The heads of the Caribbean Community countries, or CARICOM, ended their summit in the Bahamas on Friday, but the most sought out leader there was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he's taken a leading role in helping Haiti confront its "horrific" gang violence crisis.
Trudeau, who was invited to the CARICOM conference as a special guest, said Canada will now send naval ships to Haiti to assist its overpowered national police — who in the past month have seen more than a dozen of its officers killed by the gangs that now control much of the country, including an estimated half of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
“Over the past few weeks we have seen some very difficult times for the Haitian National Police forces, a degradation of their capacities," Trudeau told reporters at the Bahamas gathering. "Which is why it’s so important to do as much as we can, quickly, to support them.”
Canada and the U.S. have also sanctioned members of Haiti's political and economic elite for allegedly sponsoring those gangs to protect and enforce their power. On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it had slapped U.S. visa-restriction sanctions on 12 more figures, but did not identify them.
Haitian interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, as well as some other Caribbean leaders, are urging international military intervention to end Haiti’s crisis, which has spawned an accompanying immigration emergency in the region and in the Florida Keys.
But Trudeau, like the U.S., is balking at the idea — largely because it’s usually failed in Haiti in the past.
Haiti's situation “is an ongoing horrific tragedy," Trudeau acknowledged. "But … we cannot continue to do the same thing and hope for a different outcome. Everything we are doing now needs to be focused on Haitian leadership ... and solutions that are driven by the Haitian people themselves.”
Trudeau said the Canadian naval ships would be deployed mainly to discourage Haiti's gangs from taking over port facilities, as they've done in the past to effectively hold the impoverished country's economy hostage.
Canada recently deployed military aircraft over Haiti to assist police there with intelligence and surveillance of gangs. Canada and the U.S. have also provided Haitian police with equipment such as armored vehicles.
