The president of the Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance-White Helmets (ACIAH), Sabina Frederic, evaluated as “catastrophic” the situation in Haitiupon returning from the mission he carried out in that country, and stressed that all the social actors agree that “without international help, a way out is not possible.”
“The objective of the mission was to assess the situation in Haiti and Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero’s request was to obtain first-hand information to position ourselves both from Argentina and from the presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) about the very serious humanitarian situation that is being experienced in that country”, Frederic recounted in statements to Télam.
With this objective, the former Minister of Security traveled with the national director of Humanitarian Assistance Planning and Coordination, Mariana Galvani, and the vice president of the White Helmets Commission, Pablo Virasoro, to Port-au-Prince, where they were received by the Argentine ambassador, Pedro von Eyken, and the group of gendarmes in charge of embassy security.
The commission arrived on November 21 and finished its mission on Friday the 25th.after holding meetings with businessmen, United Nations officials, trade unionists, members of civil society, the world of agricultural production, academics, and human rights organizations.
“The situation is catastrophic, they do not remember such a difficult time, especially due to the consequences of the political, social and economic crisis. People are terrified because they cannot leave because of the criminal gangs. As a United Nations official told us: the entire Haitian population is kidnapped.”Frederick warned.
In this context, the official maintained that there is a general consensus that “a way out is not possible without international aid”, but that it is necessary to define what type of assistance must be sent, especially taking into account the difficulties in implementing it.
“They have a network of volunteers, but the problem is accessibility. We have the capacity to deploy people to collaborate and resources to help, but we are limited. There are multiple ways to serve them but It is necessary that there is a minimum consensus between the opposition and the ruling party”he stressed.
According to United Nations calculations, Currently in Haiti, a record number of 4.7 million people in a situation of extreme hunger has been reachedwhich includes 1.8 million in the emergency phase and, for the first time, 19,000 individuals in a level classified as catastrophic.
“This is a consequence of the blockades in the port of the last two months, carried out by armed gangs that prevented the distribution of fuel, leaving without access to drinking water and preventing the commercialization of products,” explained Frederic.
Also, Only this week were they able to start classes in schools, when they should have started in Septembersomething that the official considered “very serious” since it prevented the socialization of the boys and girls and made it impossible for them to access the food that is provided in these institutions.
The blockade in the port ended on November 4, after two months and thanks to the help offered from Canada, which sent “eight armored vehicles” to reverse this scenario.
“This blockade of the port was simultaneous to the blockade on the movement of people, especially in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, where the gangs have total control. They did not let food or water in or out. That generated an outbreak of cholera that had not been there for years and several died of hunger “he pointed.
Cholera cases continue to spread rapidly throughout the country and many suspected cases cannot be effectively diagnosed due to the lack of accessibility in care.
“The country is 60% controlled by criminal gangs, the police are weakened and there is an absence of the State. The president (Jovenel Moïse) was assassinated a year ago and Prime Minister Ariel Henry is questioned by a broad sector of the opposition and civil society because it was not ratified by the parliament that has not been working for two years,” Frederic explained.
During the meeting they held with Henry, the prime minister “was in favor of an agreement with the opposition sectors,” but the Argentine official maintained that it is “an expression of desire” and that it remains to be determined how to achieve it.
“Dialogue is underway. It’s not that everything is dead, there is vitality and there is a desire to get out of the situation”he added. In this sense, he said that the data “that gives hope” are the sanctions that were applied to several ministers involved in acts of corruption or who participated in organized crime.
“Several were sanctioned with the freezing of their bank accounts and with the removal of the visa. They estimate that this will have some ordering effect,” he remarked. Nevertheless, violence in the country continues to increase and the public sector is in crisis.
Many ministries are not working or are operating out of their buildings because they are located in “extremely dangerous areas”, such as the Health portfolio that “is currently operating from a hotel.”
“When we were leaving Port-au-Prince, they told us that the director of the Haitian Police had been murdered.. He was riddled with bullets by two people on the street in front of the police training building. They also killed a second gang boss,” he recounted.
In this context of extreme violence, Frederic maintained that he was not “in danger” during his visit thanks to the fact that there is currently “a moment of relative stability” and that the Gendarmerie guided them through areas where there were no criminal groups.
“Some believe that because of the World Cup there is a certain calm. Here they are very fans of soccer, especially the flags of Argentina and Brazil are found. It is a way of entering the Haitian community for this taste and pleasure for the sport. At least in this first week there were no episodes of violence linked to football,” he said.
The former minister praised the work carried out by the White Helmets, which maintains “a lot of activity” in international cooperation projects. In addition to the collaboration that it has maintained in Haiti for years, a White Helmets mission was recently deployed in Honduras to assist in the face of the “extremely heavy rains” that devastated the country.
It also works in National Parks to make them “resilience spaces” according to the 2030 agenda and different technical cooperation projects are developed to “promote development in other countries”, among various other initiatives.
“We have successful policies in Argentina. We work on many topics, especially those oriented to agricultural production in Central and South America, in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, in Human Rights and in health. It is a huge universe that unfortunately has little visibility,” he completed.
