Stuck in Puerto Rico : The Prime Minister of Haiti announces his resignation

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed Monday to step down from his post, the head of the Caribbean Community of Nations announced after a meeting in Jamaica to discuss the situation in Haiti, torn by gang violence and a governance crisis.

“We have taken note of the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry,” said Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana and the Caribbean Community of Nations (CARICOM), announcing “a transitional governance agreement that paves the way for a peaceful transfer of power.”

The crisis in Haiti was the focus of Monday's crisis meeting in Jamaica, while Western embassies are working to evacuate their diplomats from the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has become under the control of criminal gangs. 

An American official said that Henry confirmed his resignation in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is in Jamaica to attend the emergency meeting called for by the Caricom group, in which representatives of Canada and the United Nations also participated.

Blinken announced that the United States will provide an additional $133 million to support resolving the crisis in Haiti, including $100 million to fund the deployment of a multinational force and another $33 million in humanitarian aid.

Canada pledged more than $91 million, and other countries announced contributions in financial or logistical aid, including Benin, France, Germany, Jamaica and Spain, according to US officials. 

The United States and Canada ruled out sending troops to Haiti. 

Kenya said it was ready to deploy police, but has not been able to do so yet due to a decision issued by a Kenyan court. 

Violence linked to gangs escalated over the weekend in Haiti, which, like part of the population, were demanding the resignation of Ariel Henry.  

Henry was unable to return to the country after a visit to Kenya due to the escalation of violence, and he is still stuck in Puerto Rico, an island territory in the Caribbean belonging to the United States. 

In the midst of the chaos that witnessed the capital of Haiti, the country's security forces were able to regain control of the port of Port-au-Prince after clashes with gangs last weekend, according to the director of the National Ports Authority, Jocelin Villiers.

He added that our ships were able to unload containers, but the main challenge remains in getting products and foodstuffs out of the port because the main roads are not safe.

The authorities declared a state of emergency a week ago, which includes a nightly curfew in the Western Administration, which includes the capital. 

To address this problem, the UN Security Council agreed to send an international mission led by Kenya to assist the Haitian police, but the deployment of this mission was delayed.

Haiti, which currently has no president or parliament, has not witnessed elections since 2016.

Ariel Henry, who was appointed by President Jovenel Moise before his assassination in 2021, was supposed to leave office in early February.