HAITI PM ARIEL HENRY IN PUERTO RICO AS GANG VIOLENCE CONTINUES
HAITI PM ARIEL HENRY IN PUERTO RICO AS GANG VIOLENCE CONTINUES
(BBC) Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has landed in Puerto Rico after apparently being unable to return to his country.
According to local media, he arrived in the capital San Juan on Tuesday after flying from the US state of New Jersey.
For the past few days, Mr Henry’s whereabouts had been unknown following a visit to Kenya. Violence in Haiti has spiralled in his absence – with armed gangs trying to take over the international airport to stop him from landing.
Their leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, has demanded the prime minister stand down – warning that the country is headed “straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide” otherwise.
The fact that Mr Henry seems to have been turned away from the nation he leads is a sign of just how dysfunctional Haiti has become in recent days.
If it was not already, Haiti is now perilously close to becoming a failed state. Ariel Henry’s plane was forced to divert to Puerto Rico – a US territory – after it was denied entry to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, local news sites reported.
The Dominican Republic on Tuesday announced it was closing its airspace with neighbouring Haiti, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola.
The country’s leader, Luis Abinader, recently said measures would be taken to ensure a level of “peace and control” was maintained at its land border.
Several reasons may explain why Mr Henry’s plane was not allowed to land in Haiti – it may simply have been procedural.