As Haiti’s leaders in a U.S.-backed transitional government continue to be divided over the fate of the country’s foreign minister , a visiting U.S. delegation on Wednesday made the administration’s position clear: “country over party.”
“Haiti would really benefit from having all of the current government officials to continue to put country over party and deliver on the promises to work for all Haitians,” a senior Biden administration official told the Miami Herald about the message he and other members of the high-level delegation delivered during their daylong visit to Port-au-Prince.
“We think it’s important that there’s a pathway forward where these different Haitian political actors can work together constructively and also put together a unified front to the international community.”
The latest political divisions in Haiti have the country’s leaders resembling children fighting over the same toy and has led to a standoff between Prime Minister Garry Conille and the ruling Transitional Presidential Council. On Tuesday Conille refused a demand from the council to fire Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy.
The council’s beef: two incidents during the United Nations Security Council General Assembly in which council member Leslie Voltaire, now president of the council, was shut out of meetings with Brazil and the Dominican Republic, and Dupuy’s staunch criticism of the Dominican Republic’s decision to deport up to 10,000 Haitians a week.
READ MORE: Haiti blasts Dominican Republic’s mass deportations, tells OAS it’s ‘discriminatory’
Not mincing words, Dupuy has called the Dominican policy discriminatory and a violation of Haitians’ human rights. That has not gone down well with Voltaire and other council members, who have found her stance and language harsh. After Conille refused to replace her, the council canceled a meeting Wednesday with the prime minister and his cabinet.
The U.S. official would not say what message was passed to members of the council, which has been involved in a corruption and bribery scandal after three of its members were referred for criminal persecution following an investigation. However, other sources said U.S. officials lectured members of the council and made U.S. support for Dupuy clear. Council members were told to focus on addressing the country’s myriad challenges including worsening hunger and gang violence.
Nevertheless, late Wednesday, Conille received a letter from Voltaire informing him that the presidential council wants a strategic reshuffle of his ministerial cabinet. Among the ministries targeted, said a source, are foreign affairs, which is overseen by Dupuy, and justice. The latter is currently tasked with overseeing the criminal investigation into the accused presidential council members.
The six-member U.S. delegation was led by Jon Finer, principal deputy National Security advisor; Dan Erikson, special assistant to the President and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, and Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere. They were joined by Michael Camilleri, the acting assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development; John Manza from the Defense Department, and the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, Dennis Hankins.
The U.S. embassy on Wednesday warned American citizens in Haiti of potential protests on Thursday, Dessalines Day. The national holiday commemorates the life of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haiti’s first ruler, and protests have been announced by coup plotter Guy Philippe, a former Haitian police commander.
The senior administration official who spoke with the Herald said the delegation was asked about the U.S. stance on the mass deportations from the Dominican Republic . Santo Domingo has cited an “excess” of Haitian immigrants for the policy. U.S. officials reiterated that they’ve urged their Dominican partners “to address the humanitarian needs of Haitian migrants,” the official said.
“We’re aware this challenge of repatriating Haitians from the Dominican Republic is putting a new strain and stress on the Haitian government, and so we wanted to make sure they knew that we were tracking this issue closely, and are and have engaged the Dominican side,” he added.
The U.S. delegation arrived in Port-au-Prince around 9 a.m. They held separate discussions with the presidential council and senior Haitian government officials, including Conille and Dupuy. They also met with the leadership of the Haiti National Police, the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission and members of the foreign diplomatic corps.
The main purpose of the trip was to underscore the U.S. commitment to support Haiti’s efforts to restore security and pave the way toward free and fair elections, the official said. He added that delegation members are concerned about when a nine-member Provisional Electoral Council will finally be seated and sworn in to begin organizing elections next year.
“We wanted to ensure that the Transitional Presidential Council and the other Haitian institutions were working well together and able to present a unified front,” the official said. “We also underscored our commitment to rally international support to provide the Haitian National Police and the Multinational Security Support mission the tools they need to restore security and rule of law in Haiti. The U.S. is very committed to building a foundation of security and bringing hope to Haitians who are seeking to live their lives peacefully and free of violence.”
Earlier this week, the Haiti National Police said a joint operation with the Kenya-led cops had resulted in the deaths of some 20 gang members and injury to one of the leaders of the country’s most powerful gangs, Kraze Baryè, whose territory includes the area where the U.S. embassy is located. The gang leader, known simply as “Deshommes,” was second in command and was shot in Torcelle, southeast of the capital.
The operations took place on Saturday and Monday and will continue, police said, adding that they confiscated gang weapons, ammunition and equipment. During the operations, one of the U.S. armored vehicles belonging to the security mission was set ablaze by the gang after police were forced to abandon the vehicle due to engine failure.
Both Deshommes and the gang’s leader, Vitel’homme Innocent, who is the subject of a $2 million FBI bounty, remain at large.
During the meetings Wednesday, the U.S. delegation reiterated the United States’ support for reshaping the multinational security mission into a United Nations peacekeeping operation. After planning to push the move during a recent U.N. Security Council meeting, the U.S. backed down but emphasized that it remains committed to the transformation.
“In all, it was a really good day. There were very serious, substantive discussions between the U.S. delegation and a range of Haitian partners that we saw,” the official said. “While there’s still important challenges, there’s also progress being made.”
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