OAS Called for Further Action to Combat Gang Violence in Haiti
As a UN-backed operation headed by Kenyan police in the impoverished Caribbean nation suffers from a shortage of funding and manpower, the Organisation of American States faced pressure Thursday to assist in reducing gang violence in Haiti.
The OAS meeting took place the day after Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer who rose to prominence as one of Haiti’s most influential gang leaders, begged residents of Port-au-Prince’s Delmas 30 neighbourhood to allow armed men to enter so they could topple the country’s prime minister and transitional presidential council.
In recent months, gangs that control at least 85% of Haiti’s capital have also taken control of a sizable portion of the country’s central region.
According to Haiti’s minister of justice and public security, Patrick Pélissier, “these gangs are gaining more territory daily.” Following Secretary Mark Rubio’s insistence that the OAS play a larger role in finding a solution to the Haitian problem, Barbara Feinstein, deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti at the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, attended the conference.
According to Haiti’s defence minister Jean Michel Moïse, “the army is very small, very embryonic,” and they are being overpowered by the country’s ongoing urban conflict. “This type of challenge was beyond their capabilities.” According to him, there are presently about 1,000 personnel who receive little training.
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