Washington, United States.-The general secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, stressed the unit demonstrated by the 32 Member States after supporting a renewed security mission for Haiti that replaces the current one, whose mandate will expire next October.
“This demonstrates solidarity and hemispheric unit, and for me it is especially important because I have always expected that this organization can be valuable working together,” Ramdin said in a press conference in which they staged the support for the security mission.
The OAS members presented a joint declaration in which they expressed their support for the proposal that is being discussed in the UN Security Council to transform the current multinational safety support mission (MSS) of Haiti in a force of repression of the bands (FRG), endowed with a reinforced mandate to combat gangs.
The Secretary General defended the importance of first tackling the security issues to be able to resolve the crisis of the Caribbean country. “Security issues must be addressed in the first place, since, otherwise, the areas of humanitarian assistance, political dialogue with a view to elections and the reconstruction of the economy,” he said.
In the act, Haiti’s interim representative also participated before the OAS, Jean Josué Pierre; The Permanent Representative of Panama, Ana Irene Delgado and the Deputy Undersecretary for Affairs of the Caribbean and Haiti of the US Department of State, Barbara Feinstein.
Kenya’s mission
The MSS is an initiative requested by the Haitian authorities, led by Kenya, economically backed by the United States and approved in 2023 by the United Nations Security Council.
The mission, which was activated in 2024, seeks to support the security forces of the island country in their fight against armed bands, which control 90 % of the capital and other areas of the country, but has not achieved remarkable results.
Asked if the plan fails to be approved in the next UN Security Council, the secretary said- “if that happens, it means that they have not understood the sovereignty of the 32 countries of the hemisphere.”
It will be then, if validated by the UN member countries when the actions carried out by each Member State in the territory will be decided. “It is not just about deploying forces on the land, although some companies have already indicated in the hemisphere that they are willing to do so, but you have to achieve greater balance in security, training, reinforcement of the National Police of Haiti in terms of equipment, protection material, computer apparatus and also vehicles, so that the National Police of Haiti can be effective,” Ramdin defended.
Killed gang members
Between September 4 and 5, more than fifteen alleged members of the Banda Gran Grif were killed in the Haitian town of Liancourt, a “success” claimed by Haiti National Police in which the self -defense forces in the area would have played a determining role.
Liancourt is about 115 kilometers north of Port -au -Prince, in the department of Artibonite, one of the three most populated in the country and who face an unsustainable insecurity situation within the framework of the crisis unleashed by gangs in the country, where 4,026 people were killed between January and June, 24 % more with respect to the same period of 2024.
Criminal groups
At least 20 criminal groups, between gangs and self -defense groups, act in the Department of Artibonite, according to the UN. The United Nations have indicated that self -defense groups are described as a community response to gang attacks, but the facts show that both actors act with extreme brutality against the population.
Despite all the criticisms made to the self -defense groups of Liancourt, all the hope of the population of this municipality falls on their shoulders, according to their residents.
It is in this context that the self -defense group ‘resistance’ arose weeks ago, whose objective is to “do everything possible to collaborate with the National Police of Haiti” to prevent the fearsome band Grand Grif, directed by Lucson Elan, “to take control of the police station.
Incidents
– Gangs
At least 16 % of the incidents occurred in the Department of Artibonite, and 77 % in the Metropolitan Region of Puerto Príncipe, controlled at least 85 percent by armed gangs.
More than 1,500 deaths in three months
Violence. According to the UN, it was between 2015 and 2017 when the bands such as Grand Grif emerged. To deal with this armed violence, self -defense groups emerged in the region. Almost all municipalities, and even all locations, have one.
According to a report published in November 2023 of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (Binuh) about the situation of insecurity in the low Artibonite, at least 20 criminal groups, including bands and self -defense groups, act in this region.
Between April 1 and June 30, at least 1,520 people died and 609 were injured in the framework of the violence of the bands, self -defense groups and the non -organized members of the population.
