More than 12,000 Haitian immigrants in South America have made their way to the United States via Mexico. For decades, the Dominican Republic has dealt with mass migration from Haiti. Now the mass crossings in Texas are evidence that the out-of-control situation in Haiti is already affecting regional stability. Last week in New York, the point was raised when President Luis Abinader spoke at the 76th UN General Assembly. He stressed Haiti’s main problem today is “security.” Kidnappings are known to be the major industry in Haiti.
In the letter of resignation, special envoy of the United States to Haiti Daniel Foote said he was immediately leaving the post because of the newly started “inhumane” deportation of Haitians back to Haiti. In the text of the letter, Foote also slammed the way the United States had been handling the crisis in Haiti over the years.
“Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own,” he added in the resignation letter.
“The hubris that makes us believe we should pick the winner – again – is impressive,” Daniel Foote wrote as he slammed international interference in Haitian politics. “This cycle of international political interventions in Haiti has consistently produced catastrophic results. More negative impacts to Haiti will have calamitous consequences in Haiti, but in the US and our neighbors in the hemisphere,” he warns, concurring with President Abinader’s statements at the UN General Assembly.
Foote blasted international political interference in the country. He said that Haitians “really want” to choose their own path “without international puppeteering and favoured candidates”.
Foote said the Haitian people are mired in poverty and are hostage to the terror, kidnappings, robberies and massacres of armed gangs and that they’re suffering under a corrupt government that has alliances with those gangs.
Foote was appointed to the position in July 2020 after the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. Subsequently, a 7.2 earthquake caused major damages in western provinces in the country.
The letter of resignation was copied to T. Nuland, Under Secretary for Political Affairs; B. Nichols, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, K. Merten, Acting Director General; Gregory Meeks, Chairman, US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee; Andy Levin, member, US House of representatives.
After the resignation, the defacto government of Haiti, under Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced the postponing of a political agreement. Diario Libre reports that Foote had favored a different crisis solution promoted instead by civil society groups.
Upon returning to the Dominican Republic on Thursday, 23 September, President Luis Abinader told the nation: “This is not the time to wait, nor to talk, nor to analyze; it is the time to act in relation to the crisis in that neighboring country and meanwhile we will take all measures to protect our country.”
Read more:
Washington Post
CBS News
Daniel Foote Resignation letter
Diario Libre
El Caribe
El Dia
Listin Diario
27 September 2021