Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry is urging Haitians to trust his government to restore democratic rule in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country as the United and Canada, two of its strongest allies, congratulated Haiti on its 119th anniversary of political independence while acknowledging the socio-economic and political challenges.
“In this year 2023, we will have to learn to trust each other. And I ask you to take me at my word when I speak of my Government’s desire to do everything possible to reconstitute our democratic institutions. It is not with mistrust that we assemble a team to face together the dangers that hang over our common homeland,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry said.
He said as all true democrats should seize the opportunity offered to them to join the national consensus and contribute together with the government to the definition of the roadmap which will include the strategies and actions to be implemented for the organization of the next elections.
Henry said he hoped that in 2023 “the wish that our pupils, our students, and our teachers can return to school and university, from January 3rd in order to catch up, as much as possible, the days of classes missed since the start of the school year.
He said he was also wishing “courage and prosperity to all women and businessmen in the formal and informal sectors who have experienced difficult situations in recent months and who, despite everything, have not given up.
“I want to tell those who have had to close their doors under the unbearable pressure of armed gangs, that we are working so that they can resume their activities,” Ariel Henry added.
Meanwhile, the two North American countries are engaged in efforts to bring some form of stability to the country where opposition parties have been staging street demonstrations in their efforts to remove Prime Minister Henry, who came to office in July 2021 following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, from power.
In addition, criminal gangs have been staging kidnappings for ransom and other violence acts in defiance of the police and the army.
Both the United States and Canada have imposed economic and travel bans on prominent Haitian nationals including former presidents, prime ministers and legislators, whom they have accused of supporting the efforts by the criminal gangs and others to subvert justice and overthrow the government.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in a statement, said last year has seen many challenges for the Haitian people as he congratulated them as they “commemorate your country’s long history of independence and celebrate the start of a new year.
The US Secretary of State said while Haiti faces “a difficult road ahead in the new year”, Washington “stands firmly with Haiti as it works to restore security, the rule of law, democratic institutions and economic stability.”
Meantime, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, joined in celebrating Haiti’s Independence Day on Sunday, noting that, since 1804, on January 1 of every year, Haitians and people of African descent commemorate Haiti’s declaration of independence.
He said the Haitian Revolution, which lasted 15 years, resulted in Haiti becoming the second independent nation in the Americas, the first independent nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the first country in the Western Hemisphere where Black people successfully overturned slavery.
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