According to Ottawa’s foreign minister, Canada sanctioned a former Haitian politician and a close friend of that country’s former president yesterday for allegedly supporting armed gangs and facilitating criminal operations including drug trafficking.
Canada claimed that Charles Saint-Remy, an advisor to former President Michel Martelly, and Arnel Belizaire, a former lawmaker, were funding gangs with their connections to Haiti’s elite. Charles Saint-Remy is also the brother-in-law of Arnel Belizaire.
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Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s office released a statement stating that “the sanctions imposed by Canada are intended to pressure those responsible for violence, including widespread sexual violence, and instability in Haiti.”
“These people must stop funding and supplying weapons to criminal gangs in Haiti.”
Requests for feedback from Belizaire and Saint-Remy were not promptly fulfilled.
The penalties against Martelly, two other well-known Haitian officials, and three well-known Haitian businesses are among the sanctions previously imposed by Ottawa. Friday’s sanctions are in addition to those.
By blocking entry to a fuel terminal in September, Haitian gangs triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that suspended most economic activity and caused gasoline and diesel shortages. At the same time, the nation also reported a cholera outbreak that had recently flared up.
