Overview:
Colombian President Gustavo Petro made his second go to to Haiti this 12 months, assembly with Haitian officers and pledging assist to curb escalating gang violence. Petro inaugurated a Colombian embassy in Port-au-Prince and outlined plans for joint tasks specializing in safety, commerce, schooling, and counter-narcotics efforts. His go to comes amid rising gang management over the capital and stress on Haiti’s transitional council to carry elections by February 2026.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Preto arrived Friday in Haiti for the second time this 12 months in a present of assist as gangs within the troubled Caribbean nation proceed to achieve floor.
Petro introduced the opening of a Colombian embassy in Haiti and pledged to assist Haiti strengthen its security.
Petro met with Haiti’s prime minister and its transitional presidential council, which is underneath stress to carry basic elections earlier than February 2026.
Whereas officers met behind closed doorways, a press release from Colombia’s authorities famous they’d assessment bilateral tasks targeted on safety, commerce, schooling, agriculture and the battle towards drug trafficking.
Petro’s administration has supplied to coach Haitian officers, and Haitian delegations have visited a state-owned arms manufacturing firm in Colombia to find out about its protection capabilities.
The 2 nations are strengthening their ties as judges in Haiti continue to interrogate 17 former Colombian soldiers accused within the July 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse.
A press convention to share particulars about Petro’s go to was scheduled for Friday afternoon, however after leaving reporters ready for a number of hours, officers canceled it.
The Colombian authorities shared a short clip of Petro talking on the new embassy: “The time has come to actually unite.”
In the meantime, a handful of individuals gathered exterior the embassy to protest Petro’s arrival.
“We had a president. They killed him,” one Haitian man mentioned, referring to the accused Colombians, who’ve rejected the accusations.
Petro beforehand visited Haiti in late January, the place he was obtained within the southern coastal metropolis of Jacmel with a lot fanfare. Previous to his go to, Haitian officers invested some $3.8 million to greater than double the runway on the airport in Jacmel, renovate the city and restore electrical energy to a inhabitants dwelling at nighttime for at the very least three years.
This time, Petro landed in Port-au-Prince, the place 90% of the capital is underneath gang management. He was accompanied by officers together with Colombian Protection Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The officers arrived lower than every week after Haitian authorities killed 4 suspected drug traffickers and confiscated more than 2,300 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cocaine off the nation’s north coast.
It was a exceptional seizure for Haiti’s Nationwide Police, which stays understaffed and underfunded as it really works with Kenyan police main a U.N.-backed mission to assist quell gang violence.
Whereas many of the violence is centered in Port-au-Prince, gangs have razed and seized control of a growing number of towns in Haiti’s central area.
At the very least 4,864 folks have been killed from October to the top of June throughout Haiti, with a whole bunch of others kidnapped, raped and trafficked, in keeping with a current U.N. report.
Gang violence additionally has displaced 1.3 million people lately.