On Haitian Flag Day, Biden administration calls on diaspora to help with crisis
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
A top State Department official Tuesday called on Haiti’s diaspora to help find a way out of the country’s deepening political crisis.
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Julie Chung said as “living bridges between the United States and Haiti,” the Haitian diaspora has an important role to play in improving and strengthening their homeland’s democracy and economy.
“You can speak against violence. You can speak against corruption and impunity. You can speak against abuses of power and of civil and human rights,” Chung said. “We also hope you will encourage Haiti’s political and civil society leaders to negotiate in good faith to find solutions toward a government that works for all Haitians.”
Chung’s appeal came during opening remarks on a virtual State Department talk commemorating May 18, the Haitian holiday honoring the creation of the country’s bi-color flag on May 18, 1803. She was among 11 State Department officials who read from prepared notes during the event, which had a total of about 60 participants and was closed to the press.
Usually a time of parties and flag-waving celebrations, this year’s Haitian Flag Day commemoration has taken on a more reflective tone as Haiti deals with an ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases and a deepening political and constitutional crisis.
In Haiti, Haitians celebrated with a parade in the seaside town of Jacmel, but others took to the streets in the cities of St. Marc, Port-au-Prince and Lascahobas to once more demand the departure of President Jovenel Moïse and protest against his planned constitutional referendum.
Former Sen. Youri Latortue, whose Haiti in Action party helped organize the protest, said police fired tear gas upon the crowd twice in the capital and blocked protesters from entering Delmas 60 neighborhood. However, one of his security officers, Latortue said, was shot in the back while on his way home at the end of the protest. He did not have any other details, and said this was the second time in seven months that a member of his security entourage was shot.
Haitians also rallied in the U.S. In Washington, D.C., a crowd marched at Freedom Plaza, demanding that the Biden administration stop supporting Moïse’s government. Traveling from various parts of the U.S., and wearing the red and blue colors of the Haitian flag, protesters chanted “Down with kidnappings,” and “Down with elections.”
In Pompano Beach, Haitians and immigration activists gathered next to the Broward Transitional Center, an immigration detention facility, to decry Haiti’s ongoing insecurity and demand that the Biden administration re-designate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and stop deportations to Haiti.
Unlike a renewal of the humanitarian benefit offered to countries in crisis, TPS re-designation would show that the administration recognizes the depth of Haiti’s ongoing crisis by providing protection to a broader group of people from being sent back.
“The U.S. has a long and shameful history of denying Haitian nationals the opportunity to seek refuge in the U.S. But it’s not too late to change course,” said Neyissa Desir, an outreach paralegal with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Amid chants of “No Justice, no peace,” Desir and others spoke out against kidnappings and reminded Biden of his promise during an Oct. 5 campaign visit to Little Haiti in Miami. During the visit, Biden promised to halt deportations to Haiti during his first 100 days, and his campaign said it would immediately review the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status, which currently protects upwards of 60,000 Haitians from deportations.
“We’re now past the 100 days, and these promises have not been fulfilled,” Desir said, noting that deportation flights have continued despite violence and political unrest.
Also Tuesday, four Democratic members of Congress — Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Andy Levin of Michigan, Yvette Clarke of New York and Val Demings of Florida — announced the formation of the House Haiti Caucus amid concerns about current U.S.-Haiti policy. Notably absent was Miami Rep. Frederica Wilson, who represents one of the fastest-growing Haitian-American communities in her congressional district.
During the virtual talk, Biden administration officials directed questions about TPS and Haitian deportations to the Department of Homeland Security. The Biden administration has been under pressure to not only recognize the deepening crisis in Haiti but to drop support for Moïse, who has been unable to stem the alarming uptick in kidnappings and armed gang violence, and insists on holding a controversial June 27 referendum on a new constitution. While many Haitians no longer recognize him as president, insisting that his mandate ended on Feb. 7, Moïse has insisted that his tenure in office doesn’t end until 2022 — a claimed back by the Biden administration.
‘Shocking imbalance’: Latin America’s poorest shut out of vaccine access as COVID surges
In her opening remarks, Chung argued that legislative elections are the democratic way to end Moïse’s prolonged rule by decree.
“This period of one-man rule by decree has already led to the announcement of a problematic national intelligence agency, the introduction of dubious definitions of terrorism, the reduced role of key institutions like the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes, and the removal and replacement of three Supreme Court judges,” she said. “The decision to hold a referendum to amend the constitution of 1987 further adds to the controversy.”
She dismissed calls for a transitional government, saying that while a tempting notion, “Who would those people be? How would they be chosen? To which constituents would they be accountable?”
Haiti has had several transitional governments in recent years, the most recent of which led to the November 2016 re-do elections that brought Moïse to power after the presidential vote under his predecessor Michel Martelly was mired in allegations of widespread fraud.
Before that, the country saw another transition in 2004 after the departure of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide amid a bloody coup. Leading the way, the Caribbean Community set in motion a plan, later supported by the U.S., to have a transitional government chosen by a group of prominent Haitians known as the Council of Wisemen. Two years later, the government held balloting that led to the election of René Préval.
Those calling for a transition this time around have noted that Haiti’s ongoing insecurity, spike in kidnappings, deep polarization and distrust of Moïse prevent the holding of free and fair elections. They have also pointed out discrepancies with the list of registered voters, as well as the refusal of civil society groups, including the Catholic Church, Protestant Federation, business community, universities and human rights groups, to participate in the make-up of the Provisional Electoral Council. The current council was unilaterally appointed by Moïse, and the Haitian Supreme Court refused to swear it in.
“The needs of the Haitian people are far too pressing for elections to be delayed further,” Chung said. “You do not hold elections when it’s convenient; you hold them when they are due. In the United States, even during the most divisive and contentious junctures in our history — economic downturns, protests, natural disasters, a bloody civil war — elections were consistently held so that our republic could continue to progress.“
