Haiti: Nine Member Transitional Council Assumes Power

By IPS

HAVANA TIMES – The nine members of Haiti’s unprecedented Transitional Council – essentially a collective presidency – were sworn in on Thursday, April 25 to assume the leadership of this Caribbean country. Haiti has been ravaged by gang violence and a humanitarian crisis that has left almost half of its 11.5 million inhabitants in urgent need of aid.

The nine members were sworn in at dawn in the National Palace, in front of a small audience, while in the nearby Bel Air neighborhood, shots from the street gangs could be heard.  Of the nine, seven have the right to vote, in representation of six political groups and the business community. Only one, agricultural engineer Régine Abraham, is a woman,.

The new Council members are: Agustin Smith, Louis Gerald Gilles, Fritz Alfonso Jean, Edgard Leblanc Jr., Laurent Saint-Cyr, Emmanuel Vertilaire, Leslie Voltaire, Régine Abraham and Frinel Joseph.

Parallel to the installation of this ruling council, whose term of office will end on February 7, 2026, the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry was made official. Henry’s interim replacement is economist Michel Patrick Boisvert, pending the formation of a new government by the Council.

Ariel Henry had headed the Executive since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Since the end of January, when it became apparent there would not be elections or the new government that had been promised for February 7, both the political groups and the most belligerent gangs demanded his resignation.

From Los Angeles, California where he is located, Henry sent a message confirming his decision to retire from office and from all ministerial responsibilities, signed with his usual slogan: “Haiti will be reborn.”

Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere, has suffered political instability for decades. For years, it has also been ravaged by dozens of gangs that currently control much of the capital, including access to roads, the port, and the airport, with weapons and resources obtained through crime, drug trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, and other illegal activities.

As criminal activity and political disorder increased, the Caribbean Community (Caricom), composed mostly of English-speaking countries but also including Haiti and Suriname, intervened at the request of other governments in the Americas and Europe.

On March 11, a Caricom meeting in Kingston that included representatives from Brazil, Canada, the United States, France and Mexico, agreed to Henry’s resignation and the formation of the ruling council. The transitional body will now be charged with preparing the groundwork for receiving a multinational force to help contain the cascading violence.

The formation of the new Council required weeks of negotiations to solve disagreements between political groups, the outgoing government, and doubts about the legality and rules of procedure for a ruling council.

The Council is made up of seven representatives of political parties and the business sector who have the right to vote. Two other members, representing civil society and religious groups, will have a voice but not a formal vote.

Between January and March, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, at least 2505 people were killed or injured as a result of gang-related violence, an increase of 53% compared to the previous quarter (October to December 2023).

In February, gangs carried out coordinated attacks against public institutions and strategic infrastructure in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. More than 4,600 inmates escaped from the two main prisons, at least 22 police stations and other police buildings were looted or burned, and 19 officers were killed or injured.

Amid the violence, the shootings and gang sieges of port facilities, the capital’s airport and road access, UN humanitarian agencies have been trying to deploy assistance, principally for health and food.

Of the 11.5 million inhabitants in this country of less than 28,000 square kilometers, some 4.5 million are in urgent need of humanitarian aid according to the UN Office, among them some 400,000 who fled their homes, especially in the capital, trying to escape the siege and threats from gangs.

The United Nations Security Council has given the go-ahead to a multinational armed mission – initially with more than 1,000 troops from Kenya and other African countries – to be deployed in Haiti to support the National Police in combatting the gangs. However, this international force has not yet been formed.

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