Caribbean, US officials gather as Haiti reaches 'tipping point'

Source: La Prensa Latina Media

San Juan, Mar 11 (EFE).- Leaders from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the United States insisted Monday on the need to expedite a political transition in Haiti and deploy a multinational security force as the country is now "at a tipping point."

At the end of a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Caricom chairperson and Guyana president Irfaan Ali, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed some optimism.

Ali said he was "very confident that we have found commonality" to support a solution led by the Haitian parties, although he did not provide details.

"We are making progress," said Holness, while Blinken indicated that the talks "to expedite a political transition" were moving in a positive direction.

Extreme violence has gripped the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, since Feb. 28 when it was revealed that, while out of the country, Prime Minister Ariel Henry had committed to holding elections before the end of August 2025, a distant date considering his mandate ended on Feb. 7.

International pressure has increased for the resignation of Henry - locked out of his country and in Puerto Rico since last Tuesday - although there were no direct demands in this regard at Monday's meeting in Jamaica.

"It is clear that Haiti is now at a tipping point," Holness said. "We are deeply distressed that it is already too late for too many who have lost far too much at the hands of criminal gangs."

"I think we can all agree: Haiti is on the brink of disaster," said Ali. "We must take quick and decisive action."

He added that the discussions had not been easy and were focused on presenting options and ideas to the Haitian parties.

In this regard, Blinken insisted on a joint proposal developed with Caricom and Haitian parties to expedite a political transition.

Blinken stressed that this transition includes the creation of a "broad-based, inclusive, independent presidential college" to take "concrete steps" to meet the immediate needs of the Haitian people.

Secondly, it must allow the rapid deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission and, thirdly, create the security situation necessary to hold free and fair elections and for humanitarian aid to arrive, he added.

At the press conference, Blinken announced that Washington will increase its aid to the Multinational Security Support Mission, authorized by the United Nations, to a total $300 million.

The US government had previously decided to provide $100 million each from both the Department of State and the Department of Defense, and is now going to double the second.

Blinken also pledged an additional $33 million in humanitarian aid to support health and food security in Haiti.

The secretary of state emphasized that, due to the deterioration of the security situation in the Caribbean country, the multinational mission is "more important than ever" and must deployed be "as quickly as possible."

However, the deployment of some 1,000 Kenyan police officers who would lead the mission remains at a standstill. There has been no movement since Kenya and Haiti signed a bilateral agreement on Mar. 1 requested by the courts of the African country to allow the mobilization of the contingent.

The meeting in Jamaica was also attended by several Caribbean leaders, such as Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Mottley; Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena; France's Minister of State for Development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou; and Earle Courtenay Rattray, chief of staff to UN Secretary General António Guterres.

They all agreed that the solution to the crisis in Haiti must be led by the Haitian parties but with the support of the Caricom member countries and other international partners such as the US, Canada and France. EFE