Petition Campaign: CARICOM People and their Diaspora Support the Restoration of Democracy in Haiti. We, the undersigned, urgently appeal to the CARICOM Member Nations through the CARICOM Secretariat to take immediate action in assisting our brothers and sisters in Haiti in their quest to restore democracy. We implore you to remove international support for the current de facto authorities and allow a legitimate, Haitian-led solution to emerge.

In the past decade, under the leadership of the Parti Haitien Tet Kale party (PHTK) and its allies, Haiti’s democracy has been systematically dismantled. Shockingly, not a single elected office, as mandated by the Constitution, has been filled. Gangs, some of which are linked to the government, now control more than half of the country. Corruption and mismanagement have siphoned off substantial funds from public services, resulting in an alarming inflation rate of over 15% annually for the past three years. Tragically, 4.7 million Haitian citizens face acute hunger, placing Haiti among the top 10 countries suffering the most from hunger worldwide. Disturbingly, Haiti is the only nation on this list without a recognized armed conflict, and the sole country outside Africa and the Middle East.

As citizens of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), we share a deep sense of grief and compassion for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. When Haiti achieved independence in 1804, it became the first free Black country, blazing the trail for independence movements in many Caribbean nations. Haiti holds the distinction of being the first nation to abolish slavery, thereby laying the groundwork for our own emancipation.

Haiti has endured over two centuries of punishment for its pursuit of freedom, and the consequences persist to this day. Haitians have courageously fought against foreign occupation, political interference, and economic manipulation orchestrated by powerful members of the international community, many of whom attained their prominence through the institution of slavery. The current international support for the de facto Haitian government, installed not through a Haitian process but by an announcement from the “Core Group” led by the United States, represents the latest effort to maintain control over Haiti.

The people of Haiti are uniting across party lines, class divisions, and other barriers that often impede collaboration. They are proposing inclusive, legitimate paths to a transitional government that can replace the de facto authorities and oversee fair elections. They firmly believe that if the international community ceases to prop up the de facto regime, civil society can exert enough pressure to force its resignation or elicit meaningful concessions toward fair elections. Unfortunately, the United States and other entities show no inclination to reduce their support for the de facto authorities. Therefore, Haitians urgently require the assistance of Jamaica and all CARICOM.

Despite being small nations, CARICOM countries have played pivotal roles in restoring democracy in Haiti in the past. In 1994, Jamaica led the CARICOM component of UNMIH, a successful UN peacekeeping mission that was deployed to reinstate Haiti’s elected government. In 2004, Jamaica provided shelter to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was abducted from Haiti aboard a United States plane.

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Learn more at “Voices United A Petition for Democracy in Haiti,”  at The NeoLiberal by renaldocmckenzie.com