(12 Mar 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mexico City, Mexico - 12 March 2024
HEADLINE: Haiti’s Prime Minister agrees to resign
1. SOUNDBITE (English) India Grant, Associated Press Reporter:
++INCLUDES CUTAWAYS FROM SHOTS 2 AND 3++
"Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign. As gangs battle for control of the Caribbean country. His announcement came after a meeting of regional leaders, including the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Now, it's no secret that Haiti has been spiraling into a crisis. Henry had been in Kenya trying to secure a multinational force, but he was unable to return to Haiti after gangs attacked the country's main airport. He flew to Puerto Rico last week but was barred from entering the Dominican Republic. Regional leaders met at CARICOM on Monday, and it was clear that he had lost the confidence of the international community, who wanted a transition to a different government. Now, politicians in Haiti are already lining up for succession, and gang leaders are looking to fill a power void. That includes Jimmy Chérizier, also known as Barbecue. After CARICOM, he held an impromptu press conference in which he rejected international intervention and said that it was for Haitians to decide the future for themselves."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - 12 March 2024
2. Various of people walking in Port-au-Prince
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - 11 March 2024
3. Various of Chérizier with a pistol walks down the street
STORYLINE:
Politicians across Haiti are scrambling for power after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.
But elbowing their way into the race are powerful gangs that control 80% of Haiti’s capital and demand a say in the future of the troubled country under siege.
No one mentioned the armed groups as Caribbean leaders congratulated themselves late Monday for setting Haiti on a new political path, and experts warned that nothing will change unless gangs become part of the conversation.
Gangs have deep ties to Haiti’s political and economic elite, but they have become more independent, financing their operations with kidnapping ransoms to buy smuggled weapons, including belt-fed machine guns and .50-caliber sniper rifles that allow them to overpower underfunded police.
More than 200 gangs are estimated to operate around Haiti, mostly in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. More than 20 of them are based in the capital and rally around two main coalitions: G9 Family and Allies led by Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as “Barbecue”; and G-Pep, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, who is allied with Johnson André, leader of the 5 Seconds gang and known as “Izo.”
Shortly before Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign and Caribbean officials announced the creation of a transitional council, Chérizier held an impromptu news conference and rejected any solution led and supported by the international community.
As the upheaval continues, Henry has been unable to enter Haiti because the violence forced the closure of its airports. He arrived a week ago in Puerto Rico, where he announced his resignation in a recorded statement.
Chérizier has yet to react to the looming resignation, which he has long sought as he claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on critical government targets that began Feb. 29 while the prime minister was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force to help fight gangs.
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