MIAMI – About a dozen protesters stood across the street from the consulate of Haiti on Thursday in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood to voice concerns about the escalating violence on the island and to advocate for “Haitian Solutions.”
They also marched to the nearby Dominican Republic Consulate for a demonstration pertaining to ongoing friction between the two countries about a canal being constructed in Haiti that diverts water from a border river.
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They also said they oppose the U.S. government’s deal agreement with Kenya reached earlier this year as part of a multinational peacekeeping mission to Haiti to combat gang violence.
A spokesperson with the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) told Local 10 News Friday that they do not send lethal weapons to Haiti.
The INL provides a small quantity of ammunition used exclusively for training of a vetted, polygraphed unit. All U.S.-purchased ammunition is stored securely by INL contractors.
To deprive the gangs of firearms, officials say the INL is working to build the Haitian National Police’s capacity to interdict and investigate illicit weapons flows into Haiti.
The U.S. and Kenya signed a defense agreement in September to provide Kenya with support and resources for security deployments.
Haiti also signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to facilitate law enforcement information sharing through the ATF eTrace system.
Paul Christian Namphy was part of the group that was protesting along 13th Street before marching eastbound to Brickell Avenue.
“They are asking Kenyan police officers to go to Haiti,” Namphy said about Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s request to the United Nations. “This is not the solution. We are not in favor of that intervention. We are in favor of a Haitian solution.”
Despite Henry’s plea for help and the approval of the United Nations Security Council, Kenya’s government announced last month that police officers will not be deployed to command a multinational mission in Haiti until training and funding conditions are met.
Also last month, a heavily armed gang seized The Fontaine Hospital Center in Port-au-Prince and there was a brief armed confrontation at the border between Dominican soldiers and members of a Haitian environmental government brigade.
Members of Aviti Toma also expressed concern about the illegal smuggling of weapons into Haiti, which they say are empowering armed gangs terrorizing the nation.
You may remember Homeland Security Investigations Miami continues its effort to combat the illegal smuggling of weapons into Haiti and the Caribbean.
The federal agency is seeking to prosecute individuals involved in illegal arms trafficking.
The HSI Miami special agent in charge told local 10 news last year, “Not only have we seen a marked uptick in the number of weapons, but a serious increase in the caliber and type of firearms being illegally trafficked.”
Thursday’s protest in Miami comes after Joseph Vincent, a dual Haitian-American citizen and former confidential informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Gangs grew more violent after the assassination. Tensions with the Dominican Republic increased. The instability has been driving an increase in migration.
Last week, law enforcement intercepted 63 undocumented migrants from Haiti and the Dominican Republic in a rustic wooden boat at sea, near Puerto Rico, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Haiti-Dominican border remained closed on Thursday.
The protest continued at the consulate of the Dominican Republic along Brickell Avenue, near Southeast 11th Street.
Local 10 News Photojournalist Mario Alonso contributed to this report.
Protesters march