WASHINGTON (CMC): Assistant Secretary of State, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, will be among witnesses expected to testify before a special meeting of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday to discuss the ongoing socio-economic and political situation in Haiti.
Apart from Nichols, the assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean with the United States Agency for International Development, Marcela Escobari, will also testify before the committee that is expected to analyse in depth and discuss the next steps for a collective response in the French-speaking CARICOM country.
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United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for a robust international force to help combat Haiti’s armed gangs and restore security in the impoverished nation, saying that a UN expert’s estimate that Haiti needs up to 2,000 additional anti-gang police officers is no exaggeration.
Democratic Senator Bob Menéndez, who is also chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called the meeting.
The official US Senate website confirmed Thursday’s meeting, which will focus specifically on reviewing the situation in the Western Hemisphere, with an emphasis on the crisis in Haiti and steps the international community can implement to bring support and stability to the region.
Meanwhile, Homero Figueroa, spokesman for Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, said that the head of state had met with Menéndez, and that the meeting allowed for “a fruitful exchange of ideas and perspectives, stressing the importance of international collaboration to face the challenges that the crisis in Haiti poses to the Dominican Republic and to the region as a whole”.
He said Thursday’s meeting “should be an important step towards a joint and effective response to the situation in Haiti, and its implications for the stability and development of the Western Hemisphere”.
