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Haiti\u2019s security crisis is reaching a breaking point. An alliance of armed gangs is pressing the country\u2019s prime minister to resign, placing the United States in the middle of a power struggle gripping the country. Aiming to ease the standoff, the Biden administration is increasing pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Henry to enable a transfer of power.<\/p>\n
The United States was not actively \u201ccalling on him or pushing for him to resign,\u201d Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, said. But, he added, \u201cwe are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and inclusive governance structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impasse points to a major inflection point in Haiti, which has been plagued by nearly perpetual crises over the last several years, as tempers flare in the country of 11.5 million people over spreading unrest, food shortages and a lack of progress in moving toward democratic elections and restoring a sense of security.<\/p>\n
The standoff emerged after Mr. Henry, who has been backed by the United States since becoming Haiti\u2019s de facto leader after the assassination in 2021 of President Jovenel Mo\u00efse<\/a>, was unable to return to Haiti on Tuesday because of doubts over safely landing at the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been targeted in recent days by gang assaults.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Henry, after landing instead in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, has not made any public statements about his whereabouts or plans to return to Haiti. In the meantime, as scenes of looting and disarray have many people in Port-au-Prince on edge, gang leaders have rushed to fill a power vacuum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf Ariel Henry doesn\u2019t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we\u2019re heading straight for a civil war,\u201d Jimmy Ch\u00e9rizier, a top gang leader and former police officer known more widely as Barbecue, told<\/a> reporters in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Mr. Ch\u00e9rizier and other gang leaders have gone on a rampage around Port-au-Prince over the past week, clashing with the police and attacking the airport, bank offices, government buildings and prisons, including the country\u2019s largest penitentiary, allowing thousands of inmates to escape<\/a>.<\/p>\n While different gangs appear to be behind the latest wave of unrest, security experts warn that any alliances between the gangs tend to be fluid and subject to change. It is not clear whether gang leaders are pressing to have a specific role in governing the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Gunfire could be heard around different parts of Port-au-Prince early Wednesday morning despite a curfew aimed at keeping people off the streets outside normal business hours. At least one court building was partially burned on Wednesday, and the airport remained closed.<\/p>\n The deteriorating security situation is limiting the choices available to the United States, which has traditionally held immense sway in Haiti\u2019s politics. The Biden administration has made it clear that there are no plans to deploy U.S. soldiers to Haiti to assert order.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve asked the Haitian prime minister to do is move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections,\u201d Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cAnd we think that is urgent \u2014 that it\u2019s urgent that he moves forward in that direction and start the process of bringing normalcy back to the people of Haiti.\u201d<\/p>\n While members of Haiti\u2019s opposition have criticized the Biden administration for continuing to back Mr. Henry, U.S. officials and analysts have said the prime minister is the only leader with some legitimacy.<\/p>\n \u201cHenry is there to get us through an election,\u201d said Keith Mines, vice president of the Latin America program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. \u201cHe\u2019s in the position for a reason, not because he\u2019s particularly popular, but because he has a thread of constitutionality that no one else has.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A U.S. government official said that Caricom, a union of 15 Caribbean countries, has been at the forefront of calls demanding the Haitian prime minister resign immediately.<\/p>\n Speaking on background to discuss sensitive issues, the official added that the United States had no other Haitian partner who would serve as an alternative to Mr. Henry and said that to demand the prime minister resign immediately would just create more chaos in a country already on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n \u201cNow they are stuck with something even more unpalatable, with no way out, no alternative to the crisis,\u201d said Robert Fatton, an expert on Haiti at the University of Virginia, referring to the Biden administration\u2019s options regarding Haiti. \u201cThe gangs have overwhelming superiority now.\u201d<\/p>\n The violence unleashed by gangs is making an already acute humanitarian crisis in Haiti worse. About 15,000 people were forced to leave their homes over the past few days because of escalating violence, including many who had already been displaced, said Martin Griffiths, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator. Roughly 313,000 people<\/a> in Haiti are currently displaced, the U.N. has said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Widespread hunger is another pressing concern, with about 1.4 million people in the country currently facing emergency levels of hunger, according<\/a> to the World Food Program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n