US, Canada send armored vehicles to bolster Haiti's police

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DÁNICA COTO

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. and Canada sent armored vehicles and other supplies to Haiti on Saturday to help police fight a powerful gang amid a pending request from the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of foreign troops.

A U.S. State Department statement said the equipment was bought by Haiti’s government, but it did not provide further details on the supplies flown on military aircraft to the capital of Port-au-Prince.

A spokesman for the U.S. military’s Southern Command said he could not provide further details on the supplies sent, though he added it was a joint operation involving the U.S. Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force.

“This equipment will assist (Haiti’s National Police) in their fight against criminal actors who are fomenting violence and disrupting the flow of critically-needed humanitarian assistance, hindering efforts to halt the spread of cholera,” the State Department said.



Protesters calling for the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry run after police fired tear gas to disperse them in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-violence-us-canada-send-armored-vehicles-e9b8d65dd858ef5c2fc4ca9a5568fd02?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_09

[JI7]

1. A youtuber by the name of Indigo Traveller has Videos on Haiti

THe place seems hopeless. Not sure this will help as police seem corrupt . But also one issue that came up in his videos is where are the guns coming from and how can regular people who are living in such poverty afford to buy those weapons ?

The weapons are coming from the US of course. And who is responsible for getting the weapons there ?

Something should be done and France especially needs to do something .

[dalton99a]

2. Lots of smugglers - one of them was the Episcopal Church of Haiti

https://dominicantoday.com/dr/world/2022/08/26/another-religious-man-arrested-for-arms-trafficking-to-haiti/

August 26, 2022 | 8:17 am
Another religious man arrested for arms trafficking to Haiti
Santo Domingo, D.R.

Haitian authorities arrested the accountant of the Episcopal Church of Haiti for a case of arms and ammunition trafficking at the dock of the National Port Authority (APN) involving the Church.

The Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste notes that it learned from police sources that the arrest of accountant Jean Gilles Jean Mary took place on Tuesday by agents of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ).

“His arrest came after he signed, between 2017 and 2021, several documents authorizing the disbursement of funds from the account of the Episcopal Church to the account of an international arms dealer, wanted by the DCPJ,” the newspaper indicates.

The standing committee of the Episcopal Church of Haiti, Anglican Communion, in a message of August 19, 2022, addressed to the clergy and faithful, reaffirmed its cooperation with the authorities and indicated “that it will not guarantee the defense of any natural person, whoever he may be, persecuted, rightly or wrongly, in the context of this case.”

This message came 48 hours after the hearing and custody of Father Frantz Cole by the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) “for arms and ammunition trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion, tax fraud, crimes of enrichment and laundering of assets resulting from serious crimes.”

[Grimelle]

4. It's always the Church.

Any church!
SMDH

[Eugene]

3. The guns have been coming non-stop since the 1980's.

It has now come to the point where Haiti has become a full-fledged failed state.

There is always money for arms in an unstable country.

[cab67]

5. I'm a default pacifist, but....

...Haiti seems to be a case where military intervention would save lives.

I'm not saying it should be US military action alone - the Organization of American States should be involved here.

Enough is enough.

[XorXor]

7. Haiti needs a lot more than just people with guns to provide security

It's my understanding that the place is almost a barren ecological hellscape due to poor farming practices and deforestation going back from colonial days to the current day. I wonder if the complexity of trying to find a solution for that situation is a microcosm of what world is in for if climate change goes unchecked.

[Marcus IM]

6. Whatever it takes to keep Social Democratic party Fanmi Lavalas from being allowed to run.