Haiti: Ariel Henry, the fall of a Prime Minister, in perpetual search for legitimacy
Pressed from all sides, the head of the Haitian government ended up resigning, unable to put an end to the security chaos affecting his country.
He ends his mandate without ever having fulfilled his main commitment: to organize, as soon as possible, free elections in order to get Haiti out of the political slump initiated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
A gang member stands behind a barricade, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 11, 2024. © Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters
By: RFI with AFP
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The fall of Ariel Henry marks the end of a chaotic mandate, the longest that
Haiti
has known since the 1990s. Ariel Henry, 74, first made a name for himself in Haiti during his professional career as a neurologist, after medical studies in France.
Head of the neurosurgery department of one of the most renowned private hospitals in Haiti, teaching in the state universities of the capital Port-au-Prince, he only entered politics late.
In January 2015, the head of state, Michel Martelly, named him Minister of the Interior, a position he held for less than eight months.
After a change at the head of government in September 2015, he took the portfolio of Social Affairs and Labor for six months, before leaving the political scene for more than five years.
As soon as he was appointed Prime Minister on July 5, 2021, a political earthquake occurred.
The assassination, two days later of the President of the Republic Jovenel Moïse, leaves him in charge of a fractured country, plagued by
criminal groups
and poorer than ever.
The attack plunges the country, already fragile, into total confusion.
Ariel Henry did not even have time to officially take office.
After two weeks of vagueness and under pressure from foreign embassies, he was finally installed at the head of the government already suffering from a legitimacy deficit.
A distrust of him, after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse
The investigation into the president's assassination will increase distrust of him.
On the night of the murder, Ariel Henry had several telephone conversations with one of the main suspects.
And at the beginning of 2022, a recording attributed to a judge accusing
Ariel Henry of having planned and financed the attack
was broadcast by the American channel CNN.
Faced with these accusations, the Prime Minister castigates a “
drama orchestrated at the national and international level
”, and denounces a “
diversion
”.
If he did not deny having had exchanges with Joseph Félix Badio, who would have been geolocated two hours after the murder in the district where the residence of Jovenel Moïse is located, Ariel Henry explains that it is difficult for him to remember the names of everyone who called him and the nature of the conversations he had that day.
When taking official office in Port-au-Prince, he promised, after a minute of silence, to work for consensus and restore order in order to organize elections, as demanded by the population and the community. international.
In the space of two and a half years, this promise will never be kept.
And the distrust towards him, which had quickly established itself among the Haitian population, ended up turning to hatred when he once again announced a hypothetical election for August 2025.
A label of illegitimate leader
While civil society and part of the political opposition struggle to agree to offer an alternative, the Prime Minister retains control of the State, without much results in the face of the repeated crises which are shaking the country.
Long before the death of President Jovenel Moïse, gangs had extended their control over the country.
Controlling a large part of Port-au-Prince, they prevent access to the offices of the Prime Minister: it is from his official residence that Ariel Henry organizes meetings and Councils of Ministers.
On January 1, 2022, he was even forced to flee
under bursts of gunfire
from the national holiday ceremony, organized in the city of Gonaïves.
This “
assassination attempt
”, which he firmly denounces, does not prevent Ariel Henry from maintaining his political program, similar to that of the late Jovenel Moïse, namely the organization of elections and the adoption of a new Constitution.
Haiti is beginning, with a Prime Minister without a popular and contested base at its head, the fourth transitional regime in the history of its young democracy, born following the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986.
This label of leader never elected, illegitimate and reluctant to relinquish power will pursue him with each trip, provoking
massive demonstrations
at the beginning of this year , associated with the growing security instability orchestrated by gangs.
“
There is at the same time a certain joy to see that Ariel Henry, who was not at all legitimate, incompetent and incapable of taking up the challenge, ended up throwing in the towel
”, estimates the geographer Jean-Marie Théodat , director of the Institute of Geography at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
“
At the same time, I am very worried because he fell under the action of the bandits.
And these bandits might feel that they have won.
And they might be tempted to go further
,” he adds.
The hope of a “
reciprocity agreement
”
It is ultimately the current crisis which precipitates its fall, as the gangs extend their hold on Port-au-Prince, forming an alliance with the declared aim of overthrowing the Prime Minister, who should have left office at the beginning of February.
Criminal gangs attack police stations, the capital's airport and even prisons, freeing thousands of detainees.
A few days ago, the coalition of armed groups led by the former police officer turned gang leader, Jimmy Chérizier, had in fact brandished the threat of a civil war and a
“
genocide
”
,
in the event of Ariel Henry's return to Haitian territory.
His last political act consisted of going to Kenya, in the hope of signing a “reciprocity agreement”, allowing the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti.
This contingent of a thousand Kenyan police officers is supposed to support the Haitian national police in restoring order in the face of the serious security unrest experienced by the country.
His plane, prevented from landing in Haiti, finally took him to the American island of Puerto Rico, from where he announced his resignation on Monday.
The United States, which was pushing with other countries for a political transition in Haiti, said he was welcome on its soil if he wished to stay.
Read also Haiti: the tenuous hope of appeasement after the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry
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