The top Democrat in Congress met Tuesday with Haiti’s new prime minister, Garry Conille, and pledged to push for additional American aid days after a US-backed international police mission arrived on the Caribbean island to restore stability to the months-long country. surrounded by criminal gangs.
The Biden administration plans to release $100 million for the mission, where the United States is the largest financial supporter, drawing Republican opposition. But Mr. Conille told Democrats that more money will be needed, and soon.
“This is a critical point,” Mr. Conille said in an interview Tuesday afternoon after a meeting with lawmakers and officials at international financial institutions, where he expressed his appreciation for the support that has been provided and stressed the need for continued investment.
“I need to have the necessary funding to quickly implement basic infrastructure, fix basic infrastructure, and make sure that services are available to people,” he said.
“The problem in Haiti is a big problem and we are making sure that we know what the priorities are and how to address the security and also the economic needs and to make sure that the funding is really there,” Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Democrat from Florida and the only member of the Haitian American Congress, said in an interview. “We’ve been fighting in Congress since October to make sure funding is available, because we have a short window for success.”
Eight months after the United Nations authorized the use of international troops to be deployed to Haiti, the first wave of troops in the Multinational Security Support Mission, led by Kenya, arrived on June 25 to try to end the violence and regain control. country.
In Washington, the new prime minister and members of his cabinet also met with Biden administration officials including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. At each stop Mr. Conille, who briefly served as prime minister in 2011, detailed plans to steer the country out of violence and corruption and to rebuild democratic norms. The transitional government, appointed by the council, aims to hold elections before its mandate expires on February 7, 2026.
“They are looking forward to create conditions so that they can turn it over to the new government, but they need help,” Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said. “They need resources.”
Democrats in Congress have been lobbying the Biden administration to do more to support the island nation of more than 11 million people.
But the funding effort faces a wall of opposition from senior Republicans in Congress who say the specific goals of the mission and how to measure success are unclear. They remain wary of throwing millions of dollars into a country controlled by a gang with a long history of political corruption.
“The Biden administration’s choice to reject the freeze I put on US taxpayer funding for the unsolicited MSS Haiti is deeply disappointing,” said Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement, using an acronym for the international police force. “I have expressed serious and specific concerns about this mission since last September. My concerns are partly due to the long history of failed international interventions in Haiti, which have wasted billions of dollars and made Haitians worse off.
Along with Mr. Risch, Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, condemned the deployment of Kenyan troops to Haiti, saying the move had left the African nation vulnerable to its own instability.
“The same day 400 Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti – the Kenyan Parliament was stormed by protesters,” the two Republicans said in a statement. “As a result, the Kenyan military mobilized under its dubious constitutional authority and used live ammunition to disperse the protesters, killing more than 20 civilians. The government must find a different solution to address the insecurity in Haiti.
The recent violent clashes and riots centered on Port-au-Prince, the capital, are the latest disruption to civil order in a country that continues to be plagued by multiple crises.
Still recovering from a series of natural disasters, including catastrophic earthquakes in 2010 and 2021, Haitians are also experiencing food shortages, cholera outbreaks and limited access to basic medical care in some countries.
Instability reached its height in 2021 when President Jovenel Moïse, elected in 2016, was assassinated in his home. Since then, no elections have been held and gang violence has taken place. The United Nations estimates that nearly 80 percent of Port-au-Prince is controlled by a coalition of gangs.
Mr. Meeks and Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick said they are optimistic that the international police mission will succeed in putting Haiti on the path to stability.
“One of the things that I think is important, at least for me, is that the prime minister is not someone that the United States supports,” Mr. Meeks said.
If Mr. Conille can lead through the death of the gang and restore stability, “that will cause a whole different atmosphere on the island,” he added.
Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick said he hopes to show the meaning of the force against violence will “incentivize the Haitian people also to start Agencies” in the country’s transition to a stable democracy and will attract citizens back to the country.
“If we can help Haitians stay in Haiti, if we can help them move forward and be able to work for themselves, then that’s another country we can do,” he said.
“We’ve only got one chance here,” Mr. Conille said, “and we can’t afford to fail.”
Frances Robles contribute reports.
