As Haiti continues to reel from political instability, leaders in the Caribbean community have been given a specific mandate to consider the engagement between CARICOM and Haiti.
While there have been discussions at the highest levels with the Prime Minister of Canada and the Foreign Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated that a political solution is required.
Gonsalves stated on Sunday that, in CARICOM’s opinion, the political solution in Haiti, or at least the process of engaging towards a political solution, must come before anything happens on the ground in Haiti.
On November 18, the Caribbean island’s Prime Minister stated that his government will not be sending anyone from the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) to Haiti.
“I mean, we have a humanitarian and social crisis in Haiti that cannot be addressed unless the security situation is addressed.” But the security situation cannot be addressed unless there is political engagement, and CARICOM is seen as an honest broker or facilitator in this particular process. “Unless you have that, it’s going to be tough to send any police and military support on the ground to help in the delivery of humanitarian assistance or assistance to the wider social crisis,” the St. Vincent Prime Minister said.
Gonsalves stated that CARICOM must be careful not to appear to be a stalking horse for any power-seeking hegemony or imperial dominance, or that it is propping up the Haitian government, which has neither legitimacy nor effectiveness.
“It’s a complicated question, which we have to try and maneuver through.” “But if we stick to the fundamentals and look at the critical elements of our engagement strategy, we won’t have tactical confusion,” Gonsalves said.
“In my view, there has been much tactical confusion because there has been an absence of strategic clarity, and I’m hoping that we can build a consensus in CARICOM so that we can have tactical cohesion and not confusion.” “The fact of the matter is that the legitimacy of a state is that it must have a legitimate monopoly on physical coercion, and the Haitian state, given the power of the gangs, has lost that monopoly and does not have legitimacy, and it is not effective,” Gonsalves stated.
Gonsalves said this is not making any commentary on any individual person or the Haitian government because, when you approach these matters, you have to do so in a practical and principled manner.
