Haiti Crisis: Spiral Continues with No Easy Option (Dominican Republic)
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The spiral of violence in Haiti continues in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Henceforth, with gangs controlling approximately 80% of the capital, the nominal head of Haiti is unable to return.
Last year, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier (head of the G9 Family and Allies gang – FRG9) warned against any UN multinational force. Now, he is calling for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
Cherizier said, “If Ariel Henry doesn’t step down and the international community continues to support him… they will lead us directly to a civil war which will end in genocide.”
Flights at the international airport are closed because of gang attacks. Meanwhile, in the last 48 hours, the National Palace and parts of the Interior Ministry were attacked.
Henry, with no internal power unless the international community supports him, is stuck in Puerto Rico because gangs are constantly attacking the international airport.
The BBC reports, “Meanwhile, the police, outnumbered and demoralised, are struggling to keep looters at bay. The Salomon police station in Port-au-Prince was attacked and burnt out, and charred police vehicles lie outside the still-smouldering building.”
The Guardian reports, “Caribbean leaders issued a call late on Friday for an emergency meeting Monday in Jamaica on what they called Haiti’s “dire” situation. They have invited the United States, France, Canada, the UN and Brazil to the meeting.”
Caricom (Caribbean bloc of 15 nations) declared that “the situation on the ground remains dire.”
Bharrat Jagdeo (Vice President of Guyana) said, “Criminals have now taken over the country. There is no government, it is becoming a failed society.”
The United Nations said at least 800 people were killed in Haiti in January. Also, over 350,000 people are now internally displaced.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is watching events and fears negative convulsions.
Luis Abinader, the President of the Dominican Republic, last month said, “Let’s prevent Haiti from ending up devastated by chaos and anarchy. We will not allow the crisis it is experiencing to spread throughout the entire region.”
He continued – if no international network emerges to help Haiti – “Our slogan from now on will be: either we fight together to save Haiti, or we will fight alone to protect the Dominican Republic!”
It seems that Abinader is now closing the door and protecting the interests of the Dominican Republic.
The government statement said, “Henry is not welcome in the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.”
The statement continued by saying that the crisis in Haiti is “totally unsustainable” and it “poses a direct threat to the safety and stability of the Dominican Republic.”
According to the Dominican Republic – “…the situation could deteriorate even further if a peacekeeping force is not implemented urgently to restore order.”
Overall
Last year, Cherizier warned, “If the foreign forces arrive in 2023 or 2024, and we see them sexually assaulting women, raping young boys just as the Uruguayan soldiers did in 2004. If they bring cholera back to Haiti. … If that is what they are coming to do in the underprivileged neighborhoods, along with opening fire on us, killing the people or massacring them — we Haitians will fight them until we shed our last drops of blood.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) said, “Accordingly, it is understandable why Haitians feel betrayed by the UN and distrust outside forces. The lasting legacy of the cholera outbreak and countless sex scandals – all connected to the UN – cement enormous mistrust. Therefore, bridges need to be built with ordinary Haitians – outside the corrupt political class.”
Haiti is spiraling because of the failure of the political system over many decades and the role of the UN in sex abuse scandals and killing vast numbers from cholera while in denial mode, entails that no easy solution exists for the embattled people of Haiti.
President Joe Biden of America said many years ago: “If Haiti, a God awful thing to say, if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot in terms of our interest.”
Despite the proximity of Haiti to America, it is abundantly clear that events in Gaza, Taiwan, Ukraine, and other parts of the world are of concern to the Biden administration and not Haiti.
Haiti is blighted by history concerning the failure of internal and external forces that have failed the people for decades.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK