Haiti’s transitional council on Tuesday appointed a new Cabinet, marking the final step in rebuilding the government that is to lead a country under siege by gangs.
Government spokeswoman Kettia Marcellus confirmed the existence of the new Cabinet and its ministers.
Carlos Hercules, the attorney for Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, was appointed as minister of justice and public security. Conille himself is to be interior minister. Jean Marc Berthier Antoine is to be defense minister.
Photo: AFP
Haiti struggles with gangs that control at least 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. It is preparing for the UN-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya expected in the next few weeks.
Weeks of coordinated attacks by gangs forced former Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry to resign in April and his Cabinet was dissolved.
Gunmen took control of police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months and stormed prisons.
More than 2,500 people were killed or injured in the first three months of the year and more than half a million others displaced.
Conille has pledged to crack down on the violence.
Dominique Dupuy, a UNESCO ambassador who was once a member of the transitional council before resigning, is to be foreign affairs minister.
She resigned in part because of political attacks and death threats.
Others in the new Cabinet include Ketleen Florestal, who is to be minister of economy and finance.
One thing that stands out about many of the ministers appointed to the new Cabinet is the relative obscurity of their names, said Michael Deibert, author of Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti and Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.
“There is a smattering of people with international experience ... but still, there are not a lot of immediately recognizable high-level names from within Haitian politics,” he said. “Some people might think that’s a good thing.”
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
RSS