GUYANA’S PRESIDENT DECLARES AS LEADERS DELIBERATE ON POSSIBLE PLANS DURING ONGOING CARICOM SUMMIT
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, February 28, 2024 – Chairman of CARICOM and Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali, has said that discussions have already commenced to address the challenges faced by the Haitian population.
He alluded to this topic during the first business session of the 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government, at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Kingston, on Monday.
As CARICOM continues to muster support for Haiti, regional leaders are “hopeful” that by the end of the ongoing regional summit, sustainable solutions could be outlined to address the crises affecting the country.
“We are hopeful that sometime today (Monday), we will be able to point the Haitian people and the global community in the direction through which we believe long lasting sustainable solutions can be achieved,” Dr Ali said.
He added: “This requires all stakeholders, in Haiti especially, to give a bit…to compromise a bit and to express a collective willingness to achieve the outcomes that we are setting ourselves to achieve.”
Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, is currently in Guyana for the Heads of Government meeting.
In 2018, protests began in communities throughout Haiti in response to increased fuel prices. Over time, those protests evolved into demands for the resignation of Jovenel Moïse, the then-president of Haiti.
An interim government was installed after the assassination of Moïse; however, surges of violence continued.
Several Haitians have since fled the country. The situation remains intense with the latest report showing a surge in violence and more than 310,000 people being internally displaced.
At the opening ceremony of the Heads of Government meeting on Sunday evening, President Ali said that “tough decisions” will be made to support Haiti.
“Anything that impedes the interest of the people of Haiti is of immense concern for the leadership of this region…We have committed as a region in ensuring that the people of Haiti can also realise their full potential in peace, security and with good governance…We owe it to the people of Haiti,” Dr Ali said.
The most recent past chairman of CARICOM, Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, in his address at Sunday’s opening of the CARICOM summit, said: “We needed to help Haiti yesterday.”
According to a recent report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of December 2023, more than 60 per cent of the population has been displaced, and of this percentage, children make up a high number of the displaced.
“Haiti needs the support of everyone in this world, every country in this world and I do not believe we have the time or the luxury of time to continue talking about helping Haiti,” Prime Minister Skerrit said.
Back in 2023, Guyana had issued calls for more global support for Haiti. The country’s Head of State during an Atlantic Council engagement, in Washington, D.C. had candidly stated that enough was not being done to support the CARICOM state.
“Haiti has not been getting the type of global attention that it deserves in this time of crisis. Look at the news coverage and check what percentage of news is dedicated to Haiti and what percentage is dedicated to other issues we have globally,” Dr Ali had said.
