President Biden is being urged by a group of elected Haitian American politicians to halt his backing for a Kenyan-led peacekeeping operation in Haiti, which they believe would strengthen the authority of interim President Ariel Henry.
On Friday, Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken received a letter from the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON) and Family Action Network Movement (FANM) requesting action. They noted, “Any military intervention supporting Haiti’s corrupt, repressive, unelected regime will likely exacerbate its current political crisis to a catastrophic one.”
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“It will further entrench the regime, deepening Haiti’s political crisis while generating significant civilian casualties and migration pressure.”
However, the U.N.-backed proposal to intervene in Haiti is moving forward quickly.
Aden Duale, the Kenyan defense minister, was informed by Secretary of Military Lloyd Austin that the Biden administration is seeking to get $100 million for the Haiti intervention plan as the two countries inked a five-year defense deal.
Since previous President Jovenel Mose was assassinated in 2021 and Henry assumed the roles of interim president and acting prime minister, the situation in Haiti has steadily gotten worse.
The Biden administration has been under fire from a number of Haitian and Haitian-American civil society organizations for continuing to recognize and support Henry, which they claim is the primary reason for maintaining him and his Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK) in power.They noted, “If your Administration were to withdraw its support for Dr. Henry, he would have been forced to negotiate with Haitian civil society and other groups toward a peaceful solution to Haiti’s current political crisis.”
Advocate organizations like NHAEON and FANM have long argued that Henry’s administration is involved in gang violence and actively promotes violent situations in order to maintain power.
The group notes, “This regime has dismantled Haiti’s democratic structures while facilitating and conceding control of the country to many gang leaders. The PHTK governments did not run a fair or timely election.” “They have created a prevalent culture of corruption that deprives the government of the necessary funds to support the Haiti National Police and provide basic governmental services to the Haitian population.”
However, the Biden administration has often been reluctant to take a chance on polarizing Haiti.
The State Department spokesperson told the media, “PM Henry is a transitional figure and the head of Haiti’s government. We work with him and his administration on a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, as does the rest of the international community.” U.S. authorities have persisted in sending Haitians back home despite the situation there.
The government was quickly bitten by the consequences of that deportation program, as Biden’s special envoy, Ambassador Dan Foote, resigned in 2021 and issued a stinging resignation letter in which he branded the plan to deport Haitians as brutal and ineffective.
More than 100,000 Haitians were given permission to live and work in the United States thanks to the Biden administration’s redesignation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in late 2022.The designation of TPS is given to nations where it would be impossible to safely repatriate citizens.
However, the Biden administration was cautious not to criticize the Henry administration when it designated Haiti and stated the opposition had been hesitant to seek a peaceful course of action.
The group states, “The State Department insists that Dr. Henry must be part of any transitional government. Dr. Henry has used the U.S.’s indifference to clinch power and continues to veto any proposed consensus to create an inclusive transitional government without him.” Concerns regarding American policies toward the Caribbean country are mostly focused on the need for the US to remove its thumb off the political scale in Haiti.
The United States has a lengthy history of intervening in other countries, including three force deployments in the last 30 years and an occupation that lasted from 1915 to 1934.
Some Haitian elites and civil society organizations disagree on the necessity of foreign engagement in Haiti, a move that has occasionally had fatal repercussions.Despite not claiming that the U.N. was directly to blame, former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon acknowledged in 2016 that United Nations forces had a hand in the cholera epidemic that killed 10,000 people in Haiti.
Episodes like that intervention have made civil society and opposition organizations more skeptical of foreign interventions to restore peace in the nation.
Numerous members of Haiti’s civil society have also accused the United States of paternalism and condescension as a result of repeated foreign interference.
The United States’ stated opinion is that the existing state of affairs would prevent a free election.
The Department spokesperson noted, “The State Department believes certain security conditions in Haiti must be met before a free and fair election can take place.”
“A Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission would support the Haitian National Police (HNP) to achieve improved security. We continue to support a Haitian-led, consensus-driven political solution to restore democratic order in Haiti.”
The United States’ stated opinion is that the existing situation would prevent a free election.
The group wrote, “Over the past three years, groups across the spectrum have gathered, often putting long-running political disagreements aside, to agree on practical, promising plans for a transitional government. But each time, the de facto authorities defeat the promising effort by refusing any compromise.”
The organizations demanded that American authorities step up their efforts to stop the flow of firearms to Haiti.
They noted, “Haiti does not manufacture guns and ammunition, but they originate from the U.S. and continue to destroy many lives, including U.S. Citizens. We strongly urge your Administration to effectively investigate armed trafficking to Haiti and provide more resources to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrols to inspect cargo leaving the United States to Haiti.”
