Haiti is being gripped by escalating violence and turmoil as armed groups battle for control in the streets. Last week, unelected Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would resign, after a coalition of armed groups opposing the de facto leader declared an uprising. Negotiations to establish a transitional presidential council are being led by the U.S.-backed Caribbean political alliance CARICOM as a refugee crisis brews, with the Biden administration floating the idea of housing Haitian asylum seekers in Guantánamo Bay. We speak to Dan Foote, who resigned from his post as U.S. special envoy for Haiti in September 2021 over the Biden administration’s “inhumane” treatment of Haitian asylum seekers and U.S. interference in Haitian politics. “We’re holding Haiti hostage through this CARICOM political process,” says Foote, who says Haitian sovereignty must be respected in order to break the cycle of intervention, unrest and violence. “Everybody has an answer for Haiti. Unfortunately, historically, none of those answers have worked.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
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