San Juan. The Caribbean Community (Caricom) urged the Haitian Police this Sunday to “safeguard peace and order and refrain from actions that could only serve to cause even greater damage to the country,” after violent protests by uniformed officers.
In a statement, Caricom expressed its deep concern over the recent incidents, which show – it pointed out – “the seriousness of the challenges facing the Police, as well as a further collapse of security in Haiti”, a country that is a member of the organization.
Dozens of armed police officers attacked the private residence of the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, who was not in the country, last Thursday to repudiate the lack of action by the authorities in the face of the murders of agents by armed gangs.
On the one hand, the regional organization condemned the murder of agents and said it shared the “anger and consternation” of the Police for these losses, but it assured that these protests “cannot be tolerated.” “Abandoning the role of protecting all citizens and maintaining public order further destabilizes the country,” he denounced in his Caricom note.
Haiti is now relatively calm and waiting for the Henry government to meet to take action on the dire situation in the impoverished country.
After what happened on Thursday, when shots were fired, barricades and vehicles were burned, the country was paralyzed on Friday, even several embassies decided not to open their doors.
The Bahamas, a member of CARICOM, evacuated its seven Haitian diplomats by helicopter from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic on Saturday amid escalating violence.
Caricom members are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
