(Reuters) – Activists on Sunday rallied on the White House to call on the Biden administration to finish support for the federal government of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, because the Caribbean nation faces a humanitarian crisis resulting from gangs blocking the distribution of fuel.
Haiti’s dire situation has gotten increased attention from all over the world in recent weeks as severe fuel shortages have forced many businesses and hospitals to shut their doors, just as health authorities confirmed a surprise cholera outbreak.
A broadcast of the rally showed several hundred people gathered outside the White House, holding signs bearing Haiti’s flag or with messages including “Let Haitians resolve their very own future.”
“Many Haitians are convinced that the US is actively sustaining Henry in power,” said a press release prepared for the rally by U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, who was not present. “The repression in Haiti must stop.”
Henry, who has run the country since shortly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last 12 months, last week asked for military assistance to confront gangs.
He has said he’s in search of to carry recent elections as soon as possible. Many in Haiti say that rampant violence by armed gangs, which control vast portions of the country’s territory, make a vote unimaginable under the present conditions.
The Biden administration has not signaled that it plans to vary its stance with respect to Henry.
“There was quite a lot of misunderstanding and distorted information concerning the current Government, in testimony before Congress and in lawmakers’ letters circulating on the web,” said an advisor to Henry when consulted concerning the rally.
“We invite Haitian residents, wherever they’re, to unite our energies to make Haiti an incredible country as an alternative of repeating defamation found on the web.”
U.S. Representative Val Demings last week introduced the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2022, which calls for a recent federal investigation into those that support Haitian gangs.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed that one or several countries send “a rapid motion force” to assist Haiti’s police, without suggesting that the force be deployed by the United Nations.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Miami; editing by Diane Craft)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.
