The United States has added two more Haitian politicians to its sanctions list, accusing them of engaging in illicit drug trafficking.
Sen. Rony Célestin and former Sen. Richard Lenine Hervé Fourcand, who last month were sanctioned by the Canadian government, are now among four current and former Haitian lawmakers designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as part of Washington and Canada’s efforts to crack down on gang violence and corruption in Haiti.
Célestin, 48, represents Haiti’s Central Plateau. His purchase of a $4.25 million luxury villa in Canada’s Laval community with his wife, a member of the country’s diplomatic corps, raised suspicion in Canada. Célestin has long been in the cross hairs of U.S. investigators over his wealth and business dealings.
Fourcand, 58, represented the South regional department in Haiti’s parliament. He came into power during the presidency of former President Michel Martelly. After a deadly earthquake struck the southern peninsula in August last year, he personally flew injured victims to hospitals in the capital. However, like Célestin, his business activities have long been under scrutiny by U.S. investigators.
“Rony Célestin and Richard Fourcand are two more examples of corrupt Haitian politicians abusing their power to further drug trafficking activities across the region,” said Brian E. Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Treasury will continue to hold corrupt officials and malign actors accountable for the illicit drug trafficking that is destabilizing Haiti.”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it has information indicating Célestin engages in international drug trafficking activities. He has used his political position to orchestrate the importation of drugs from Venezuela into Haiti, as well as the export of drugs to the United States and The Bahamas, the agency said. Treasury claims Fourcand is equally engaged in international drug trafficking activities.
“He uses his own aircraft to transport drugs through southern Haiti,” a Treasury statement said. “Fourcand has attempted to use his political clout to install persons in government positions who would help to facilitate his drug trafficking activities.”
Fourcand did not respond to a request for comment. Célestin could not be reached.
Biden administration officials have accused members of Haiti’s political and economic elite of working behind the scenes to support a surge in criminal gang activity that is destabilizing the country with record kidnappings, massacres and blockades on ports and roads. Some are accused of providing the gangs with weapons, ammunition and financial support.
But while U.S. officials have publicly said that no one will be spared from sanctions — including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents — the reality is that the bar is much higher for the U.S. government to target these individuals, who enjoy legal protections with their immigration status.
The United States can sanction foreign nationals living abroad based on intelligence information with ease. But sanctions against those lawfully residing in the United States must be predicated on a case made by law enforcement — and those individuals could then sue the government in response to the sanctions actions, raising additional, often costly litigation risks to U.S. authorities.
That legal hurdle is one reason Canada has been much more aggressive than the United States in issuing recent sanctions against top targets in Haiti, many of whom are either American citizens or lawful permanent residents living in the United States. International powers are also looking to levy sanctions through the United Nations, which in October unanimously adopted a U.S.-backed resolution to sanction Haitian gangs and their supporters.
Should the United Nations — which is currently assembling an expert panel to investigate those targeted for blacklisting — issue sanctions, all of its member states, including the United States, would be expected to comply, observers have noted.
The U.S. has now sanctioned four Haitians, including the current president of the Senate, Joseph Lambert, and former Sen. Youri Latortue, while Canada has sanctioned eight in total. In addition to those sanctioned by the U.S., the Canadian government has also sanctioned Martelly, former prime ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean Henry Céant, and former president of the Lower House of Deputies Gary Bodeau. They have been accused of having links to armed gangs.
With the exception of Martelly, who arrived in Haiti a day before the Canadian sanctions were announced and left shortly after via a Miami-bound flight through the neighboring Dominican Republic and has not made any public statements about the decision, the current and former lawmakers have lashed out. They have accused American and Canadian officials of unfairly targeting them while accusing individuals of turning over their names.
In a Nov. 30 letter to Haiti’s national ombudsman, Renan Hédouville, Céant said his rights have been violated by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
“No need to tell you, Mr. Protector, how indignant, revolted and violated ... I felt by this arbitrary decision of a country such as Canada,” he said.
The allegation directed against him, Céant said, was made without “evidence of any wrongdoing that I may have committed, especially since I am accused of financing or encouraging gangs, armed bandits. Here, all the general and essential principles of law have been violated.”
He confirmed that in the wake of the sanctions, Haitian banks have started to close accounts, remitting individuals checks of their deposits out of fear they could jeopardize their correspondent banking relationships with banks in Canada and the United States.
“Given these arbitrary and serious abuses, I come to request your prompt intervention, in your capacity as Protector of the Citizen, vested with constitutional powers, to intervene both at the level of the Government of the Republic of Haiti, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), the Professional Association of Bank (APB),” Céant said, adding that he must know why and how the decisions of the banks were taken.
Hédouville told the Miami Herald that his office received the letter from the former prime minister, but that is all he can say for the moment.
Anyone sanctioned by Treasury is banned from traveling to the U.S., and any property and interests in property they have in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. individuals will be reported to Treasury and blocked from access.
In addition, any entities that sanctioned people directly or indirectly own, or in which they have a 50% interest or more, will also be blocked, the government said. U.S. citizens or anyone living in the United States or transiting through the U.S. is banned from engaging in business with sanctioned individuals.
“Persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action,” the statement said.
The focus in Washington on politicians and not members of the private sector has been criticized even by those welcoming the use of sanctions.
In a statement that continues with its criticism of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the coalition of civil society groups known as the Montana Accord said the United States must do more.
“The international community, which has a great responsibility for the collapse of the state and the economic bankruptcy of the country, must take sanctions against those it identifies as complicit in the criminal economy of Haiti, and who invest or deposit money in banks in their countries,” the statement said.
The sanctions adopted by the United Nations Security Council and those announced by Canada and the United States are “a first step in what the Montana Agreement and civil society actors have been asking for a long time.”
“These sanctions must not be limited to the political sector, they must also hit actors in the economic class involved in the criminal economy of the country,” representatives of the Montana Agreement said. “These sanctions must be based on good legal evidence, and must be applied without discrimination. The international community must not use them as a means to settle the political problems they might have with the patriots who are defending the rights and interests of the country.”
———
