With armed gangs controlling an estimated 80% of Haiti's capital demanding Henry's ouster, the prime minister was having difficulty returning to the country.
Henry, Haiti's most senior official since the still-unsolved July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, visited Kenya last week to rally support for the deployment of a UN-approved Kenya-led security force to Haiti, a key element of his plan to regain control of the country. calm.
He was returning home on Tuesday when the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, refused to allow his plane to land. He headed instead to Puerto Rico, a US territory.
Caribbean diplomat Ronald Sanders told The Washington Post on Tuesday that Henry had received a letter from the US State Department asking him to consider stepping down under certain circumstances. Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the United States, said the letter described to him included a statement that Henry could read when announcing his resignation.
Unelected and increasingly isolated, the 74-year-old doctor has so far refused to step down.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day, spokesman Matthew Miller denied that the United States had urged Henry to resign.
“We are not calling for or pushing him to resign,” Miller told reporters. “But we urge him to accelerate the transition to an empowered and inclusive governance structure and move urgently to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections.”
With Henry absent, gangs in Haiti this week dramatically escalated violence in a country where security was already collapsing. An attack on the country's largest prison over the weekend allowed thousands of prisoners to escape, prompting authorities to impose a 72-hour state of emergency and a night-time curfew.
The presidency remains vacant. Legislators' terms have expired. This leaves Henry to lead the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Port-au-Prince and parts of the countryside are controlled by armed gangs who rape, kidnap and kill with impunity. The US State Department on Wednesday urged US citizens here to leave the country as soon as possible.
This week, Haiti's most powerful gang leader, Jimmy Scherizer, a former police officer known as “Barbecue,” issued an ultimatum to Henry: He must resign or “the country is headed straight toward genocide.”
“If the international community continues to support it, they will take us into civil war,” Cherizier warned on Tuesday. “We will fight until Ariel Henry resigns.”
Caribbean leaders, who viewed Henry as more of a hindrance than a help, also called on him to step down. The Caribbean Community (Caricom) on Tuesday urged Henry to resign and proposed a timeline for next steps.
The Miami Herald reported that Henry was trying to return to Haiti on Tuesday when he received a letter from the State Department asking him to agree to form a new transitional government and resign.
A Haitian politician who participated in discussions with Haitian and CARICOM leaders said Henry's resignation was “inevitable.” Haitian and Caribbean leaders have proposed forming a two-headed transitional government in which a prime minister and a presidential council would share power, according to the politician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. Caricom leaders increasingly claim that there is no way forward with Henry as prime minister.
“If it's clear that your time is up, either within the state or by interested parties outside the state, then I don't know what the point is in holding on,” Sanders said. “Especially when you're not in the country and you're stuck in Puerto Rico with very little ability to return to the country you're supposed to be prime minister of.”
He added: “He is in a very difficult situation.” “It's only a matter of time.”
Henry talked about holding elections but did not call for them. Haitian politicians have long discussed allowing Henry to remain prime minister and share power with a presidential council. But other Haitian and Caribbean leaders rejected the idea.
It's unclear whether Henry is open to stepping down, “or if it even matters,” said Jake Johnston, author of The Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism and the Battle to Control Haiti.
“Henry’s legitimacy comes from the international community, not from anyone in Haiti,” said Johnston, a research associate who studies Haiti at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. “If the international community withdraws this support, it can call itself what it wants, but is it actually exercising any real power?”
Given the security conditions, elections are unlikely to be possible in the short term. Johnston said that voting while Henry remained Prime Minister would never work. He said the international community should have stopped supporting Henry a long time ago.
“By waiting so long, by pushing this to the brink, Haitians have not only sacrificed their lives, but the crisis has become much more difficult to resolve,” he added. “Now the negotiations are taking place with a literal and figurative gun pointed at everyone’s heads.”
On Saturday night, heavily armed gangs attacked Haiti's two largest prisons, allowing thousands of inmates, including some of the country's most notorious criminals, to escape.
By Monday, gangs had burned down a police station near the airport and fired several shots at the airport itself. A police union reported attacks on several police stations across Port-au-Prince.
Water and food in the capital are scarce. The violence has left many residents trapped in their homes and most public hospitals closed.
La Paix University Hospital, one of the few hospitals still operating, is “overwhelmed,” said Jean-Philippe Lerbourg, director of the university hospital. Post on Wednesday.
He added that since February 29, La Paix has received 66 gunshot victims and dozens of patients with other injuries. Two victims of the shooting have died.
“We can't hold out much longer,” Lyrburg said. “We are running out of blood supplies, and we are short-staffed because many cannot get to the hospital.”
Schmidt reported from Bogotá, Colombia.
