The United States insists on “a multinational force” to restore order in Haiti

As it has been doing for some time, the United States reaffirmed its “commitment” to providing a solution to the chaos and insecurity Haiti is experiencing, stressing at a regional meeting that the solution may lie in a multinational force.

“We support the Haitian government’s call for a multinational force to help its police restore security,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday at the meeting of heads of state of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) that was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, chaired by its premier Keith Rowley.

To date, the US is the largest financial and supplies donor to the Haitian National Police.

The situation in the Caribbean country worsened profoundly in July 2021 when an international command assassinated President Jovenel Moise at his residence in Port-au-Prince.

The following year and still pending presidential elections, given the worsening of the economic crisis, the Haitian government decided to suspend the fuel subsidy, which caused a strong wave of protests. This also led to the main gangs taking control of the most important port of the capital and the most populated neighborhoods, surpassing the police force.

The suggestion has been at the very center of the United Nations National Security Council, which has warned about the outbreak of violence in which it has denounced kidnapping and murder as the tools most used by criminal groups.

On June 30, the United Nations agency for Children and Youth, UNICEF, warned about the “astonishing levels” of gender violence suffered by young Haitians.

“Haitians and our team tell me that [la situación] It has never been as bad as it is now: unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, extreme poverty, a paralyzed economy, a resurgence of cholera and massive insecurity that creates a spiral of deadly violence,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

The Haitian National Police has said that it does not have sufficient funds or resources to deal with the spiral of crime, having only about 13,000 law enforcement officers, in a nation of more than 11 million people.

[Parte de la información para este reporte proviene de The Associated Press]

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