Haiti: PM Sacks Top Govt. Officials

Facts

• Documents obtained by the Associated Press on Monday have revealed that Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry ordered Justice Minister Berto Dorcé to fire Government Commissioner Jacques Lafontant, and then sacked Dorcé along with Interior Minister Liszt Quitel days later.
• Both ministers were reportedly forced to resign after having their American visas revoked, but the American Charge d'Affaires in Haiti, Eric William Stromayer, alleged that this was a sovereign decision taken by Port-au-Prince.
• The news comes a month after the US government announced that it was pulling visas belonging to unidentified Haitian officials involved with gangs. The Treasury Dept. also imposed sanctions earlier in November on Senate Pres. Joseph Lambert and former Senator Youri Latortue on similar charges.
• Henry — who has served as prime minister since the killing of former PM Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 — is now also serving as the country's interior minister. Meanwhile, the post of justice minister has been filled by Emmelie Prophète Milcé, the fifth person to hold the office in the past two years.
• Also on Monday, a US embassy convoy was reportedly attacked by the 400 Mawozo gang in the latest example of soaring gang violence that internally displaced 90K people from Port-au-Prince this summer. Only a Haitian commercial driver was wounded in the incident.
• As reported per The New Humanitarian, 200 armed groups are currently controlling 60% of Haiti and targeting women and children for rapes, torture, kidnappings, and killings. Though PM Henry has called for foreign troops to intervene, almost 100 civil society groups oppose this move.

Sources: Associated Press, Haiti Libre, Abc, Al Jazeera, CNN, and New Humanitarian.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Peoples Dispatch. Foreign powers are to blame for the ongoing crisis in Haiti — criminal gangs are in cahoots with the illegitimate, US-puppet regime with the aim of provoking chaos and prompting another imperialist intervention. Haitians are fed up with foreign occupations and must be allowed to find a concrete solution for themselves as a sovereign people.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Globe and Mail. The situation in Haiti is deteriorating out of control, with gang-related violence affecting even the nation's ability to sustain normal activities. The only way to prevent the country from soon becoming a failed state is to suspend its national sovereignty and put the nation under the custody of international governance on behalf of the UN.

Predictions