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Haiti’s prime minister aims to restore order

Local 10 News anchors discuss the crisis in Haiti ahead of an interview with the prime minister

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Children in Haiti — among the poorest countries in the world and a transit port for cocaine en route to the U.S. — desperately need the new prime minister to succeed.

United Nations advocates reported about three million children need humanitarian assistance, and those displaced ”face heightened risks of violence including sexual assault, exploitation, abuse, and family separation.”

FILE - A server ladles soup into a container as children line up to receive food at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Advocates with Saving The Children, a nongovernmental organization, warned that “more than one million children are living in areas under the influence of armed groups” and reported that “hunger is forcing children in Haiti to join violent gang groups.”

Interim Prime Minister Garry Conille, a gynecologist by training educated in the U.S. with experience as a former prime minister of Haiti and as a veteran international aid officer, has been in power for two months and 15 days.

“Most of the country is functioning, and within the capital, we are able to send kids to school,” Conille told BBC on Aug. 7.

A teacher delivers a math lesson in a car garage to displaced children on May 27, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. AP FILE/Odelyn Joseph (Copyright 2024. Associated Press All rights reserved)

During a meeting in July in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Conille, 58, counts on the “strong support” of the U.S. and Kenya as the leader of the UN-backed multinational security support mission in Haiti.

“We think the next few weeks and months will be quite interesting, but we’re confident with the establishment of the presidential council, the establishment of this new government, we’re going to be able to take on these challenges straight on,” Conille said during the meeting.

Residents look at armored vehicles carrying Kenyan police officers who are part of a UN-backed multinational force in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) (Copyright 2024. Associated Press All rights reserved)

Shortly after, The New York Times reported a presidential transitional council appointed Conille to “one of the toughest jobs of any leader in the Western Hemisphere” as “an outsider unstained by Haiti’s notoriously dirty politics and chronic corruption.”

Conille, the successor of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, described the security challenge to the U.S. listeners of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition: “At the end of the day, this is 12,000 thugs that are holding 12 million people hostage.”

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported the illegal arms trade had delivered everything from Russian AK-47s and U.S.-made AR-15s to Israeli Galil assault rifles. The U.S. Southern Command has provided support to law enforcement.

FILE - A malnourished child waits to be treated at a Doctors Without Borders emergency room in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

During a meeting in June at Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church in Miami’s Little Haiti, Conille’s description of the gangs deeply concerned U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and the local Haitian-American leaders in attendance.

“We talked about prevention; we were surprised to find out that 50% to 70% of the gang members are little boys,” Wilson told Local 10 News. “These are not grown men as we see.”

Children line up to receive a plate of food at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Rev. Baudelaire Martial, a Catholic priest in Port-au-Prince told Church In Need in July that the church has had to pay ransoms for kidnappings, the cathedral was in a conflict zone, and a 12-year-old girl was killed at a church’s social center.

Lionel Constant Bourgoin, a prosecutor in Port-au-Prince, talked to Le Monde on Saturday about the powerless justice system that is trying to work with the law enforcement response of the UN-backed forces working with the Haitian National Police.

“Our public prosecutor’s office is in shambles,” Bourgoin told Le Monde. “The gangs have driven the magistrates out of their courts.”

Haiti has not had sitting elected officials since January 2023. Conille has said there is a political consensus to make it safe to have elections in 2026.

TIMELINE

  • Jan. 12, 2010: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed over 300,000 people.
A girl wades towards her flooded home the day after the passing of Tropical Storm Laura in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) (The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
  • 2020: Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer, co-founded The Revolutionary Forces of the G9, a federation of gangs.
  • July 7, 2021: President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in Petion-Ville.
  • Aug. 14, 2021: A 7.2 magnitude earthquake killed over 2,000 people.
A child eats a handful of grain from a pot at the Hugo Chavez public square transformed into a refuge for families forced to leave their homes due to clashes between armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/ Ramon Espinosa) (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
  • Nov. 4, 2022: U.S. sanctions Joseph Lambert, the president of the Haitian Senate, accusing him of corruption.
  • Nov. 7, 2022: U.S. announces $1 million reward each for information leading to the arrests of three gang members Joseph Wilson, Jermaine Stephenson, and Vitel’Homme Innocent.
  • Dec. 3, 2022: U.S. sanctions Rony Celestin, a Haitian senator, and Richard Fourcand, a former Haitian senator, accusing them of narco-trafficking.
  • July 27, 2023: The U.S. State Department orders relatives of U.S. government employees and non-emergency U.S. government employees to leave Haiti.
People walk past burning tires during a protest against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
  • Feb. 29: There was a significant escalation of gang violence after protests against Henry
  • April 25: Henry submits his resignation and a 9-member transitional presidential council assumes control.
  • June 3: Conille is officially sworn in as prime minister

WATCH THE TWISF EPISODE


About the Authors
Glenna Milberg headshot

Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."

Calvin Hughes headshot

Seven-time Emmy Award-winning newscaster Calvin Hughes anchors WPLG-Local 10’s 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts.

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