Two former cabinet ministers in Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government have been sanctioned by Canada after allegations of corruption and support of the country’s gangs.
Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, announced Tuesday that Canada is sanctioning former ministers Berto Dorcé and Liszt Quitel. The men were two of the most high profile members in the Henry government before they were each forced to resign by the Haitian prime minister last month after the United States quietly revoked their U.S. visas. Dorcé was justice minister and Quitel, who previously held the justice ministry portfolio, was appointed interior minister when Henry put together his government in July 2021.
The U.S. State Department does not confirm visa cancellations but several sources have confirmed to the Miami Herald that the two men, whose tenures were peppered with controversies, are among those who have lost their right to enter the United States. On Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Brian A. Nichols warned that those who continue to fan instability in Haiti “will continue to face potential sanctions.”
Nichols warning comes as many in the international community privately express frustration with the ongoing political paralysis in Haiti, which will once again be a focus Wednesday afternoon when the United Nations Security Council meets. The meeting has been called by Russia, which supported a Security Council vote in October for an arms embargo and sanctions against Haitian gang leaders and those who support them.
Both the Biden administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have turned to economic sanctions against Haitian politicians and businessmen accused of being tied to armed groups, to help deal with the country’s surging gang violence.
The new foreign policy directive comes as Haiti continues to reel from last year’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, gang violence and kidnappings surge, and the only elected officials left in the Caribbean nation — 10 remaining senators in a bicameral legislature that is supposed to have 149 lawmakers — prepare to see the end of their mandates the second Monday in January. Though their presence has not led to any new laws or has even been large enough for a quorum, the total absence of any elected officials in the country risks plunging Haiti deeper into crisis and has further raised concerns in the international community.
Foreign diplomats have consistently said that they want to see a Haitian-led solution to the current multidimensional crisis facing Haiti, which includes chronic fuel shortages, a crumbling economy, deepening hunger and deadly cholera, which has been confirmed in all but one of the country’s regional departments.
Diplomats, however, are increasingly dismayed by the lack of progress toward a political solution, and say it’s time for the country’s leaders to realize that people are suffering.
“This is a vital moment in Haiti,” Nichols told the Miami Herald. “We strongly encourage all of Haiti’s political actors to come together around a broad agreement on the way forward. Prime Minister Henry, the Montana Group, key private sector actors as well as other political and social forces should put aside their differences and forge a path toward new elections, improved security, and economic growth.”
During a holiday gathering with members of the diplomatic corps and others on Monday, Henry acknowledged the use of sanctions, and revisited the recent crises plaguing his nearly 17 months in office, including two gang-blockades of the country’s fuel terminal. He reiterated his request for the deployment of specialized foreign forces to help the Haiti National Police curb the gang violence and help get humanitarian assistance to those in need, and he appealed for a national compromise to help lead Haiti to elections in 2023.
The appeal comes as he touts a new political agreement and his aides make the rounds among political parties and civil society groups trying to get them to sign on. The text, drawn from several other unsuccessful accords, proposes a five-member High Council of Transition to lead the country to elections next year. Henry is also promising a reshuffling of the government, the appointment of judges to the dysfunctional Supreme Court and the appointment of nine individuals to a Provisional Electoral Council to stage general elections.
Though Henry has reportedly set a deadline of Wednesday afternoon to coincide with the U.N. Security Council meeting, it was still unclear late Tuesday if he would get the necessary support. While some members of the civil society coalition known as the Montana Group have been willing to negotiate with him, others are calling for his resignation.
Canada, which has been asked by Washington to field a security force for Haiti, has said it wants to see an agreement by the country’s political parties in order for it to deploy troops. In the meantime, it has focused its attention on administering sanctions as a U.S.-backed resolution encouraging the rapid deployment of an international military force to Haiti stalls in the Security Council.
On Tuesday, Joly said Canada has reason to believe that both former Haitian ministers, Dorcé and Quitel, used their “status as high-profile elites in Haiti to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption.”
Quitel was interior minister and justice minister when 16 American and one Canadian missionary were brazenly kidnapped in Haiti by a notorious armed gang on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince in October 2021. At the time, the kidnappings drew global attention. But there was another kidnapping, one involving a Haitian-American pastor who had been grabbed 13 days earlier and remained in captivity, that went largely unnoticed outside of Haiti. Quitel was accused of involvement in that kidnapping but forcefully denied the allegations.
Dorcé also faced his share of problems while in the government, including the arrest of an acting state prosecutor and the secretary general of the Federation of Bars of Haiti who served as justice ministry adviser, in connection to an illegal shipment of 120,000 high-powered rounds bound for senior political officials in Port-au-Prince.
“These gangs and their supporters continue to terrorize vulnerable populations in Haiti with impunity and are precipitating a humanitarian crisis in the country that includes the resurgence of cholera,” Joly said in a statement. “They are also committing unspeakable violence against affected populations and impeding the delivery of critical services and humanitarian aid.”
Under the Canadian sanctions both ministers will have any assets they may hold in Canada frozen and they will be unable to enter Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. They are now among 13 Haitian nationals Canada has sanctioned.
With Canada taking the lead in issuing sanctions, Joly said: “Canada is increasing its pressure by imposing corruption sanctions against Haitian elites so we can help the people of Haiti emerge from this crisis and restore peace and security in their country.”
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