US imposes visa sanctions against Haitian official on governing council

An unnamed Haitian government official has been subject to visa restrictions after he allegedly has ties to the country’s gangs.

However, a member of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, has since come forward, despite the US’s failure to identify the official.

Jean disputed the claims made by the US government and claimed that he was subject to visa restrictions in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He also accused the US and Canada of pressuring the council during its vote-rigging process for the upcoming national elections.

Members of the council began receiving threats of visa cancellation and other sanctions from the US Embassy representative and the Canadian ambassador when we began looking into the possibility of changing the head of government, according to Jean.

According to Jean, the message was that “if we don’t desist, we will be subject to sanctions and the cancellation of our visas.” On Jean’s assertions, the US government has not yet made any changes.

a crackdown on organized crime

The US State Department announced the visa restrictions on the unnamed official in a statement released late on Monday night.

A Haitian government official is being blocked from entering the country because he supports gangs and other criminal organizations, and because he is obstructing Haiti’s efforts to fight terrorist gangs that are designated as foreign terrorist organizations, according to the statement.

The official’s entry into the US would be prohibited, as well as any current valid visas that may be issued, according to the statement.

Trump’s administration has taken a tougher stance against gangs and other criminal networks in Latin America, including Haiti.

In line with its wider crackdown on illegal drug trafficking and immigration into the US, it has spearheaded a campaign to name the criminal organizations in the area as “foreign terrorist organizations” since January.

The Trump administration has already referred to Haitian gangs like Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as “foreign terrorist” organizations.

In August, a well-known gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, was charged with conspiracy in the US. For information leading to his arrest, a $5 million reward has been offered.

A gang leader and former police officer associated with Viv Ansamn also faced sanctions from the US government in October.

In Haiti, where about 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, the capital, is now controlled by criminal organizations, gang violence is a major issue.

The Centre and the Artibonite departments in the west have seen increased gang activity this year, according to the United Nations and other organizations.

One of the world’s poorest nations has experienced a severe humanitarian crisis as a result.

The International Organization for Migration discovered a record-breaking number of Haitians who had been displaced from their homes in October.

More than 5,600 people were killed in the violence last year, an increase of nearly 1, 000 over the same period in 2023.

The UN estimates that 1, 617 people died and 580 were injured in the three-month period that followed, which is roughly between April and June of this year.

Upheaval in the government

According to experts, Haiti’s government’s instability contributed to allowing the gangs to spread their territory. No president has come after Jovenel Moise, the president of Haiti, who was killed in his home in 2021.

The government’s elections scheduled for 2019 have also been repeatedly postponed, which has caused a crisis of withering public confidence in the government.

Mandats for the last democratically elected members of the national government came to an end in 2023. The final 10 senators left the country without any elected representatives.

The officials who remained in their posts have long been plagued by questions of corruption and legitimacy, leading to the resignation of Ariel Henry, a political appointee, in 2024.

In April of that year, a transitional presidential council was established to address the issue. As planned for February 7, 2026, it was established to serve as Haiti’s governing body until a new president was elected or its mandate expired.

The country’s primary objective was to hold national elections. Initial plans for a multi-round election cycle to begin in November and run until February 2026 were postponed, though those elections are now over.

The council has set a tentative deadline of March 1 for beginning election campaigns and holding votes in August and December of this year.

However, questions have been posed for a while about whether council members will actually resign in February.

After being charged by investigators with demanding bribes, several members of the nine-seat council have become involved in a corruption investigation.

The council as a whole has been criticized for its internal disagreements and criticism that its members only represent the elite of Haiti.

The council is currently led by Laurent Saint-Cyr, a leader in the insurance sector. From March to August, Jean previously held the position.

Jean, a former Haitian prime minister and head of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, is a well-known economist.

He assured The Associated Press that the council would continue to fight gang violence and that there would be no wrongdoing from his part.

Source: Aljazeera