Tag: Miami Herald

A U.S. military warship has arrived off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where two U.S. Coast Guard cutters are also patrolling nearby. The presence of the USS Southland comes as tensions continue to rise ahead of Feb. 7, the date marking the end of the mandate of Haiti’s nine-member Transitional Presidential Council. Although the council has agreed to step down — and some members have publicly said they would—others have continued to involve themselves in transition plans, despite warnings from U.S. officials that their term will end on Saturday.

Efforts to establish a United Nations office in Haiti to provide logistical and operational support for the newly authorized Gang Suppression Force are on track to meet Security Council deadlines, Secretary-General António Guterres’ office said. “The first air asset from the mission, which is a helicopter, is now in Port-au-Prince,” Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesman said. “This is an important step for our colleagues’ logistics and operational mobility.”

“We’re far from being done with this operation,” said the task force operative who spoke to the Herald. “But I would say we’re at least at the end of the beginning. And what we’ve seen of [the Haitian national police] is now the ability to go and clear these neighborhoods, overmatch the gangs that tend to not want to fight as much because the gangs lose those fights.”

Members of the council have been accused of targeting the prime minister in order to keep their grip on power and remain in the transitional posts after Feb. 7. On Friday, council members Leslie Voltaire, who has been accused of leading the push, and Edgard Leblanc Fils spoke at a joint press conference declaring they have the right to replace the prime minister and want to ensure the country doesn’t fall into chaos after Feb. 7. The two men, however, also gave contradictory messages about the process, with Voltaire talking about “a pause to allow political parties and civil society groups to meet” and seek what he described as an acceptable governance arrangement, and Leblanc saying that the resolution firing Fils-Aimé “is ready” to be sent to the National Press for printing.

Haitians woke up Thursday under a cloud of uncertainty as the country’s fragile political transition descended into open confrontation, with the sides locked in a standoff and neither appearing willing to back down. With just days remaining until its mandate ends, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council is seeking to remove Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé from office. Such a move would create a dangerous political vacuum—one the United States and other international partners are anxious to avoid—and could open the door to renewed instability at a moment Haiti’s security forces have begun to make measurable gains against armed gangs.