The U.S. Department of State has added new individuals to the list of those sanctioned for their involvement in the financing of armed gangs in Haiti.
“In addition to these additional 212(a)(3)(C) designations, the Department has also designated three Haitian officials, including Joseph Lambert and Rommel Bell, under Section 7031(c), another visa restriction authority,” according to the U.S. Secretary of State, who made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, which also recalled that sanctions have already been adopted against Joseph Lambert, Youri Latortue, Hervé Foucand, all of whom are former senators.
Anthony Blinken also mentioned 3 Haitian state officials added to the list.
Apart from the former director of the General Administration of Customs Rommel Bell, no details were given on the names of the newly sanctioned.
The State Department also deplored the murder of 14 Haitian police officers in January 2023 alone.
Although only seven names are published on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website, the Secretary of State reported that 44 people have been sanctioned by the Biden administration for their alleged involvement in financing criminal activities in Haiti.
For now, only the following names have been made public by the Americans:
CELESTIN, Rony
CHERIZIER, Jimmy
DUPLAN, Joseph Pierre Richard
FOURCAND, Hervé
LAMBERT, Joseph
LATORTUE, Youri
MONCHERY, Fednel
Canada has also amended its list to include the names of former interim President Jocelerme Privert and Salim Succar, former cabinet member of former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, also sanctioned by Ottawa.
These two individuals add to the long list of Haitian personalities accused of involvement in the financing of armed gangs in Haiti.
For several years, armed criminals have been wreaking havoc in Haiti. Hundreds of people have been murdered, raped, kidnapped and driven from their neighborhoods.
To commit their crimes, the gangs are often aided by people at the highest levels of government, as evidenced by U.S. and Canadian sanctions.