On March 5, 2024, Irfaan Ali, the President of Guyana and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), stated that CARICOM is still closely monitoring the events taking place in Haiti. The Head of State made a brief remark, saying, “The expanded Bureau has been meeting separately with Prime Minister Henry, the Stakeholders in Haiti, and our International Partners, to bring resolution to this highly complex matter, where persons’ lives and livelihoods are at stake.”
He went on to say, “The complexity requires us in these consultations to ensure that a Haitian-led and a Haitian-owned solution may be achieved as soon as possible. We remain deeply engaged and will update on the outcome of our deliberations as soon as practicable.”
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CARICOM has been “singularly focused,” according to President Ali, on the events taking place in Haiti.
According to the BBC, troops have been sent in to protect Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, from armed gangs.
Reports from onlookers indicated that gunfire could be heard near Toussaint Louverture Airport during a confrontation between armed individuals and security personnel.
The gangs want to stop Ariel Henry, the prime minister of Haiti, from returning; he is thought to be overseas.
Last week, Mr. Henry traveled from Haiti to Guyana for the 46th Regular Meeting of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government. He went to Kenya from Guyana to seal an agreement for the sending of a multinational police force to Haiti.
The local media revealed that he landed in Puerto Rico following the Dominican Republic’s closure of its airspace, however, his more recent whereabouts remained unclear.
“It is our understanding that the prime minister is returning to the country [Haiti],” a US State Department spokeswoman earlier stated.
A group of gangs led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer, went on the rampage while Mr. Henry was in Kenya, storming two of the largest prisons in Haiti and attacking police stations.
The attack on the jails claimed the lives of about twelve persons. Numerous prisoners broke free and are still at large.
A 72-hour state of emergency was announced by a minister filling in for Mr. Henry.
The violence has reportedly caused both domestic and international commercial flights to be grounded for the previous few days, according to the Haitian publication Le Nouvelliste. Le Nouvelliste also reported that no private aircraft had arrived at the airport or departed from it.
Gunmen allegedly tried to enter the airport facility through a wall’s opening, but security personnel stopped them.
The gangs’ plan to prevent Prime Minister Henry from returning to the nation depends on their ability to control the airport.
The head of the gang has been demanding the prime minister’s removal ever since he took office in July 2021 as President Jovenel Moïse’s successor.
The assassination of President Moïse by Colombian mercenaries, which created a leadership vacuum in the nation, exacerbated the already widespread gang violence.
In recent years, armed gangs have taken control of an estimated 80% of the city, using weapons that are smuggled in from the US.
To aid in the battle against the gangs, Prime Minister Henry has requested military assistance from other countries. However, after the Kenyan High Court halted the proposal, Kenya’s intention to send 1,000 police personnel to assist contain the violence faltered.
When the most recent violence broke out, Prime Minister Henry was in Nairobi for negotiations with Kenyan President William Ruto to attempt to save the deployment.
Barbecue announced last week on social media in a video that “the first objective of our fight is to ensure that Ariel Henry’s government does not remain in power”.
His group recently carried out attacks on many police stations, following which they released hundreds of inmates from both the National Penitentiary and the facility at Croix des Bouquets.
According to prison officials, just around 100 inmates were still housed in their cells at the National Penitentiary.
Seventeen ex-soldiers from Colombia were among those who remained where they were thought to have carried out President Moïse’s killing.
They begged for assistance in a video, claiming that other prisoners were attempting to convince them to leave their cells and would use them, “as cannon fodder”.
Later, the foreign ministry of Colombia declared that the 17 had been moved to a new jail.
Few individuals left their homes to acquire food or drink, and most residents of the capital stayed indoors, according to the AFP news agency.
Speaking from Haiti, International Rescue Committee member Serge Dalexis stated that people were finding it very difficult to get necessities including food, water, and medical treatment.
“There’s a lack of everything now in Port-au-Prince,” According to Mr. Dalexis, there have been reports of gunshots in several parts of the city.
The violence over the past several weeks has caused an estimated 15,000 individuals to be uprooted from their homes.
