Haiti Has New Interim Prime Minister

On April 25, the Haitian Transitional Council formalized the resignation of now former Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Henri’s finance minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will be interim prime minister until a transitional council is formed to appoint the next head of government and begin the road to the electoral process.

The first and urgent task is to restore order, given that the country has been in the hands of criminal gangs for years, and the violence has escalated in recent months and led to Henri’s resignation.

“Today is an important day for the life of our dear republic, this day actually opens the prospect of solving the problem.” Reuters also reports the words of another Transition Board member, Regine Abraham: “We are witnessing the total collapse of our institutions and the failure of the government, the people of Port-au-Prince are literally being held hostage, this is an unprecedented crisis, and the entire population has realized the dire need for a firm hand to lead us out of this spiral of despair and destruction.”

In addition to focusing on security, the new leadership is seeking to establish consultations on constitutional reform and rebuild the judicial and economic systems.

But it won’t be easy, because it was on the day the Council was sworn in that news came of violence in the capital and houses being set on fire. Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherisier, the head of the most powerful criminal gang, has made it clear that the violence will not stop and that there may indeed be an escalation.

In October 2023, former Prime Minister Henry sought international help to support local police who could no longer respond to gang violence. The United Nations also approved a mission (led by Kenya) to support Haitian institutions. However, this has not happened yet, and the situation is getting worse by the day.