MIAMI – Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille met with U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson on Saturday in a conference room at the Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.
Conille, a United Nations development specialist and Haiti’s former 2011-2012 prime minister, left Port-au-Prince Friday. He trusted Carlos Hercule, Haiti’s justice minister, to serve as the acting prime minister in his absence amid chronic instability.
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Conille and Wilson held a news conference after a meeting that included guests but was closed to the public.
“We know for sure that the only way we get out of this successfully within the next 20 months is if our brothers and sisters in the diaspora are actively engaged in the process, and we are looking forward as a transitional government to establishing the systems and the processes and platforms to make sure we can make the most of these incredible assets,” Conille said during a news conference after the meeting.
Wilson said they discussed the Temporary Protected Status granted to some Haitian migrants in the U.S., and also said she has a list of demands for President Joe Biden’s administration that included ideas to deal with the gangs that have been causing havoc.
“We talked about prevention; we were surprised to find out that 50% to 70% of the gang members are little boys,” Wilson said. “These are not grown men as we see.”
Conille also trusted the security force from Kenya backed by the U.S. and the U.N. to patrol Port-au-Prince. Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former Haitian police officer turned gang leader, used social media earlier this week to vow to fight the “invaders.”
Conille’s delegation in the U.S. includes Dominique Dupuy, Haiti’s foreign minister; and Kelteen Florestal, Haiti’s finance minister. Their itinerary includes meetings in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Conille’s predecessor Ariel Henry, a retired neurosurgeon, resigned in April after he traveled to Kenya to sign a deal that welcomed the security force. He was later stranded because it wasn’t safe to return to Port-au-Prince.
Henry had replaced Claude Joseph, who briefly served as interim prime minister after a group of gunmen killed Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021, in Petion-Ville. He was 53.
Wilson said she was working to keep Haiti on “the radar” of the White House and was asking for an increase in the funding needed to support Hati’s transition.
“We are forever fighting for Haiti,” Wilson said later adding that she plans to travel to Haiti between August and September and welcomes Haitian-American leaders and U.S. lawmakers to join her.
Local 10 News Photojournalist Nicolas Alvarado contributed to this report.