Caribbean leaders to tackle Haiti's woes amid migration

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Top Caribbean leaders are expected to debate Haiti's spiraling chaos and its impact on the region during a biannual meeting this week, with some complaining bitterly about a constant stream of migrants arriving on their shores as they flee poverty and worsening violence.

The three-day meeting of the Caribbean trade block known as Caricom starts Wednesday in the Bahamas.

Some of the group’s 15 members are pushing to get key Haitian stakeholders to a neutral nation in the region to reach a consensus agreement on holding elections in the impoverished country that has been stripped of all democratically elected institutions.

However, the international community and local officials have noted that elections cannot be held in Haiti until violence is quelled.

Haiti’s foreign minister, Jean Victor Généus, warned during an Organization of American States meeting Friday that insecurity has risen and will spill over into neighboring countries.

“We must absolutely tackle this problem in Haiti because no one else in the Caribbean will be spared,” he said.

The Caricom meeting will be hosted by Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, who has persistently complained about the cost of repatriating thousands of Haitians as well as hundreds of Cubans in the past year. He says Caricom needs to help find a solution to Haiti’s security, political and economic crisis.

Violence has soared in Haiti as poverty and hunger deepens, with gangs growing more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The number of reported kidnappings rose to more than 1,200 last year, more than double what was reported the previous year. Meanwhile, 1,200 killings were reported last year, an increase of 35% compared with the previous year, according to the U.N.

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