Haitians in Guyana call on Haitian Prime Minister to resign

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 February 2024, 22:18 by Denis Chabrol

Haitians picketing outside the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana where CARICOM leaders are holding their summit.

A small group of Haitians living in Guyana on Tuesday picketed outside the Marriott Hotel, venue of the summit of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, calling for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign and pave the way for elections.

The group said that Haitians had been promised elections three months after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021 at his private residence. “We were supposed to have elections three months after the death of our President,” Robinson  Ducaby said,  adding that “it is now three years and he is still in the office.”

Under the banner of “Stand by the Haitian People” the Haitians made their collective voice known about the situation in their homeland while CARICOM leaders were in caucus at a resort several miles south-east of Georgetown.

The Haitian situation is on the regional leaders’ agenda, and United States (US) Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield was in Guyana to drum up Caribbean support for an already approved UN-led peacekeeping mission to assist the Haitian National Police to confront armed gangs, create a climate for the holding of free and fair elections and allow safe passage of humanitarian supplies. She said the US has pledged financial, logistical and material support for the mission that is expected to include troops from Benin, a French-speaking West African nation.

CARICOM leaders, along with representatives from the UN, Canada and the United States were all briefed on the situation on Monday morning.

Mr. Ducaby blames the Haitian Prime Minister for the gang-violence in the island, “mass killing is going on in the country, kidnapping, we cannot live in our country right now.” “We want Ariel Henry understand that he must leave the office,” he said. But Mr Henry told reporters on Monday that he saw no need to step down, but instead the government and the opposition should work together to hold elections to allow Haitians to choose their next government. The Haitian Prime Minister said he would not be contesting the next elections for which no date has been set.

On Sunday, CARICOM Chairman, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali called on the community to make “tough decisions” on Haiti saying that those decisions would be in the “interest of the people of Haiti”. He also called for “compromise” in Haiti, an apparent reference to the reluctance to form a national government to prepare for the polls.

(Reporting by Nazima Raghubir; editing by Denis Chabrol)