Haiti prime minister’s hold on power is ‘untenable,’ State Department says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, to announce his resignation and a political transition in a series of phone calls that took place Thursday and were described as “tense” by senior State Department officials.

Henry’s political future has been in question all week, as a long-simmering crisis between Haiti’s beleaguered government and powerful gang leaders burst into a full-blown conflict that risks toppling what remains of government control.

Henry had been in Kenya, signing a critical political accord with Nairobi that would secure the deployment of reinforcements for the Haiti National Police as part of a multinational force, when a united front of gangs launched coordinated attacks on key institutions throughout the capital of Port-au-Prince. He has been unable to return home since and is currently in Puerto Rico.

The prime minister has been pushing a counterproposal to U.S. and Caribbean officials. But Blinken and his team have remained firm that the plan must include Henry’s departure.

It is unclear whether Henry will accept the U.S. proposal.

“For more than a year, the United States has encouraged Prime Minister Henry and other key stakeholders in Haiti to reach a compromise that will end the ongoing political stalemate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “In the past week, the political crisis in Haiti, combined with escalating violence and civil unrest, has created an untenable situation which threatens the country’s citizens and security.”

The office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed to the Miami Herald on Friday that the U.N. has been invited to attend a meeting on Haiti’s future to be held in Jamaica on Monday. The meeting was called by the 15-member Caribbean Community known as CARICOM.

The U.N.’s chief of cabinet, Earle Courtenay Rattray, will attend the meeting along with several international partners to foster support toward the restoration of democratic institutions in Haiti in the shortest possible time, spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay said.

Former U.S. diplomats have been dismayed by the Biden administration’s handling of the Haitian prime minister.

Thomas Shannon, a former undersecretary of state who was involved in the removal of two previous Haitian leaders, said the back-and-forth and lack of certainty over who will replace Henry is not helping to stem the crisis.

“It’s really up to the United States and CARICOM to really identify who’s got to run that place and then give them the resources to run it and the political muscle to run it,” said Shannon. “But what they’ve done so far is they’ve kind of left Henry to float, do what he can to manage his relationship with other parts of the state, like the police, and there’s been no real willingness to back him. The unwillingness of the United States to participate in any direct peacekeeping operation is just shameful.”

Members of a coalition who support Henry’s hold on power met Thursday with members of the Caribbean Community, which has been trying to find agreement among Haitians on who should lead a transition to a new government. Henry’s supporters made it clear they still support the prime minister, and believe the U.S. and the Caribbean Community should help facilitate his return to Haiti.

“There is an urgency for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to return to the country. The international community should assume this responsibility to help Prime Minister Ariel Henry return home as quickly as possible,” said Andre Michel, a Haitian political leader. “We cannot consecrate this in a gang victory because it’s the gangs that are passing orders. We cannot accept that the gangs have had a political victory.”

Michel said he and others told Caribbean leaders they not only remain supportive of Henry, but are also prepared to make the sacrifices to find a political agreement that would lead to elections.

“We told them we are ready to enter into a political process, to compromise in order to find an agreement so that we can put an end to the transition because the transition has gone on for nearly two years. It’s time for it to be done with and we are ready to make the sacrifice to find a consensus to come to an agreement,” he said.

But their most important message was about bringing help to Haiti to combat the violence.

“We told them the most important thing for the Haitian people today is for the international community to help Haiti put order in this chaos,” he said. “Because today the biggest enemy of the Haitian people and of everyone is the gangs.”