PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A surprise announcement revealed that Haiti’s new prime minister is threatening to fragment a recently installed transition council tasked with choosing new leaders for the gang-ridden Caribbean country.
Four of the seven voting council members said Tuesday they had chosen Fritz Bélizaire as prime minister, surprising many Haitians with their declaration and unexpected political alliance.
Council members who oppose Bélizaire, who served as Haiti’s sports minister during René Préval’s second presidency from 2006 to 2011, are now weighing options, including fighting the decision or resigning from the council.
A person with direct knowledge of the situation, who declined to be named because negotiations are ongoing, said the council’s political agreement was violated by the unexpected move and that some council members were considering other options as a potential prime minister.
The council on Tuesday was scheduled to hold an election and choose its president. But two hours and an apology later, a council member said that not only had a council president been chosen, but also a prime minister. Murmurs echoed throughout the room.
The Montana Accord, a civil society group represented by a board member with voting power, denounced in a statement Tuesday night what it called a “conspiracy” hatched by four board members against the Haitian people “in the midst of of the night”.
“Political and economic mafia forces have decided to take control of the presidential council and government so they can continue to control the state,” the Montana Accord stated.
Haitian politics has long been characterized by secret negotiations, but many fear the country cannot afford more political instability as gangs lay siege to the capital Port-au-Prince and elsewhere.
“People change parties (as if) they were changing their shirts,” said François Pierre-Louis, a political science professor at Queens College in New York and a former Haitian politician.
He spoke during an online webinar on Tuesday night.
Like others, he said he believed that Jean-Charles Moïse, a powerful politician who was a senator and presidential candidate, was behind Bélizaire’s nomination.
“Interestingly, Moïse, of all the politicians there, is the one calling the shots,” said Pierre-Louis.
Moïse, however, is not part of the board. His party, Pitit Desalin, is represented by Emmanuel Vertilaire, who is among four councilors supporting Bélizaire.
The others are Louis Gérald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the new chairman of the board.
They could not immediately be reached for comment.
Fils represents the political group 30 de Janeiro, which is made up of parties such as PHTK, whose members include former president Michel Martelly and assassinated president Jovenel Moïse. Meanwhile, Augustin represents the political party EDE/RED, founded by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph, and Gilles represents the December 21 Agreement, which is associated with former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who recently resigned.
A document shared with the Associated Press and signed by the four members of the council that chose the new prime minister states that they agreed to make decisions by consensus. The document is entitled “Constitution of an indissoluble majority bloc in the Presidential Council”.
Henry was on an official visit to Kenya to press for the deployment of a UN-backed police force from the East African country when gangs in Haiti launched coordinated attacks starting on February 29.
They burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, which has remained closed since early March, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. Violence continues unabated in certain parts of Port-au-Prince, including the area around the National Palace.
Haitians demand that security be a top priority for the council, which is tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet, as well as preparing for eventual general elections.
But some Haitians are wary of the council and the decisions it is making.
Jean Selcé, a 57-year-old electrician, noted that most of the board members are longtime politicians: “Their past is not really positive.”
“I hope their mentality can change, but I don’t believe that will happen,” he said. “They don’t really love the country. Who is dying now? They are Haitians like me.”
Robert Fatton, an expert on Haitian politics at the University of Virginia, noted that some of the parties represented on the council are responsible for the current chaos in Haiti.
“It’s a contradiction,” he said. “Every time it seems like we are in crisis, we reappoint the same people and hope they change their ways, but that doesn’t happen.”
Raising the same criticism is Michael Deibert, author of “Notes from the Last Testament: The Fight for Haiti” and “Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.”
He noted in a recent essay that the Council is “dominated by the same political currents that have spent the last 25 years pushing Haiti to the precipice, taking advantage of impoverished youth in the slums to be used as political cudgels before – bloated in the income of kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises – these groups have outlived their patrons.”
More than 2,500 people were killed or injured across Haiti between January and March, according to the UN
Additionally, more than 90,000 people fled Port-au-Prince in just one month due to relentless gang violence.
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