Belize As Part of CARICOM Taking Steps to Return Peace to Haiti

A team of Belize Defence Force soldiers and coast guard officers left Belize for Jamaica over the weekend for advanced military training. The training is part of CARICOM force preparation for the possibility of supporting the U.N. Security Mission in Haiti, which has been taken over by heavily armed gangs that rape, kidnap, and kill people with impunity. But as Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca told us today, there are set measures that CARICOM countries, including Belize, are taking to restore peace and normalcy to that troubled Caribbean neighbour.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“It’s very sad to see what is happening with our curriculum, brothers and sisters in Haiti. Gangs have really taken over the country, but we are hopeful because deliberate actions have been taken by CARICOM Heads of Government, including our Prime Minister Briceño [he] has been a part of those discussions, so that they have now put in place an interim sort of presidential council, as they call it. That council is responsible for appointing a sort of election council that will oversee future elections in Haiti. They will also appoint [an] interim Prime Minister of Haiti. So there are positive steps that are taking place. But nevertheless, we are absolutely concerned about the ongoing crisis on the ground that is affecting the daily lives of Haitian people. Schools are closed, people are having a difficult time finding food stores, there’s a lot of looting taking place – a lot of indiscriminate killings by these gangs, but Belize and Caricom are fully engaged on this issue and doing everything we can to support a return to some peace in Haiti. So that team from the BDF and Coast Guard that are getting trained will come back to Belize. And then when we are – we make a final decision about participating in the M.S.S. Mission, then they would then go to Haiti. But that is not yet programmed.”