Transitional Council to Take Charge
HAVANA TIMES – Unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry has announced he plans to resign amid rising opposition in Haiti, where a coalition of armed groups opposing the de facto leader have declared an uprising, led mass jailbreaks and taken over the country’s airport.
At an emergency meeting with international actors in Jamaica, the regional bloc CARICOM has reportedly proposed a plan to set up a seven-member presidential panel that would appoint a new interim prime minister.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the panel would only include Haitians who support the deployment of a UN-backed security force, a policy supported by Henry, while large swaths of Haitians voiced opposition to another hand-selected leader.
“I’m not sure this solves the problem that’s been going on in Haiti,” says Haitian American scholar Jemima Pierre, who explains why Henry’s resignation and transition announcement attempts to “put a veneer of legality on this situation,” while the country continues to operate under occupation by foreign interests. “There’s going to be more flare-ups in the next few months … if we don’t stop this problem by its root, which is the constant US imposition of its terms on Haitian people and the denial of Haitian sovereignty.”
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: We’re beginning today’s show with Haiti, where the unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry has announced he’ll resign once a transitional council is established. He made the announcement after Caribbean leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and others held an emergency meeting in Jamaica to discuss the crisis in Haiti, where armed groups launched an uprising last week against Henry. He announced his resignation in a video message posted online.
PRIME MINISTER ARIEL HENRY: [translated] After the Council of Ministers, it’s been agreed to set up a presidential transitional council. Once chosen, the council will govern over different sectors of national life. … Haiti wants peace. Haiti needs stability. Haiti needs sustainable development. Haiti needs to rebuild democratic institutions. I’m asking all Haitians to remain calm and do everything they can for peace and stability to come back as fast as possible for the good of the country.
AMY GOODMAN: The Miami Herald is reporting CARICOM has proposed a plan to set up a seven-member presidential panel that would appoint a new interim prime minister who would rule until elections are held. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the panel would only include Haitians who support the deployment of a U.N.-backed security force. Last week, Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya, which is slated to lead the security mission. He has been unable to return home and was reportedly most recently in Puerto Rico.
On Monday, one of the leaders of the recent armed uprising in Haiti, Jimmy Chérizier, who’s known as “Barbecue,” warned against outside forces picking Haiti’s next leader.
*JIMMY CHÉRIZIER: * [translated] We take this opportunity to say to the international community that if it continues down this path, we will plunge Haiti into chaos when it chooses a small group of politicians and negotiates with them on paper to decide who can be president and what kind of government we’re going to have. Today it’s clear that it’s the inhabitants of the working-class districts and the Haitian people who know what they’re suffering at the moment, and it’s up to them to choose the person who’s going to lead them and the way he’s going to lead them.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Jemima Pierre, professor at the Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia in Canada, and research associate at the University of Johannesburg. She’s a Haitian American scholar and co-coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace’s Haiti/Americas Team, which has been closely following the crisis in Haiti. She has a recent piece in NACLA headlined “Haiti as Empire’s Laboratory.”
Welcome back to Democracy Now! Events and developments are proceeding quickly, Professor Pierre. Can you respond to Ariel Henry’s announcement, we believe from Puerto Rico, that he will be stepping down, and what exactly that means?
JEMIMA PIERRE: Good morning, Amy. Thanks for having me back aga
