The former U.S. special envoy to Haiti believes that the State Department and the American administration are starting to realize the extent of the damage they have caused in Haiti.
Despite this overwhelming evidence, the United States continues to “hold the Haitian people hostage” by continuing to support de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, lamented Daniel Foote during an interview with CaribbeanTelevisionNetwork and ZoomHaitiNews.
The former career diplomat predicts that the situation will not change until Uncle Sam gets rid of his protégé, whom he installed in Haiti over two years ago.
“Ariel Henry has done nothing to end the violence or improve the situation; the United States continues to support him and hold the Haitian people hostage. Until you get rid of Ariel Henry or someone takes positive action, the situation will continue to deteriorate.”
For Daniel Foote, there is no doubt that the American State Department has abandoned Haiti.
“At this point, the only conclusion I can draw is that the State Department has abandoned Haiti; it has stopped thinking about Haiti and hopes that the UN, the Kenyans, the Jamaicans, CARICOM, the OAS, or someone else will step in and take action. But no one else is really capable,” laments Dan Foote, who resigned from his position nearly two years ago in protest of the treatment of Haitian refugees gathered under the Del Rio bridge in Texas in 2021. He also criticized his own government for not taking his recommendations into account when he was the U.S. special envoy to Haiti.
Mr. Foote firmly believes that, at this point, the United States and the international community have neither the credibility nor the capacity to play any role in finding a solution to the crisis.
We provide the transcript of this interview conducted on Monday by Emmanuel Paul with former U.S. Ambassador Daniel Foote.
What is your understanding of the Haitian crisis?
The situation hasn’t changed. I resigned over 23 months ago, and I resigned because there was an urgent need for action by someone, and to this day, no one is acting. Ariel Henry has done nothing to end the violence or improve the situation; the United States continues to support him and hold the Haitian people hostage. Until you get rid of Ariel Henry or someone takes positive action, the situation will continue to deteriorate. I think at this point, the only conclusion I can draw is that the State Department has abandoned Haiti; it has stopped thinking about Haiti and hopes that the UN, the Kenyans, the Jamaicans, CARICOM, the OAS, or someone else will step in and take action, but no one else is really capable.
Do the US Government bear any responsibility for the current situation in Haiti?
It’s like a bizarre psychological case where I think the State Department and the American administration are starting to realize the damage we have historically caused with our decisions in Haiti, and for once, we’re saying we don’t want to mess things up anymore, even though we’ve already done so by sending Ariel Henry into this series of crises. And since Ariel is their man, they’ll have to admit they were wrong. At some point, they’ll have to backtrack because you’ll see that the static security provided by the Kenyans or anyone else in Haiti is not the answer to the situation.
Is there a possibility that Kenya might decide to abandon its decision to lead the multinational force to be deployed in Haiti?
I know the Kenyans are discussing among themselves after their recent visit to Haiti. I had the opportunity to work in Kenya with the Kenyan police forces and some other security forces, including the Kenyan Wildlife Service, which is one of the best in the world; the police, on the other hand, are not the best in the world. They are active and experienced in a number of peacekeeping operations around the world, mainly in Africa, but they have never had a mission with more than 450 or 500 police officers at any given time, and they have historically faced a ton of human rights abuse allegations, accusations of extrajudicial executions, etc. So, I think the Kenyans have a role to play and could play a role in a multinational force, but they are certainly not capable of leading a mission when they don’t have the capacity, as police, to leave one and can’t communicate with the Haitians, which I think is essential; someone must somehow be able to communicate with the population. There’s another thing the Haitians have noticed, maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Haitians want to be told what to do by Africans because Africans didn’t have to free themselves from slavery like the Haitians did, so there’s always been a weird dynamic here.
Does the Haitian police have the capacity to solve the security problem on its own?
That’s what I’ve been hoping for, Emanuel, for two years, as you know. I was totally opposed to an intervention. I think Ariel Henry has allowed the gangs to take control, and the situation is continuing to spiral out of control. I recently read that four or five hundred members of the Haitian national police are leaving the ranks every month. The Haitian police do not have the means to remedy the situation if we stop, take a deep breath, and return to the plan we were discussing two years ago, namely, working with the Haitian national police on an anti-gang unit and involving a nominal multinational force. If it’s clumsy, if it’s led by the wrong country, or if it’s perceived as support for the corrupt guy who will clearly face justice for his role in the assassination, it won’t work unless the Haitian government does the same, it won’t work unless it’s done very carefully, it’s like threading a needle, I think, but most of my friends in touch with Haiti now say we need help, someone needs to do something.
Why do you think the United States continues to support Ariel Henry when he shows neither the willingness nor the ability to solve the problems facing the population?
Emmanuel, there is no longer any reasonable and logical reason for the United States to continue supporting Ariel Henry except for the fact that they deported 55 Haitians three days ago, and Ariel Henry approved that deportation, that deportation flight, even as the United States was urging all Americans to leave Haiti. So, that’s the only thing Ariel Henry has done, but it’s total hypocrisy. I spent my entire career promoting human rights around the world, and now we’re turning our backs on Haiti, and we know Ariel has nothing to do. He’s in power, he’ll stay in power as long as he’s allowed to without doing anything.
Do you think there is a conspiracy against Haiti?
My personal opinion is that I still don’t believe there’s a giant conspiracy theory to poison the Haitian people and then steal the island’s resources, especially since we’re not smart enough to do that. We have a lot of big problems right now; we’re just not smart enough, but I think what happened is that we gave up; we said if we can’t do anything positive, we’ll try to get someone else to do it, and we have to get out of this impasse, and I don’t think it will happen in the United States; I think the impasse will be resolved in Haiti, and I think it will be resolved by the Haitian people who will soon take matters into their own hands.
Do you think that, given the current situation, the United States could completely close its embassy in Haiti?
I hope not. It’s unimaginable for me to know and understand how to secure the embassy. But it shows how our policy has fallen in our understanding of Haiti. Remember that the embassy people haven’t left the embassy for almost five years – that’s when Ambassador Sisson said everyone was locked in here, and we haven’t been out to talk to the Haitians, which is why we don’t know what’s going on. Haiti’s embassy has been evacuated more than any other embassy in the world, except for Monrovia in Liberia, but this time they closed it, so nothing really happened. I think they will keep the Marines there, the consular affairs, and a few people; they have residences within the compound, and we will maintain a presence there. We rarely close embassies; for example, we closed our embassy in Kabul, and it’s closed again now, our embassy in North Korea is closed, our embassy in Iran is closed, and our embassy in Syria is closed. Those are the only embassies we’ve closed in the world. So, it would be a big deal if the United States closed its embassy in Haiti.
Is there a possibility for the American administration to acknowledge its past mistakes in Haiti and change its policy?
Every person in this circle who comes to listen to what we’re saying is helpful to us. Whether it’s Patrick Gaspard, Vice President Harris, Brian Nichols, anyone who says we made a mistake here will help us get where we are. We’re not a jury, and everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but I would compare Ariel Henry’s situation in Haiti right now, where he has to stay in power to avoid prosecution, to Donald Trump’s situation in the United States, where he has to win the presidential election to avoid going to prison, probably. But they’re both in the same situation, but at least there’s an independent judicial process in the United States that doesn’t work very quickly, but you’re right. But it’s the same desperation that if he loses power, he may end up in the national penitentiary, and that’s the last place anyone wants to be.
What decision do you think would be best to help resolve the crisis?
I think the first step is for the United States to acknowledge that Ariel Henry is not the solution and publicly withdraw their support, giving the Haitian people time and space to come together, have a constitutional assembly or a popular consultation, or something, but they need to reconnect with the people, whether it’s Montana or a new group. Montana hasn’t talked to people for two years, my friend, so the people don’t trust anyone. So, they need to create a political space for civil society and other political parties other than the PHTK to talk to the population and come together. They will get another agreement, I’m sure, in a month or two, but they will get another agreement.
Given the current changes within the State Department regarding Haiti, do you think there is a possibility of a significant change in the State Department’s position toward the Haitian government?
In Haiti, we should never be too optimistic about personnel changes within the U.S. government because we’ve seen that Haitian politics doesn’t change easily, but I’m starting to see some cracks in the armor of this pro-Ariel policy, with people coming out and saying, oh, you know, maybe Dan Foote was right, or Ariel is still falling, so I see people accepting that, and I think if the State Department supported a political dialogue without Ariel in charge, someone would come in and take charge of Haiti fairly quickly. But the problem is that the State Department or other international organizations can’t impose themselves on the process. You see what I mean; they can’t sit at the table and say no, you do this, no, you do this, they could ask someone who is equal to everyone and doesn’t represent any country to play the role of a mediator. But if one of the international donors is sitting there trying to play the mediator role, the problem will be the same.
CARICOM is involved in the negotiations. Do you have hope in this regard?
At least people are talking; there won’t be a solution, but people are talking, and the more they talk, the more people have been worried about Haiti for two years, the more they open their eyes and say, oh my God, we haven’t done anything, we should do something now. It’s entirely positive, it’s entirely good, but we have to get the international community out of this mindset of backing Ariel at all costs because that’s what’s preventing our Haitian friends from finding an agreement and moving forward with an interim government and with the international community now supporting a trustworthy partner.
The UN Security Council is meeting on Haiti. What do you expect from that?
It’s likely, but I don’t think that’s all that will happen. China and Russia, unless they just want to see the United States fail, which is possible, but I think China and Russia will say, first, forget it, you haven’t done anything, we’re not going to support this, and I think we’ll just lose another month, and the Haitian people will suffer for another month. It was an exceptionally urgent situation 23 months ago; it’s much more urgent now, and still, no one is doing anything. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Would you be willing to participate in efforts to facilitate discussions if you were approached?
I can play a role – a small role, let’s say, but a role that might involve kicking people in the butt and hugging people during the final negotiations for an agreement, especially between August and January, when we got more people on board. So, I’ll play a role, but I won’t work for the U.S. government, the Canadian government, the UN, or CARICOM. I have to work with the Haitians, Dan with the Haitians, not as a member of the government, and if we manage to convince donors to respect the agreement we propose again, I’m confident we’ll get the green light.
What do you think of the announced sanctions? We don’t hear much about them anymore?
I don’t know, and it’s really awkward because it comes down to interfering in Haitian politics from behind the scenes, whether they see it that way or not, the United States has sanctioned all these people without evidence, and there are a number of lawsuits against the United States by those who were sanctioned. Consequently, can some of these politicians play a role in a future agreement? I don’t know if the Haitians will let them. It’s much easier to be non-transparent like the United States is right now because I don’t have to tell you what I’m really doing, so they have to be honest if they want the Haitians to trust them again, and that’s what we want. I think as Americans, we want that good relationship we had before, like an uncle and a nephew or cousins, I don’t know. But our governments have to change their way of interacting.