President Luis Abinader and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of the close ties for development in democracy during the press conference after their meeting at the Presidential Palace on Friday, 6 September 2024. In the press conference held in the DR on Friday, 6 September 2024 after the meeting with President Luis Abinader, Blinken was frank about the slow-moving situation in Haiti.
On board a US government airplane, Blinken had flown to the Dominican Republic to meet with Abinader after meetings with the Haitian transition authorites (Transitional Presidential Council) on Thursday, 5 September 2024 in Haiti. Blinken did not hold a press conference with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille when in Port-au-Prince.
During the press conference held at the Presidential Palace in Santo Domingo after the meeting with President Abinader, US Secretary of State Blinken spoke of an additional US$45 million in humanitarian aid for Haiti from the United States. “We all want to help…. Starting here in the Dominican Republic and other countries. We have a strong interest in helping Haiti succeed. We will continue to support Haiti to build security, and take the country away from the gangs,” he said.
Blinken said that in the conversations with President Luis Abinader he reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti. He advocated for what he called broader efforts to promote peace and prosperity in Haiti and thanked President Abinader for his efforts to mobilize the international community to do more for Haiti. Blinken defined helping Haiti as a collective responsibility.
President Luis Abinader in the press conference highlighted his priority is caring for the safety and security of the Dominican people. He acknowledged the first troops have arrived, thanks to the United States. Referring to the situation in Haiti, Abinader stated: “As they move forward with the domestic situation, we will continue moving forward such as opening flights.” Haiti Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy has demanded the opening of regular commercial flights between both countries.
Furthermore, in his opening statement during the press conference, Abinader once again spoke of the heavy financial burden the crisis in Haiti has on the Dominican Republic. He said the worsening situation has increased migratory pressure, impacting public services and generating risk for safety and security. He mentioned of the national enrollment in public schools, 6.5% are now immigrants from Haiti or 147,000 Haitians. He mentioned that 14% of the public hospital services are to Haitian nationals and 34% of the deliveries are to undocumented migrants. “No health care system of the world can handle that,” he stated.
Abinader said the country is committed to fight human trafficking, implementing international recommendations and agreed to present a legislative reform to protect victims, especially underage victims. Dominican families are now at around two or less for family. Undocumented Haitian migrants to the Dominican Republic regularly do not use birth control.
The DR is being left practically on its own and from the statements of Blinken it seems unlikely the US will fund the efforts needed to restore security in Haiti. Instead, during the press conference, Blinken announced the United States would be backing a new push for the present security mission in Haiti to be expanded to a United Nations peacekeeping operation, so more countries can help finance the efforts to restore security in Haiti. “The United States will continue to play a helpful role in moving forward with the challenges.” Said Blinken.
Edgar Gardy Leblanc Fils, president of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), supports transforming the Kenyan mission into a UN mission, citing funding issues as a barrier to deploying additional personnel from Kenyan and other countries.
“If the mission’s nature changes, it would ensure mandatory UN funding,” Leblanc said. “However, the mission must be time-limited to dismantle gangs and quickly transition responsibilities to Haiti’s national security forces.”
Since his first address at the United Nations in 2020, President Luis Abinader had urged the UN send a peacekeeping force to Haiti.
During the press conference in Santo Domingo, Blinken said he urged the Haitian transition authorities to get going on organizing elections.
Edgard Leblanc Fils and Blinken spoke of naming an independent electoral council with the objective of holding elections in November 2025. There have not been elections in Haiti since 2016.
The key issue of the start of the issuing of identity documents to the population regarding the elections has yet to be mentioned. Most of the population in Haiti does not have a civil identity. This impacts the Dominican Republic as most illegal migration across the almost 400km border with the Dominican Republic come without any legal documentation.
Over the years, the focus has always been on demands for Dominicans to issue identity to Haiti nationals, with what seems to be a total disregard to the responsibility of the Haitian authorities to meet the human rights of Haitians to an identity in Haiti. These efforts would be key to organizing the elections to allow the Haitian population to exercise their right to vote. The Dominican government has offered to help the Haitians in this endeavors, but offers of help have been disregarded, while demands continue for the Dominican government to issue documentation to the Haitians.
Blinken’s visit to Port-au-Prince coincided with the murder of another Haitian Police officer who was working with the Kenya security forces to restore order in around 80% of Port-au-Prince area that is said to be under the siege of violence by the controlling gangs. Reports are that during his visit, gangs impacted the power service.
The gangs continue to control most of Haiti. The Kenya security force is primarily tasked with ensuring key infrastructure. An Associate Press report says that Haitians complain that they have not seen a decrease in gang violence since the first contingency of around 400 Kenyans arrived in late June. Despite several joint interventions by the PNH anti-gang units and Kenyan officers, these armed groups continue their assaults on law enforcement.
Blinken also addressed another major burden the Dominican Republic carries. That of tackling drug traffickers as these attempt to use the Dominican Republic as a transshipment point to get their goods to their major consumer markets in the United States. Blinken said that the US government would continue to contribute to the fight against drugs through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, that he described as a bipartisan effort spanning multiple US administrations (Republican and Democratic) to tackle transnational crime, combat drug trafficking to make our citizens safer.
He acknowledged the steps taken by the Abinader administration to combat drug trafficking. He pointed out that the present Abinader administration, from 2020 to 2023 had seized over 100 tons of narcotics, that is more than in the previous decade and a half. He said the amount seized is indicative of the magnitude of the challenge, but also of the commitment to strengthen even more collaboration against international crime.
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9 September 2024