Haiti and Provincial Government: Hope or Little Change
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The new provincial government in Haiti faces an uphill task of stemming the cycle of violence in Port-au-Prince.
New members of the provincial government looked nervous with gun violence being heard in the backdrop. This sums up the dangerous situation in Haiti.
The “transitional council” of nine people was sworn in last week. This happened after the unpopular Prime Minister (Ariel Henry) officially resigned. However, in truth, his power base was over many months ago.
Reuters reports, “Henry’s finance minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will be interim prime minister until the transition council appoints a new head of government, a cabinet and a provisional electoral council set to pave the way for an eventual vote.”
Jimmy Cherizier warned the transitional council not to sideline him.
Last year, Cherizier warned, “If the foreign forces arrive in 2023 or 2024, and we see them sexually assaulting women, raping young boys just as the Uruguayan soldiers did in 2004. If they bring cholera back to Haiti. … If that is what they are coming to do in the underprivileged neighborhoods, along with opening fire on us, killing the people or massacring them — we Haitians will fight them until we shed our last drops of blood.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) uttered, “It is understandable why Haitians feel betrayed by the UN and distrust outside forces. The lasting legacy of the cholera outbreak and countless sex scandals – all connected to the UN – cement enormous mistrust. Therefore, bridges need to be built with ordinary Haitians – outside the corrupt political class.”
Dennis Hankins (US ambassador to Haiti) said, “Each day is a new day and this is a new day for Haiti.”
Ironically, weapons from America have flooded the market in Haiti.
The Guardian reports, “More than 50,000 people have been displaced by the violence, with at least 2,500 people killed or injured since the start of the year and 1.6 million people on the brink of famine.”
President Joe Biden of America (long before taking office) said, “If Haiti, a God awful thing to say, if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot in terms of our interest.”
The people of Haiti have been betrayed by internal and external forces that have failed the Haitians for decades. Accordingly, pessimism abounds – concerning the “transitional council.”
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