Haiti’s new transitional council is set to elect the country’s next president on Tuesday, but gang leaders who have exercised increasing control clamor for political influence and amnestiesand threaten violence if their demands are not met.
Last week, after the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henrythe council was formally installed, seen as a key step in restoring security after years of gang violence, which has recently spiked.
The council is made up of seven voting members and two non-voting observers, including politicians, a businessman and a pastor. The regional body of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that led the drafting of the council’s composition prohibited the incorporation of gang members or people subject to international sanctions.
However, Some of the leaders of Haiti’s most powerful gangs threaten more violence if they are not allowed political influence..
In an interview with cnn published on Monday, Vitel’homme Innocent, head of the Kraze Barye gang and accused of orchestrating the kidnapping of American missionaries in 2021, asked that the council listen to the gangs and find a solution to the crisis “as soon as possible.”
Kraze Barye is part of a loose coalition of gangs known as Viv Ansanm, or “Living Together,” who now control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The coalition demands that the future government grant them an amnesty for their crimes and create a plan for young gang members who have been forced to join them, either under threat of violence or due to lack of economic alternatives, Innocent told cnn.
The leader of Viv Ansanm, a former police officer named Jimmy Cherizier known as “Barbacoa,” warned of the consequences if the gangs were ignored, in a message shared on social media over the weekend.
“Viv Ansanm is ready to talk. Either we are all at the table, or the table is destroyed with all of us,” he stated.
For his part, Pope Francis encouraged Haiti’s new Transitional Presidential Council on Sunday to work to achieve peace and stability in the country, during the mass he celebrated in the Italian city of Venice (northeast).
“We want to invoke the intercession of Mary in the face of the many situations of suffering in the world. I think of Haiti, where a state of emergency is in force and the population is desperate due to the collapse of the health system, the scarcity of food and the violence that pushes them to flee,” said the pontiff.
And he added: “We entrust to the Lord the work and decisions of the new Transitional Presidential Council so that, with the renewed support of the international community, it can lead the country to achieve the peace and stability that it so desperately needs.”
Haiti has been rocked by an explosion of violence since late February, when powerful gangs launched a wave of attacks in Port-au-Prince and demanded the resignation of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
According to the United Nations, Of a population of about 11.6 million inhabitants, about 360,000 Haitians are internally displaced.
Additionally, the council has been tasked with preparing Haiti to hold presidential elections in February 2026, having not held elections since 2016.
(With information from EFE)
