The U.S. and Canada sent armored vehicles and supplies to Haiti to help fight a gang
By The Associated Press
Sunday, October 16, 2022 • 1:23 AM EDT
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. and Canada sent armored vehicles and other supplies to Haiti on Saturday to help police fight a powerful gang amid a pending request from the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of foreign troops.
A U.S. State Department statement said the equipment was bought by Haiti's government, but it did not provide further details on the supplies flown on military aircraft to the capital of Port-au-Prince.
A spokesman for the U.S. military's Southern Command said he could not provide further details on the supplies sent, though he added it was a joint operation involving the U.S. Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force.
"This equipment will assist (Haiti's National Police) in their fight against criminal actors who are fomenting violence and disrupting the flow of critically-needed humanitarian assistance, hindering efforts to halt the spread of cholera," the State Department said.
The equipment arrived more than a month after one of Haiti's most powerful gangs surrounded a fuel terminal and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Demonstrators also have blocked roads in major cities to protest a sharp rise in fuel prices after Henry announced in early September that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel.
Since then, gas stations have closed, hospitals have cut back on services and banks and grocery stores open on a limited basis as fuel, water and other supplies dwindle across Haiti.
The owners of the fuel terminal announced Saturday that armed men had attacked their installations for a second time and fled with more than 28,000 gallons of petroleum products after overpowering surveillance and emergency personnel at the facility.
It was the second time this week that armed men broke into the terminal, which stores more than 10 million gallons of gasoline and diesel and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene.
Related Story: The history of U.S. intervention in Haiti is stopping U.S. officials from intervening
The Pan American Health Organization said there are more than 560 suspected cases of cholera …
some 300 hospitalizations and at least 35 deaths, with experts warning the numbers are likely much higher than what i's being reported.
Coast Guard cutter patrols near Port-au-Prince, Haiti
MIAMI — The Coast Guard diverted one of its major cutters to patrol near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, at the request of the government of Haiti and in close coordination with the U.S. okay Department of State.
USCGC Northland (WMEC 904) was diverted to Haiti as a clear sign of U.S. resolve in support of the Government of Haiti and its people, and to rendezvous with the Haitian Coast Guard for training in the area.
Northland was previously patrolling within the Windward Pass under the direction of the Coast Guard’s Seventh District, headquartered in Miami, in support of Operation Vigilant Sentry, a standing maritime law enforcement operation.
“The U.S. Government has a vested interest in regional security throughout the Caribbean Sea and is aware of the ongoing situation of civil unrest and gang violence within Haiti,” said Rear Adm. Brendan C. McPherson, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District. “The Coast Guard is one part of a whole-of-government approach to assist the Haitian government with security and stability throughout Haiti, especially as it relates to the deterrence and prevention of dangerous, irregular maritime migration.”
The Coast Guard has a longstanding relationship with the Haitian Coast Guard. In January 2010, USCGC Forward (WMEC 911), a 270-foot Famous-class medium endurance cutter, was the first U.S. asset to respond and render humanitarian aid and assistance following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti. In August 2021, the Coast Guard was among the first U.S. agencies to respond with humanitarian aid following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti.
In August 2022, USCGC Robert Yered (WPC 1104), a 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter, delivered firefighting equipment sourced as a donation from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to better equip the Haitian firefighting department at Port-au-Prince-Toussaint Louverture International Airport. In September 2022, the Coast Guard’s international training team visited Haiti to facilitate the second of two iterations of small boat operations training with the Haitian Coast Guard to ensure uniform and repeatable training standards for the maintenance and safe operation of the Haitian Coast Guard’s surface fleet.
The Coast Guard continues to patrol the Caribbean Sea to deter undocumented migration by sea. In fiscal year 2022, the Coast Guard interdicted 7,173 Haitian migrants attempting to enter the United States illegally by sea.
Northland is a 270-foot Famous-class medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia. Northland’s missions include law enforcement, search and rescue, drug interdiction, fisheries enforcement, migrant interdiction, homeland security and defense operations, international training, and humanitarian operations. Northland patrols the offshore waters from Maine to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
|
REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS OF THE 29TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (October 16th, 2022)
Exodus 17, 8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3, 14-4, 2; Luke 18, 1-8
Msgr. Pierre Andre Pierre
The message today stresses the overwhelming power of persistent prayer. Jesus teaches us perseverance in prayers.
The story in the first reading beautifully illustrates the point. Moses sent Joshua, his helper, to defend Israel against the hostile army of the Amalekites. During the fighting, Moses went to a mountain and raised his hands in prayer. As long as his hands were raised in prayer, Joshua’s army gained ground. But when a tired Moses dropped his arms and sought rest, the Amalekites prevailed.
Joshua finally won the battle when Aaron and Hur held up ceaselessly the arms of Moses in prayer. Thus, the victory is won not through Joshua’s sword but through Moses’ prayers.
Likewise, in the Gospel Jesus used a short story to show how persistence or perseverance in prayer brings good results. A poor widow pressed in vain an unjust and careless judge to listen to her plea for justice. The judge at first ignored the complaining widow but in the end became so annoyed by her stubborn persistence that he granted justice to her.
From that story Jesus drew the conclusion. “If an unjust judge finally yields to the request of a poor widow, how much faster will a merciful God respond to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night?”
Jesus’ teaching invites us to trust in God, our guardian. “He slumbers not, he who guards you; he sleeps not the guardian of Israel. He will not suffer your feet to slip. He is beside you at your right hand” (Psalm 121.) He will bring you speedy help.
Let us learn to pray ceaselessly without ever stopping!
CARICOM Statement on Haiti
https://caricom.org/caricom-statement-on-haiti-2/
Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) received a letter from the Prime Minister of Haiti, Dr Ariel Henry, calling for solidarity and requesting assistance to alleviate the deepening humanitarian, security, political, and economic crises in Haiti.
The actions of criminal gangs have resulted in the complete cessation of fuel distribution in several parts of the country forcing the closure of hospitals and schools and the shutting down of water pumps prohibiting the provision of clean water. The water shortage also has exacerbated the resurgence of a cholera epidemic particularly in poor neighbourhoods.
Heads of Government condemn the callous and inhumane actions of the armed gangs responsible for the roadblocks limiting movement of the Haitian people and of goods, the destruction of life and livelihoods and the deprivation of the basic needs of the people.
Heads of Government call upon all stakeholders in Haiti to come together with urgency at this critical juncture in the country’s history to bring an end to the protracted political stalemate in the interest of the people of the country and choose nation above self-interest.
Heads of Government reiterate their willingness to facilitate meaningful dialogue and consensus building among Haitian stakeholders to support efforts at resolving the political stalemate. The proposed assistance includes institution building, implementation of free and fair elections when the required enabling conditions are met, and the establishment of a framework for long-term social and economic development.
However, they recognise that these initiatives could not be effectively realised until the security situation is addressed. In that regard Heads of Government take note of the appeal by Prime Minister Henry for the urgent assistance of Haiti’s international partners for short term assistance to address the security and humanitarian crises.
Opinion Yes, intervene in Haiti — and push for democracy
Editorial Board / Wahington Post
After 15 months of Haiti’s convulsive descent into pandemonium following the assassination of its president, there is at last serious discussion of international intervention to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the tormented island nation. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Sunday, the Associated Press reported, proposed that one or more countries deploy a rapid action force immediately in response to Haiti’s own plea for help to break the paralyzing grip of violence and the accelerating breakdown of infrastructure and public order.
That’s a step in the right direction, but it comes with a critical asterisk: Any move to put international boots on the ground to restore a semblance of stability in Haiti risks additional bloodshed, at least in the short term — and will fail if it props up the current government, which is widely despised.
Largely owing to Washington’s puppeteering, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was sworn in in July 2021 after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. His unelected, illegitimate government has been a predictable disaster. It has either enabled or promoted the country’s dissolution into criminal gang fiefdoms allied with the country’s elite. It has made no serious attempt to prepare the country for elections, nor undertaken good-faith negotiations with Haitian political parties and civil society. It has demonstrated its impotence by ceding control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to mounting violence.
The result is dire. Water and fuel supplies have been blocked, schools are closed, grocery stores are mostly shuttered, and a resurgence of cholera is taking its toll.
In a letter to President Biden last week, a group of Democratic lawmakers provided additional detail about the Henry government’s failures. The letter also noted that even as Haiti’s turmoil has deepened, the Biden administration has failed to replace its special envoy to the country; the previous one resigned a year ago.
The Biden administration’s heedlessness has been compounded by its ongoing campaign of deportations; to date, it has flown more than 26,000 Haitian border crossers back to their native country, in most cases without allowing them to apply for asylum. It is unconscionable for the Western Hemisphere’s richest country to saddle the poorest with a stream of migrants amid an economic, humanitarian and security meltdown.
No one should take lightly the prospect of an international intervention in Haiti. Such efforts in recent decades, by the Clinton administration and the United Nations, have provided few long-term improvements. A U.N. peacekeeping force that was deployed for 13 years, until 2017, provided a modicum of stability but was responsible for introducing what became one of the world’s worst recent outbreaks of cholera. Some of its troops sexually abused Haitian girls and women.
That’s a cautionary tale. Yet weighed against the cratering prospects of a failed state whose main export is asylum seekers, many Haitians would support — if with misgivings — the chance at restoring some semblance of normal life. For an intervention to succeed, however, it’s not enough to suppress the chaos. New hope for Haiti must involve a path toward democracy — and a transition toward a legitimate government with popular support.