Politicians vying to lead Haiti form alliances as gangs take over and premier tries to return home
Masked members of "G9 and Family" gang stand guard during a press conference by their leader Barbecue in the Delmas 6 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Haiti's latest violence began with a direct challenge from Barbecue, a former elite police officer, who said he would target government ministers to prevent the prime minister's return and force his resignation. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
EVENS SANON and BERT WILKINSON Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian politicians started Wednesday creating alliances to lead the country crumbling under gang attacks that have shuttered the main airport and prevented embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning home.
Politicians pursued new coalitions as Haiti remained largely paralyzed, with schools and businesses still closed amid heavy gunfire blamed on gangs that control an estimated 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where several bodies lay strewn on empty streets. The country’s two biggest prisons were also raided, with more than 4,000 inmates released over the weekend.
One new political alliance involves former rebel leader Guy Philippe and ex-presidential candidate and senator Moïse Jean Charles, who told Radio Caraïbes on Wednesday that they signed a deal to form a three-person council to lead Haiti.
Philippe, a key figure in the 2004 rebellion that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was repatriated to Haiti in November and has been calling for Henry’s resignation.
The prime minister has not made any public comments ever since gangs began attacking critical infrastructure late last week while he was in Kenya pushing for a U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country to help fight a surge in violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.
Before flying to Kenya, Henry was in the South American country of Guyana for a summit held by a regional trade bloc known as Caricom, where Haiti was high on the agenda.
Meanwhile, a Caribbean official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that leaders of Caricom spoke with Henry late Tuesday and presented several alternatives to end Haiti’s deepening crisis, including his resignation, which he refused to do. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details about the talks.
Henry landed in Puerto Rico late Tuesday afternoon after he was not allowed to land in the Dominican Republic, where officials closed the airspace to and from Haiti. Héctor Porcella, director of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, told reporters the plane did not have a required flight plan.
He faces increasing pressure to resign.
Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada, told the AP on Wednesday that regional leaders spoke with Henry late Tuesday.
“He is the prime minister. He has not indicated anything otherwise than that he is trying to get back into Haiti,” Mitchell said without providing further details.
Henry was appointed prime minister with the backing of the international community shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
As he tried to return to Haiti on Wednesday, heavy gunfire echoed throughout the capital of Port-au-Prince, with Haitians fearing additional attacks led by powerful gang leaders.
It remains unknown when the country’s international airport will reopen.
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Wilkinson reported from Georgetown, Guyana