Haiti – FLASH: The US is disappointed by the Security Council’s inability to sanction a senior Haitian political official

Haiti – FLASH: The US is disappointed by the Security Council’s inability to sanction a senior Haitian political official
13/07/2024 10:05:18

On Friday, July 12, 2024, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused her fellow Security Council members of blocking American efforts to quickly impeach former senator and Senate President Youri Latortue, for inclusion. on the UN sanctions list, accused of collusion with armed gangs.

Latortue “exercises considerable control over political and economic life in the Artibonite department, including through the use of violent gangs, which it finances and arms,” ​​said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, citing a report by a committee of Haitian experts, set up by UN in October 2022.

The job of this committee is to make recommendations, based on its investigations, on individuals who should be sanctioned for posing a threat to the peace and stability of Haiti. The UN sanctions are among the most severe penalties and would freeze a person’s assets while banning them from traveling to most countries in the world.

So far, the UN has only imposed sanctions on 5 gang leaders, (Jimmy Cherazier aka “Grătar” leader of the “G9” coalition; Johnson André aka “Izo” Leader of the “5 Segond” gang; Renel Destina aka “Ti Lapli” Leader of the gang “Grand Ravine”; Vitelhomme Innocent alias “Vitelom” leader of the “Kraze Barye” gang and Wilson Joseph alias “Lanmo San Jou” the leader of the “400 Mawozo”) which raised criticism regarding the effectiveness of the measure, because the gang leaders did not they generally keep the money in the bank and do not have visas to travel to other countries.The United States and France have pushed for the inclusion of the politicians on the UN sanctions list, which the Haitian expert group is proposing.

“We were deeply disappointed by the inexplicable hold on Youri Latortue,” said Thomas-Greenfield, whose remarks are likely to reverberate in Haiti, where observers question whether the United States and other countries are still determined to impose sanctions after an aggressive campaign initial. targeting designated members of the political and economic elite.

A longtime politician who served as an adviser to former President Michel Martelly, Latortue was one of the country’s most powerful politicians when he was in power. Today, he is one of the few Haitian politicians who have been blacklisted by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38056-haiti-flash-j- lambert-and -y-latortue-sanctioned-by-the-usa-all-the-details.html and the Canadian government https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38176-haiti-flash-canada-imposes- sanctions- on-3-alti-politicieni-haitiani.html .

He has denied all charges against him and has hired a lawyer to fight the designation, which freezes all his assets in the United States and Canada.

Thomas-Greenfield’s comments are the first public acknowledgment of the effort by the United States and other members of the Security Council to impose UN sanctions against Latortue and other powerful male politicians in Haiti and is a window into the divisions within the Council over who should be sanctioned.

Although no one has publicly acknowledged blocking sanctions against Latortue, Dmitri Polyanskiy, the representative of the Russian Federation, who chairs the council this month, said that when it comes to sanctions, he hopes that “the individual interests of the council members do not want to be placed above the task of supporting an inclusive political dialogue.”

Russia indicated last week that it had no problem sanctioning people other than gang leaders in Haiti, as long as the evidence supports the claimblaming the United States and Canada use sanctions to clear the political field in Haiti.

See also:
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41475-haiti-eu-sanctions-vitelom-leader-of-the-kraze-barye-gang-and-motives-for-the-sanctions-4-4. html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41467-haiti-eu-sanctions-lanmo-san-jou-lider-al-400-mawozo-gang-si-motivele-sanctiunilor- 3-4.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41462-haiti-eu-sanctions-ti-lapli-leader-of-the-grand-ravin-gang-and-motive-for-the-sanctions-2- 4.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41453-haiti-eu-sanctions-izo-leader-of-the-5-segond-gang-and-motives-for-the-sanctions-1-4. html
https://www.haitilibre.com/ro/news-38176-haiti-flash-canada-imposes-sanctions-for-other-3-politicians-haitians.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/ro/news-38176-haiti-flash-canada-imposes-sanctions-for-other-3-politicians-haitians.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38056-haiti-flash-j-lambert-and-y-latortue-sanctionat-de-sUA-toate-detaliile.html

HL/ HaitiLibre