LatinNews Daily - 27 September 2021

Haiti: On 22 September US Special Envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote stepped down from the post which he assumed in July. In a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foote said he would not “be associated with the US’s inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the dangers posed by armed gangs in control of daily life”. He also slammed what he called “puppeteering” of Haitian politics by the US and foreign community: “Last week, the US and other embassies in Port-au-Prince issued another public statement of support for the unelected, de facto Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry as interim leader of Haiti, and have continued to tout his political agreement over another broader, earlier accord shepherded by civil society….The hubris that makes us believe we should pick the winner – again – is impressive. This cycle of international political interventions in Haiti has consistently produced catastrophic results.” Two days earlier Blinken spoke with Henry about cooperation to repatriate Haitian migrants on the US southern border. According to a US State Department press release the two noted that the US and Haiti “share a mutual concern for the safety of Haitian citizens and discussed the dangers of irregular migration, which puts individuals at great risk and often requires migrants and their families to incur crippling debt”. The two also discussed a “Haitian-led process to chart a path to free and fair elections”.

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