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U.S. officials struggle to give a definitive answer on sending troops to Haiti

CTN News

The Haitian crisis was again on the agenda this Thursday, October 13, during a large press conference bringing together influential figures from the U.S. State Department, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts from the Departments of the Interior and Justice on global security.

The head of U.S. diplomacy took the opportunity to revisit the statements made on Wednesday, October 12 on the situation in Haiti, including the sanctions announced against Haitian personalities who support armed gangs.

Our nations are working … side by side with the United Nations to advance a critical resolution that will sanction those responsible for gang violence, corruption and human rights abuses in Haiti at a time when the country is experiencing a dangerous resurgence of cholera and widespread insecurity,” Blinken told reporters.

Asked if the Biden administration is considering sending troops to Haiti, the diplomat wanted to get a handle on the question before launching into what many would call a diplomatic response.

”As far as Haiti is concerned, the Haitian people are facing an incredibly difficult situation and a multiplicity of problems: most recently, of course, the cholera epidemic but, more broadly, a deep problem in terms of insecurity, where large parts of the capital and other parts of Haiti are actually controlled by gangs and not by the state,” he analyzed.

To get to the heart of the matter, the number 3 of the U.S. administration believes that “if we do not effectively address this problem of insecurity, it is very difficult to meet the other challenges, considering that the ports and roads are blocked”. Thus, according to Mr. Blinken, “some of the things needed to deal with the cholera epidemic simply cannot get to where they need to be.

So far, there has been no clear and definitive answer from the U.S. administration on sending troops to Haiti to help the country overcome the major challenge of the terror of gangs that are preventing the movement of goods and people.

Still in a tongue-in-cheek way, Blinken said that “we (the United States) have been working together and with other countries for some time to do a number of things. One of them is to increase the capacity of the Haitian national police; the other, he said, is to support a political dialogue with the Prime Minister, with the Montana group, with other stakeholders, to try to move Haiti towards elections,” end of quote.

It was also an opportunity for the U.S. Secretary of State to return to the announcements concerning the fight ”effective against insecurity”.
We have worked together with the United Nations, including this week, to impose sanctions on those who support violence and gangs,” he said, repeating the same themes communicated in his note announcing the sanctions, including visa suspensions for those who support gangs in Haiti.

According to Antony Blinken, it is necessary to take measures to effectively support the Haitian National Police and to see if the international community can do other things to help Haiti to effectively ensure its security. This is exactly what we are looking at, he said, arguing that the United States is in discussion with different countries in the hemisphere and beyond, and of course we talk to Haitians,” he concluded.

It should be recalled that the Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols met on Wednesday, October 12 with representatives of the Montana Agreement, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, members of the private sector and representatives of civil society organizations. These meetings were held around “the urgent need to address the cholera epidemic and the fuel blockage that hinders the humanitarian response,” according to a message posted on Twitter account Brian Nichols in which he said that “stakeholders must urgently develop a consensus on an agreement leading to improved security, elections and prosperity for all Haitians.

Note that these statements and visits to Haiti by U.S. officials come in a context where the population continues to take to the streets to denounce insecurity, demand low fuel prices and especially demand the resignation of the de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry in power for over a year with the support of the international community and the United States in particular.