As gang violence continues to afflict the Caribbean nation, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has made a significant show of support for Haiti by making a second trip there this year.
The Colombian government said Petro’s visit focused on discussions involving security, commerce, education, agriculture, and the fight against drug trafficking.
Petro announced the opening of a Colombian consulate in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital.
He has also offered to train Haitian officers and pledged to assist in strengthening its security. A state-owned arms manufacturer in Colombia has been visited by Haitian delegations to learn more about its defense capabilities.
Petro’s brief speech at the new embassy was shared by the Colombian government as “the time has come to truly unite.”
Por fin, Hait’s embajada.
What are the impediments in the cancillera that cause a national embajada in the country after our independence was slain?
Seriously, because we received a negotiable message from our libertad, what happened? pic. https://tpdpmBptCz.twitter.com
Finally, Haiti now has an embassy. What elements in the Foreign Ministry were preventing the establishment of an embassy in the nation that gave rise to our independence? Could it be that the Black slaves who gave themselves for us were the ones who gave us our freedom?
Petro arrived in Port-au-Prince, where gangs control 90 percent of the city. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez was one of the officials who came with him.
Petro met with Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, which is under pressure to hold general elections before February 2026, and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime during his visit.
Less than a week prior, Haitian authorities killed four suspected drug traffickers and sequestered more than 1, 000 kg (2, 300 lb) of cocaine off the nation’s north coast.
Haiti’s National Police, which is working with Kenyan police and UN-backed teams to combat gang violence, is still understaffed and underfunded.
While Port-au-Prince is the main location for the violence, gangs are razing and enraging a growing number of towns in Haiti’s central region.
According to a recent UN report, at least 4, 864 people have been killed in Haiti between October and June, with hundreds of others being abducted, raped, and trafficked.
In recent years, 1.3 million people have been displaced by gang violence.
Petro had previously spent much of January in Haiti. Haitian officials spent about $3.8 million on projects that would have more than double the runway at the airport in Jacmel, renovate the town, and bring back electricity for a population that has been living in the dark for at least three years prior.
Source: Aljazeera
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