An American delegation visiting for two days in Haiti presented, Friday 1er October, apologies to the Haitian people for the treatment inflicted on migrants at the southern border of the United States. “We have all seen the images of the treatment of Haitians at our border and I want to say that it was an injustice, it was wrong and I want to apologize to the Haitian people”, declared Juan Gonzalez, special assistant to President Joe Biden, during a press conference held at the American embassy in Haiti.
More than 30,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, had gathered under a bridge on the border between Mexico and Texas. The treatment suffered by some, pushed back by border police officers on horseback as they crossed the Rio Grande River, has drawn criticism from the Biden administration. The US president had promised that the agents would ” to pay “ for such behavior, which he judged “Scandalous”.
Citing a health regulation to fight against the pandemic linked to Covid-19, the United States initiated a massive return of migrants by operating more than 60 flights to the capital Port-au-Prince and to Cap-Haitien, the second city of country. Since September 19, more than 5,500 people including hundreds of children have been expelled to Haiti, a country today plunged into a deep security crisis.
A country plagued by gangs
The gangs have notably extended their influence over a large part of the capital, where they carried out more than thirty kidnappings in two weeks, according to human rights organizations. The Caribbean country has also been in the throes of a power struggle since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 in his private residence. The armed commandos accused of having committed this murder had been recruited by a company based in Florida, and the United States assured Haiti of its full support to identify and judge the sponsors and perpetrators.
“The FBI is investigating these crimes which took place or originated in the United States”senior US diplomat Brian Nichols said at a press conference on Friday. Faced with the slowness of Haitian justice, which lacks resources and is accused of being plagued by corruption, many civil society organizations are calling for the creation of an international tribunal to judge the case, a request on which Mr. Nichols however did not wish to speak.