As major powers abandon Haiti, a coalition of the willing emerges across Latin America
Jamaica and El Salvador have offered to send support to Haiti to bolster the nation’s struggling national policy. The offers come as the US and Canada have refused to commit troops for a multinational security force despite the government’s plea for foreign intervention to fight the gangs that have effectively taken control of the capital.
Last week, Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry attended the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in Buenos Aires in hopes of convincing countries in the region to be part of a specialized multinational force to help his struggling Haiti National Police. While the region’s bigger countries shied away from offering direct support, Jamaica’s prime minister said his government is willing to send soldiers and police officers to Haiti as part of a multinational deployment. El Salvador, which has seen success with controversial tactics against gangs, also offered to lend senior officials as consultants.
In an interview discussing the proposal with the Miami Herald, Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa said of solutions for Haiti that “It doesn’t come from Canada…it comes from a sister country; it comes from a country that has almost the same features as Haiti.”
