;Composite=(type=URL,url=https://images.radio-canada.ca/v1/assets/elements/16x9/outdated-content-2021.png),gravity=SouthEast,placement=Over,location=(0,0),scale=1 "These foreign powers that rule Haiti")
More and more voices are denouncing the influence of foreign powers on the Haitian government.
In his resignation letter in September, American special envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote stated specifically that the Haitians had done this the opportunity to go their own way, without international influence and without favoring certain candidates for power
.
Mr. Foote's criticism echoes that of the Commission for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis, which has been holding hearings in Haiti since the beginning of the year and has included representatives of Haitian political parties, farmers' groups, business, unions, churches, voodoo leaders and women's groups as well as a handful of respected independent voices and three representatives of the Haitian diaspora – one for Canada, one for the United States and one for France.
“What we are saying and what the people on the streets have been saying for more than three years is that Haiti is a sovereign country,” said Monique Clesca, a Haitian activist who is part of the commission. We may have weak institutions. We may have arguments with our neighbors. But we are a sovereign country and we have to decide about our present and future.
And what we want is for the core group not to interfere in our affairs
She adds.
The Core Group, a group of foreign diplomats, was also denounced by Daniel Foote, who insisted that the group elected current prime minister and interim president Ariel Henry two weeks after initially endorsing Claude Joseph. The latter was the successor to President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated in July.
The hubris that makes us believe we should – once again – pick the winner is impressive
he wrote.
In recent years we have seen Canada, the United States and France actually take control of the country and the country's political agenda
adds the sociologist of Haitian descent Frédéric Boisrond from McGill University.
On July 17th the core group had called for the formation of a consensual and inclusive government
encouraging strong
Ariel Henry is supposed to form a government. Three days later Mr. Henry became Prime Minister.
The core group consists of ambassadors to Haiti from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the United States, France and the European Union, as well as the Special Representative of the Organization of American States and the Special Representative of the United Nations.
Haitian instability
The embassies are trying to impose so-called stability, to which corruption and impunity are added. We are where we are because of the support [à certains politiciens] from the core group led by the United States and in which Canada plays a leading role
believes Monique Clesca.
The stability demanded by the diplomatic group does not exist, Ms. Clesca continued, as street gangs control entire neighborhoods of the country and the Haitian government is accused by many of arming them and giving them power.
[L’ancien président] Michel Martelly has not organized a single election for five years. It was supported by the core group. Jovenel Moise has not organized a single election for almost five years, but the core group has supported him. When he descended into dictatorship, the core group supported him. We say the core group doesn't have the credibility to tell us what to do
emphasizes Ms. Clesca.
The Commission for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis plans to set up a National Transitional Council whose task will be to collect candidates for the positions of president and prime minister, analyze them and select the leaders of the transition.
The first obstacle they will encounter are the people who are really in power, notes Frédéric Boisrond. I don't think people who have power are willing to step back and let other people take over.
The lack of economic opportunities is also a major obstacle to the emergence of democracy, he says.
You can't make a democracy work if you don't make the economy work, and that is the biggest challenge the Commission is currently facing
he concludes.
Based on a text by Evan Dyer, CBC News
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