Congress: U.S. insistence on ‘elections at all costs’ in Haiti risks deeper crisis
More than 60 U.S. House Democrats are calling for “a significant review of U.S. policy in Haiti” by the Biden administration and warning that “the U.S.’s insistence on elections at all costs in Haiti” later this year risks exacerbating the country’s cycle of political instability and violence.
“While elections will clearly be needed in the near future to restore democratic order, we remain deeply concerned that any electoral process held under the current administration will fail to be free, fair, or credible,” members of Congress said Monday in the letter addressed to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. “Parliamentary, local, and presidential elections set for Fall 2021 could increase the risk of violence throughout the country significantly.”
The U.S. lawmakers said the administration of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who has been ruling without a parliament for over 15 months, not only “lacks the credibility and legitimacy” to administer elections that are free and fair but also a constitutional referendum scheduled for June 27.
The 69 House members who signed the letter want the Biden administration to use its “voice and vote” with the United Nations and the Organization of American States, both of which get U.S. .funding, to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to support the constitutional referendum.
“We take note that, in briefings with members, Department of State officials have said they do not think moving forward with the referendum is appropriate,” the letter said. However, both the OAS and U.N. political office Haiti have offered vocal support for the process. The U.N. currently controls a basket fund that is raising money for both the June 27 referendum, and legislative, local, municipal and presidential elections that are supposed to take place this fall.
The letter was led by New York lawmakers Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, amid growing calls for the Biden administration to take a tougher stance with Moïse and a growing rise in kidnappings, armed gangs and political and economic turmoil.
Others in the international community have warned that conditions currently do not exist for elections in the country, while Haitian civic, political and human rights leaders have called for a transition government. So far the Biden administration, ignoring those calls or concerns about the integrity of the electoral process, has continued with the Trump administration’s policy of pushing elections.
Among the signers of the letter: all Democratic members of the Florida congressional delegation; more than half of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the chairmen of more than half of the standing committees in the U.S. House of Representatives. Analysts say it is one of the strongest letters on Haiti to come out of the U.S. Congress in recent years.
U.S. lawmakers say they want Blinken to “clearly identify and communicate to Congress” what specific metrics the Biden administration plans to use to use to evaluate whether Haiti’s elections will be free and fair, including a realistic timeline.
Late Monday, foreign diplomats representing the U.S., Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain and France, joined by the special representatives of the U.N. and OAS, issued a joint statement voicing concerns about the security and political situation in Haiti and the lack of a political agreement that would allow elections to take place in a favorable climate.
Known as the Core Group, the diplomats reminded Moïse that the responsibility for organizing the country’s overdue legislative elections rests primarily “with the national authorities who must deal with the essential questions of security, transparency and logistics.”
“The Core Group urges all stakeholders to show good faith and redouble their efforts to find a political agreement that will facilitate the holding of such elections as soon as possible,” the statement said.
Breaking their silence about the proposed constitutional referendum, the Core Group joined the U.N. in its recent concerns about the process.
“This process is not, at this stage, sufficiently inclusive, participatory or transparent,” diplomats said. “Such a reform should take place on the basis of a broad consultation which involves all the vital forces of the nation.”
Last year, key sectors in Haiti that have traditionally been part of a provisional electoral council, or CEP — the Catholic Church, the Protestant Federation, private sector associations, presidents of universities and human rights advocates — all categorically refused to participate in an election and designate a representative to the CEP, eliciting threats from a senior State Department official.
Moïse went ahead and named his own CEP, which the Haitian Supreme Court later refused to swear in.
In recent months, Haiti’s multifaceted crises have deepened , and the State Department reissued its Level 4 Do Not Travel warning due to the alarming rise in kidnappings. Meanwhile, many Haitians say they longer recognize Moïse’s government because constitutionally his presidential term expired on Feb. 7.
Moïse has insisted that he has a a year left in office, a claim publicly supported by the Biden administration. In their letter, members of Congress asked the administration to “refrain from opining on constitutional interpretations in Haiti, specifically regarding the dispute over the mandate of Mr. Moïse.”
Haiti’s elections are notoriously problematic and past fraud allegations have prompted violent street clashes, recounts and diplomatic interventions from the U.S. and the Organization of the American States. In October, the European Union announced it would not send an electoral observer mission to the country should balloting occur because the status of more than 20 recommendations delivered by two of its last missions, in 2015 and 2016, to reform the electoral process, remained unknown.
In addition to concerns about elections, members of Congress are asking that a special representative in charge of Haiti be appointed, similar to what occurred after the country’s 2010 earthquake when a Haiti office operated out of the State Department.
Congress also wants more to be done to combat corruption by involving the Internal Revenue Service and go after human rights violators. It is also asking Blinken to support the re-designation of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitian migrants living in the U.S. and to put a temporary freeze on all Title 42 public health related expulsions to Haiti.
Since early February more than 1,500 individuals have been deported to Haiti.
“It is vital that the U.S. comply with U.S. and international legal obligations and allow all migrants access to the asylum system,” members said.
This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 9:36 PM.
