Trudeau’s Caribbean visit didn’t break Haiti logjam

About 90 Canadian navy sailors will know Port-au-Prince Bay as part of the deployment of two ships announced Thursday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Bahamas.

Two Kingston-class coastal defense vessels, usually manned by a mix of regular and reserve forces, will anchor off Haiti’s mountainous capital.

In addition, there appeared to be limited progress in resolving Haiti’s multifaceted crisis at the 50th anniversary summit of the CARICOM community in the Caribbean in Nassau, Bahamas.

Meanwhile, there are reminders that Haiti itself remains deeply divided over foreign intervention, and that outside forces will not only have to fight dozens of armed groups, but may also face resistance from various Haitian communities.

Police gunboat

Perhaps for that reason, the Trudeau government prefers to get its feet wet with a naval deployment off the coast of Port-au-Prince, rather than sending troops directly into the city’s streets.

At the closing press conference, Trudeau was pressed on how ships at sea can help street gangs on land.

One Canadian official told the CBC that the gangs are increasingly on the water, in part to steal shipping containers.

In particular, the 5 Seconds gang from the Village de Dieu neighborhood in southern Haiti, has used speedboats not only for pirate raids in the water but also to launch amphibious attacks in other districts across the bay.

Canadian officials hope that the presence of armed naval vessels will at least restore order in the waters off Port-au-Prince.

The ship will also be able to provide intelligence to the Haitian police through the ability to intercept electronic communications.

But it is not clear whether they can board the ship and search for another ship. Shipments, usually from the US, are considered the main route for the entry of weapons and ammunition that strengthens the gang.

Government sources said the terms of engagement were still being determined.

‘Worse and worse’

The ship will find the capital where the territory under government control continues to shrink.

“The situation is getting worse,” Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry told Trudeau at a bilateral meeting in Nassau. “It cannot be allowed to continue like this.”

That sentiment was echoed this week by Canada’s ambassador to Haiti, Sébastien Carrière, who told CBC News “I think you’d have to be blind not to know it’s getting worse.”

That evaluation is one of the few things everyone can agree on.

There is also a fairly uniform consensus that Henry’s unelected government lacks legitimacy, and this hinders Haiti’s ability to unite in the fight against gangs. And most everyone also agrees that the solution to the problem – free and fair elections – remains out of reach in the current state of insecurity.

Beyond that point, there is little consensus. Canada and the rest of the so-called core group of foreign powers are often accused of calling the shots in Haiti wanting to keep Henry in place while trying to restore security and negotiate a political agreement that will allow the transition to a new elected government.

But many in Haiti see Henry as a puppet of the Core Group, which effectively installed him in office after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, and accuse his government of waging gang warfare for its own ends. They see departure as a prerequisite for further progress.

Harsh words for ‘former colonial power’

“The action taken by the prime minister is an expression of the will of the Core Group and not of the Haitian people,” read a letter sent by a coalition of Haitian civil society groups and labor unions to CARICOM leaders.

“Sister Nations CARICOM, it is time for the Caribbean to stop being a booster of colonial power.”

The letter, which mentions the name of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that the gang is a “criminal fabrication that has the imprimatur of the Core Group, which is a gang of ambassadors that includes, among others, the OAS, Canada, France and the United States, who are very happy with their involvement the corrupt and criminal Haitian oligarchic regime and politicians.

“All the prescriptions of the Haitian Constitution and the right to self-determination of the Haitian people are now being trampled upon. As a result, Ariel Henry, the Prime Minister of the Core Group, has no title, no capacity, and no legitimacy that authorizes him to decide or speak on his behalf Haitians.”

The harshly worded letter is a reminder that some in Haiti will never accept the presence of Canadian troops or police that, in any case, Canada does not offer.

There is no substitute for the Haitian people themselves

“We strongly believe that Haitian institutions themselves must take the lead,” Canada’s UN ambassador Bob Rae said in Nassau. “We don’t think Canada or any other country can replace the institutions that need to do that work.”

The Canadian government’s strategy depends heavily on the survival and success of the Haitian National Police.

“Obviously we need to increase the capacity of the police in Haiti,” Rae said. “Haiti has to decide whether, like most countries, it will have an army.” (Haiti disbanded its armed forces in 1994, and although it officially reconstituted itself five years ago, it remains small and ineffective.)

Rae said no foreign force could replace Haiti’s own security forces.

“I think we need to finish the history of the big military intervention where you just take away all the Haitian institutions and say, we’re going to do this. And then the pressure comes back from home saying, “Look, how long will the army last? So the army came out again, then where are they?”

Not enough to win

But some Haitians and foreigners say the task is now beyond the reach of the Haitian police force, which has suffered dozens of losses in the past year, including senior officers.

“We still haven’t done enough to be able to win this war at this stage,” said Helen La Lime, head of the UN political office in Haiti, after a special session of the UN Security Council last week that produced no new commitments. “We will not win this battle without a significant level of additional support.”

One prominent Haitian-Canadian agrees with that assessment.

Former governor general Michaëlle Jean, who is also the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) envoy to Haiti, told the CBC Power and Politics that “as the government of the country is corrupt, so is the government of the police.”

What the police lack, he said, is “coordination, communication, and intelligence. Because of the lack of intelligence, police operations are conducted blindly, with disastrous consequences.”

He acknowledged that there is resistance in Haiti to the entry of security forces from Core Group countries such as Canada. “Police teams from countries in the region will be more welcomed by the Haitian population.”

‘failed state’

While two of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors – the Bahamas and Jamaica – have committed to sending their own troops to the eventual mission, the others have not.

And the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Philip Davis has warned that, even together, the Caribbean countries can not reverse the situation in Haiti, a nation with more people than 14 other CARICOM countries.

Meanwhile the Haitian National Police, with 9,000 members, appears to be shrinking rather than growing. Defections are expected to accelerate as disillusioned officials take advantage of a new US visa program that allows Haitians with family members in the US to emigrate.

As the police force shrinks, the area controlled by gangs expands.

“Haiti has become a failed state,” Jean said.