On February 2, T&T prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley announced that he had informed the US government of its need to make an effort to mediate the situation in Haiti.
Since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, the nation has been overtaken by armed gangs and is further into a humanitarian catastrophe with rapes, kidnappings, murder, and starvation.
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At Whitehall, Port of Spain, Dr. Rowley gave media an update on his recent trip to Washington, DC, where he had meetings with authorities, Vice President Kamala Harris among them.
The Caricom leaders were briefed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Haiti in The Bahamas in February of last year. Although the Kenyan government has promised to appeal, a Kenyan High Court judge banned Kenya’s commitment to provide 1,000 police personnel to spearhead peacekeeping efforts in Haiti.
Rowley provided reporters with updates. “As a leader in Caricom, the US raised with us our position on, and our involvement in, the calamitous situation in Haiti.”
He noted, “We have committed to working together to strengthen the international rules-based system. Today we acknowledge that Haiti does not have a single elected official.”
Among the Caricom republics, Haiti has the greatest population, and its current condition of affairs is worrying and humiliating, according to him.
Rowley claimed that during his visit, he had made it apparent that the US must take the lead in this area due to the circumstances in Haiti.
“The US cannot wash its hands of Haiti.”
PM Rowley urged democrats to cater to the cries of the impoverished nation that struggles with gang violence, “If we are in fact the true democrats that we claim to be, we should be concerned that Haiti does not have even a semblance of democracy. We cannot turn a blind eye to Haiti while trying to perfect Venezuela.”
“Trinidad and Tobago’s position at Caricom and with the US is that the current administration in Haiti needs to make room for the evolution of a trajectory towards an election timetable and an indication that any outside assistance to Haiti cannot be reasonably assumed to be a propping-up of the existing regime.”
He concluded, “That is Trinidad and Tobago’s position, and we made it very clear to the US, and I think they understand it, and Caricom understands it as well.”
