Haiti defers government agreement after Biden’s envoy resigns

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ceremony to implement the government agreement scheduled for next Friday has now been indefinitely postponed, as announced by the Prime Minister’s office, citing “logistical reasons.”

In his resignation letter, Foote attributed his decision to the “inhumane” policy of deporting thousands of Haitians who recently reached the southern border of the United States and considered the policy of Joe Biden’s government with respect to the Caribbean country to be “deeply flawed.”

Specifically, the diplomat criticized the fact that Washington has explicitly supported the government agreement promoted by Henry, to the detriment of another proposal for a solution to the crisis by civil society organizations.

Henry’s agreement was signed two weeks ago by dozens of allied and opposition parties, but has been rejected by the closest collaborators of president Jovenel Moise, assassinated last July 7.

The agreement foresees the postponement of the elections until the end of 2022 and the creation of an interim consensual government, to be headed by Henry and comprising a majority of non-partisan individuals.

It also provides for the creation of a Constituent Assembly which will present a draft of a new Magna Carta within three months, to be later submitted for the approval of the Haitian people.

The Haitian Parliament has been closed since January 2020, due to the postponement of the previous year’s elections, and has also lacked a head of state elected at the polls since Moise’s death.