The surprising announcement of a prime minister divides Haiti’s newly created transitional council

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A surprise announcement that named Haiti’s new prime minister is threatening to fracture a recently installed transitional council tasked with selecting new leaders for the gang-riddled Caribbean nation.

Four of seven council members with voting power said Tuesday they had chosen Fritz Belizaire as prime minister, surprising many Haitians with their declaration and unexpected political alliance.

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The council participants who oppose Belizaire, who served as Haiti’s sports minister right thru the 2nd presidency of Rene Preval from 2006 to 2011, for the time being are weighing choices alongside with stopping the choice or resigning from the council.

A person with knowledge of the situation who did not wish to be identified because negotiations are ongoing said the council’s political agreement had been violated by the surprise move and that some council members are angry about other decisions as well as the likely prime minister.

The council on Tuesday was scheduled to hold an election and choose its president. However, two hours and a profuse apology later, one council member said that not only had a council president been chosen, but also a prime minister as well. Murmurs rippled through the room.

The Montana Accord, a civil society organization represented by a council member with voting powers, denounced in a press release late Tuesday what it called a ‘plot’ hatched by four council members against the Haitian people ‘during the night.’

“The political and economic mafia forces have decided to seize control of the presidential council and the government so they can continue to run the country,” the Montana Accord said.

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Haitian politics have long been characterised by secretive dealings, but many fear the nation cannot afford further political instability as gangs lay siege to the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond.

“People change events (like) they’re changing their shirts,” said Francois Pierre-Louis, a professor of political science at Queens College in New York and former Haitian politician.

He spoke during an online webinar on Tuesday evening.

Take care of others, he said he believed that Jean-Charles Moise, a strong politician who was once a former senator and presidential candidate, was behind Belizaire’s nomination.

“Curiously, Moise, of all the politicians there, is the one calling the shots,” Pierre-Louis said.

Moise, however, does not sit on the council. His party, Pitit Desalin, is represented by Emmanuel Vertilaire, who is among the four council members who support Belizaire.

The others are Louis Gerald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the council’s new president.

They also cannot be reached immediately for comment.

A document shared with The Associated Press and signed by the four council members who selected the new prime minister states they have agreed to make decisions by consensus. The document is titled, “Constitution of an Indissoluble Majority Bloc within the Presidential Council.”

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The move prompted the Fanmi Lavalas coalition to jointly issue a press release on Wednesday calling it a “masquerade” and “conspiracy” to ensure that PHTK “thugs and their allies retain power…and continue the tradition of corruption.”

“The Lavalas Family strongly rejects the betrayal scandal that took place on April 30,” the coalition said.

Fils represents the January 30 political grouping, which includes parties alongside PHTK, whose members include former President Michel Martelly and slain President Jovenel Moïse. Meanwhile, Augustin represents the EDE/RED political coalition, founded by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph, and Gilles represents the December 21 agreement, which is linked to former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who recently resigned.

Henry was on an official visit to Kenya to advocate for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African nation when gangs in Haiti launched coordinated attacks beginning Feb. 29.

They burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that has remained closed since early March and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The violence continues unabated in parts of Port-au-Prince, including the area around the National Palace.

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Haitians are concerned that security be a top priority for the council, which is tasked with selecting a new prime minister and Cabinet, as well as preparing for eventual democratic elections.

However, some Haitians are wary of the council and the decisions it is making.

Jean Selce, a 57-year-old electrician, noted that just a few of the council members are longtime politicians: “Their past is now presumably not certain.”

“I’m hoping their mentality can change, but I don’t imagine this is possible,” he said. “They don’t actually love the country. Who’s dying right now? It’s Haitians like me.”

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, noted that some of the parties represented on the council are responsible for the ongoing chaos in Haiti.

“It’s a contradiction,” he said. “Whenever we appear to be in a crisis, we reappoint the same people and hope that they change their ways, but they do not.”

Raising the same criticism is Michael Deibert, author of “Notes From the Last Testament: The Battle for Haiti,” and “Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.”

He noted in a recent essay that the council is “dominated by the same political forces who have spent the last 25 years driving Haiti over a cliff, exploiting impoverished young men in the slums to be used as political bludgeons until — bloated on the proceeds from kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises — these groups outgrew the need of their patrons.”

More than 2,500 people were killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, according to the U.N.

In addition, more than 90,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month due to relentless gang violence.

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