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