsor in the United States. Henry’s numbers, however, were from January.

Since then, the number of officers flocking to the passports offices around the country have skyrocketed, leading the country’s immigration director last week to establish a separate center to receive passport applications from police officers.

Davis acknowledged that “the pull of refugee status” in the United States “is a draw for anyone who is in Haiti.”

“It is counterproductive encouraging police officers to abandon their police stations for the bright lights of Miami,” he said. “This was a matter that was brought to our discussions.

“We can’t just allow what is going on to stop us from inaction,” Davis added. “There’s still a belief there are a number of Haitians who are prepared to put themselves, or to work toward having a peaceful country, to return it to normalcy and we are encouraged that there are a number of Haitians, once they know they will be properly supported, properly resourced, they will come to the fore to assist.”

He added that Caricom has “taken our moral obligation seriously to assist in resolving the issues in Haiti,” he said, promising to have an update on the organization’s efforts in less than three weeks.

ATLANTA

Former President Jimmy Carter, the longest living president in U.S. history, has decided against any further medical treatment and has entered home hospice care, the Carter Center said Saturday.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the Atlantabased center said. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family ... is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”

He and his wife Rosalynn have scaled back their public schedules in recent years, and endured the coronavirus pandemic mostly at their home in Plains, Georgia, where they both grew up.

In 2015, Carter survived a melanoma diagnosis that later spread to his brain. The discovery followed the removal of a lesion on his liver that took about 10% of the organ. He also suffered several falls in 2019 and other health scares that required hospitalization.

The 98-year-old became the longest-living American president in March 2019, when he surpassed former President George H.W. Bush. He served as the

39th U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, and he and Rosalynn have been married for 76 years.

Over the weekend, several family members traveled to Plains to visit with the former president.

“I saw both of my grandparents [Friday],” said Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson.

“They are at peace and — as always — their home is full of love.”