While commenting on the overall situation in Haiti, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that the country has “a long way to go and that crime, violence and the lack of basic law is a fundamental problem,” the U.S. newspaper Miami Herald reported.
Blinken, who according to the Florida newspaper sounds pessimistic, told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee that the U.S. is working to combat gang violence, “including supporting and strengthening the Haitian National Police and encouraging other countries to do the same.”
The secretary of state was asked by Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, about the current U.S. situation in the Caribbean during his testimony before the Appropriations Committee.
Blinken made no specific reference to the ongoing clashes between rival gangs north of the capital. He did, however, refer to the political crisis that has deepened since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last July and the ongoing schism between the interim government of Ariel Henry and other political and civil society groups that want to run the country.
“We need to see the government, civil society, all the actors come together to bring us to elections, free and fair elections, so that we establish a fully legitimate Haitian governmental leadership,” said Blinken. “That work is underway; we’re trying to facilitate that, but having said that, the problems are so deeply rooted and so difficult that I think the road is very long,” he continued.
While the U.S. is focused on holding elections “and putting in place a government that can fully represent the people, we are trying to provide basic security by strengthening the police and fighting crime and gangs, which are terrorizing parts of the country,” the U.S. chief diplomat said.
Political crisis and insecurity in Haiti: “We have a long way to go,” says Antony Blinken
