Blinken spoke briefly about Haiti and other topics during a day trip to Trinidad and Tobago, which hosted a three-day meeting hosted by the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Caribbean leaders have met frequently to discuss the situation in Haiti. CARICOM President and Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the group supports Haitian-led solutions, but also called on the United States for help.
“It’s no secret, Mr. Secretary, that the United States will have to play a very crucial role,” Skerrit said as he introduced Blinken on the last day of the meeting.
Blinken spoke a day before the United Nations Security Council meets to discuss Haiti, amid mounting pressure on the international community to deploy a foreign armed force that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested in October.
So far, the council has only approved sanctions against gang members and high-level figures believed to support the gangs that now control about 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince, where murder, rape and kidnapping have soared. .
The Haitian National Police lacks sufficient funds and resources to combat the increase in violence; It only has about 13,000 active agents in a country of more than 11 million inhabitants. Some Haitians, tired and frustrated with the violence, have taken up arms to kill suspected gang members.
Blinken said he supports calls for a multinational force to restore security: “This is an area of intense focus for us.”
He also promised to continue to pressure financial institutions to defer debt payments in case of natural catastrophes. The Caribbean region has been hit by increasingly strong storms.
In addition, Blinken pledged nearly $5.5 million to help small farmers increase productivity and access technology as the region battles climate change.
“One in two people in the Caribbean cannot afford a healthy diet,” he noted.
Democratic US Representative Hakim Jeffries accompanied Blinken. Jeffries said the United States and the Caribbean have mutual security concerns and common economic interests.
“CARICOM nations are not secondary,” he said. “CARICOM has accomplished a lot in the last 50 years, but we know there is still a lot of work to be done.”
FUENTE: Associated Press
