Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness is making a one-day visit to Haiti on Monday along with government ministers and ambassadors from two other Caribbean countries as part of a long-awaited visit to see how Caribbean leaders can help Haitians find their way out of their gang-ridden country’s crisis, which has brought the health care system to the verge of collapse.
Holness and the delegation of ministers and diplomats from the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago plan to spend the day in Port-au-Prince meeting with Haitian political and civil-society leaders in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the effects of the ongoing armed gang violence. The visit comes amid an alarming rise in kidnappings in the capital, and gang violence that is now spreading to rural communities.
Caribbean leaders’ offer to help Haiti dates back to before the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. As Moïse faced a a wave of anti-government protests and calls for his resignation, the 15-member Caribbean Community known as CARICOM offered to help mediate the political impasse. Moïse never acted on the offer and after his death, Canada and the United States pushed for CARICOM to be more engaged in Haiti.
