Haitian politician allied with a coup leader rejects offer to join U.S.-backed transition
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
A former senator and Haitian presidential candidate whose connection to the streets and alliance with a one-time coup leader is viewed as both an asset and liability by those helping to chart a new future in Haiti has rejected an offer to join the country’s political transition and influence the new government.
Jean-Charles Moïse, the founder of the Platform Pitit Desalin party, is among several influential Haitian figures whose political parties or organizations were chosen by an international coalition to help select the members of a presidential panel to oversee Haiti’s transition and choose a new prime minister. The new government would ready the country for the arrival of a multinational security force and eventual elections.
But as members of the 15-member Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, on Wednesday awaited the names of those who will make up the presidential panel, Moïse officially announced his rejection of the offer.
“I can’t understand what CARICOM is asking of us,” he said in his trademark, firebrand shouting voice surrounded by journalists. “We reject it.”
Also known as Moïse Jean-Charles, the veteran politician from northern Haiti said his political bloc is not interested in joining the deal that emerged Monday in Jamaica during an emergency meeting about Haiti’s worsening crisis. Instead, he reiterated support for his own plan: a three-person presidential council that includes Guy Philippe, the former rebel leader who led a 2004 rebellion that ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Imprisoned in the United States after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking related charges, Philippe was deported to Haiti in November after a six-year prison stint. Almost immediately, he began traveling throughout the country, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
“Like it or not,” Moïse said, “we are going to install our own presidential council.”
Haitians and the international community agree that after years of being wracked by violence and poor governance, Haiti needs stability. But how to achieve it remains a source of divisive debate and disagreement both among Haitians and the countries trying to help. The inclusion of Moïse’s political party in the transition had created angst for some of the other groups, which threatened to pull out if his party was included, fearing that he would bring with him his alliance with Philippe.
Sources told the Miami Herald that even before Caribbean leaders met in Kingston on Monday, Pitit Desalin had support to be included in the new transition plan despite Moïse’s recent alliance with Philippe.
For some Caribbean leaders Philippe, a former Haiti National Police officer who has been amassing a following, isn’t necessarily seen liability., but someone who can be moderated.. So too is Moïse, who earlier this year, as he led a protest against Henry, told Haitians to destroy the country and he would help them rebuild it.
For the U.S., which canceled Moïse’s U.S. visa back in 2022 during a layover in Miami, and others in the international community, the idea of Philippe being involved in any new Haiti government is a non-starter. However, recognizing that Moïse has support in the streets of Haiti, the group of nations that met in Jamaica this week seemed opened to having his party represented as long as the person the party names to the presidential panel met the criteria set out for joining. That includes having no indictments or criminal convictions or indictment, and supporting a multinational security mission, to be led by Kenya, to help Haiti police battle gangs.
Moïse said he cannot support the multinational mission, reminding journalists he’s opposed to foreign troops on Haitian soil.
Moïse added there is no way that he can join a transition whose membership includes some of the very groups that he has fought against: the country’s private sector and supporters of Henry’s government. Both groups are among those that will send a name to the presidential panel.
“This same government we just kicked out of the country, and now CARICOM is asking for us to go negotiate? For us to go sit down with this government?” he said, adding he has no plans to go negotiate with supporters of Henry, who has said he will step down when the new presidential panel is in place.
CARICOM said it was notified on Tuesday by Moïse that he would not be participating. The bloc, which on Monday had given the groups in Haiti 24-hours to submit the names for the presidential panel, had received five names as of Wednesday. Moïse’s decision leaves a voting spot up for grabs. Some prominent Haitians are suggesting that it go to the religious community or civic leadership.
In New York, the U.N. reiterated the importance of the presidential council’s formation. His emphasis came amid ongoing infighting and bickering among some of groups that threatened to derail the plan, and as Port-au-Prince marked another day of relative calm after nearly two weeks of violent gang attacks.
“It’s very important for the Haitian political leaders, the Haitian civil society, to agree on the road forward, on the presidential council as quickly as possible, so we can get things back on track,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
The U.N. office in Haiti remains in close contact with Haiti’s politicians and civic leaders to help them to agree on a path forward, he added. The office also announced that some of its staff members were being temporarily relocated outside Haiti and they were awaiting the arrival of other crisis management personnel.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was among the high-level diplomats who traveled to Jamaica to take part in the negotiations, said he remains hopeful about the formation of Haiti’s presidential panel. The political transition, he said, is moving forward.
“It’s inclusive; it brings together most of the major parties in Haiti as well as other key stakeholders like the private sector, like the interfaith community, and civil society,” Blinken said.
Blinken said he had spoken earlier in the day with Kenyan President William Ruto, who confirmed his nation’s preparedness to lead the security mission as soon as the new council is in place. Blinken said he believes that will happen in the next couple of days, and an interim prime minister will be selected.
“None of this is easy. None of this is going to happen from one day to the next. But at least there is a plan, a process in place to do that,” Blinken said about the transition. “It’s Haitian-designed. It’s Haitian-led. But it’s supported by many countries, not only in this hemisphere but around the world.”
McClatchy Senior White House Correspondent Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
