Haiti’s foreign minister Dominique Dupuy, recently engaged with the French ambassador to the country regarding what the ministry labeled as “unfriendly and inappropriate” remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron upon his departure from the G20 summit in Brazil.
On November 20, 2024, Macron referred to the decision made by the Caribbean nation’s transitional presidential council to remove the prime minister earlier this month during a surge in gang violence as “completely dumb.”
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While honoring previous Prime Minister Garry Conille, who was fired due to disagreements with the council on his trip to Brazil, Macron remarked, “Honestly, it is Haitians who killed Haiti by letting in drug trafficking.”
“They are completely dumb, they should never have fired him,” he noted.
His comments incited anger in Haiti, which was once a French colony. Following its liberation from slavery and declaration of independence in 1804, Haiti compensated France for purported lost assets including slaves for over a century, with some activists claiming the total exceeded $100 billion.
Activists advocate for French reparations regarding this debt, which many attribute to Haiti’s economic and political crises.
Haiti’s former Prime Minister Conille, who held a high-ranking position at the U.N. before assuming office earlier this year, was succeeded by entrepreneur and former senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime, a further setback for stability in a country with a severely fragmented political scene while nearly half the populace suffers from extreme food insecurity.
Haiti’s leadership has been plagued by internal conflict, and three members of the transitional presidential council charged with reinstating security and facilitating elections have been accused of corruption yet continue to hold their positions.
While speaking in Chile on the 21st of November of this year, Macron seemed to ease his stance, affirming “France will never turn its face from a crisis … There will never be a double standard in the face of tragedy, be it in Haiti, Venezuela or at the gates of Europe.”
France has committed 4 million euros ($4.2 million) to a U.N. fund to support a critically underfunded security operation tasked with helping to restore order in Haiti. The fund will also fund French and Creole language classes for its personnel.
Haiti’s foreign ministry stated that during their meeting, French Ambassador Antoine Michon assured that France would remain supportive of Haiti in restoring security and facilitating elections.
