PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Ariel Henry resigned as Haiti’s prime minister on Thursday, clearing the way for a new government to be formed in the Caribbean country, which has been torn apart by gang violence that killed or injured more than 2,500 people from January to March. .
Henry submitted his resignation in a letter signed in Los Angeles, dated April 24, and released Thursday by his office, the same day a council charged with choosing a new prime minister and cabinet for Haiti was sworn in.
Meanwhile, Henry’s remaining cabinet elected Economy and Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert as interim prime minister. It was not immediately clear when the transitional council would elect its own interim prime minister.
Addressing a packed, sweaty room in the prime minister’s office, Boisvert said Haiti’s crisis had gone on too long and the country was now at a crossroads. Members of the transitional council endorsed him, as did the country’s top police and military officials.
“After two long months of debate… a solution has been found,” Boisvert said. “Today is an important day in the life of our beloved republic.”
He called the transitional council a “Haitian solution” and, directing his comments toward them, Boisvert wished them success and added: “I think the determination is there.”
After the speeches, the soft clinking of glasses echoed through the room as attendees poured glasses of champagne and toasted a somber “To Haiti.”
The council was installed early Thursday, more than a month after Caribbean leaders announced its creation following an emergency meeting to address Haiti’s growing crisis. Gunshots were heard as the council was sworn in at the National Palace, prompting worried looks.
The nine-member council, of which seven have voting power, is also expected to help set the agenda for a new Cabinet. He will also appoint an interim electoral commission, a requirement before elections can be held, and establish a national security council.
The council’s non-renewable term expires on February 7, 2026, when a new president is scheduled to be sworn in.
Smith Augustin, a voting member of the council, said it was unclear whether the council would decide to keep Boisvert as interim premier or choose someone else. He said it will be discussed in the coming days. “The crisis is unsustainable,” he said.
Regine Abraham, a non-voting member of the council, recalls the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 and explains that “that violence had a devastating impact.”
Abraham said gangs now control most of Port-au-Prince, tens of thousands of the capital’s residents have been displaced by violence and more than 900 schools in the capital have been forced to close.
“The population of Port-au-Prince has literally been taken hostage,” he said.
The gangs launched coordinated attacks that began on February 29 in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince. They burned police stations and hospitals, opened fire on the main international airport that has been closed since early March, and raided Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. Gangs have also cut off access to Haiti’s largest port.
The attack began while Prime Minister Henry was on an official visit to Kenya to press for a UN-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country. He remains excluded from Haiti.
“Port-au-Prince is now almost completely isolated due to air, sea and land blockades,” UNICEF director Catherine Russell said earlier this week.
The international community has urged the council to prioritize widespread insecurity in Haiti. Even before the attacks began, the gangs already controlled 80% of Port-au-Prince. According to a recent UN report, the number of people killed in early 2024 increased by more than 50% compared to the same period last year.
“It is impossible to overstate the increase in gang activity in Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deteriorating human rights situation and the deepening humanitarian crisis,” said María Isabel Salvador, UN special envoy for Haiti. at a press conference. UN Security Council meeting on Monday.
Also attending Boisvert’s swearing-in on Thursday was Dennis Haskins, the newly installed U.S. ambassador. He said Thursday’s events were an important step for Haiti.
“In crisis, Haitians can do tremendous things, which is why we are here to help them,” Haskins said. “We will not be the solution, but we hope to be a part of helping those who find the solution.”
As part of that, he said the U.S. government was working to enforce export controls on weapons, many of which have reached Haiti, fueling violence.
“The fact that many of the weapons that come here are from the United States is indisputable and that has a direct impact,” Haskins said. “It’s something we recognize is a contributing factor to instability.”
Nearly 100,000 people have fled the capital in search of safer cities and towns since the attacks began. Tens of thousands of people left homeless after gangs burned down their homes now live in cramped, makeshift shelters across Port-au-Prince that have only one or two bathrooms for hundreds of residents.
At the United Nations on Thursday, World Food Program Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said Haiti is suffering from a security, political and humanitarian crisis that is causing severe food insecurity for some five million people, or about half of the population. The UN defines it as “when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their life or livelihood in immediate danger.”
“The situation is dramatic,” Skau told reporters. “Devastating crisis, a massive humanitarian impact, the worst humanitarian situation in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.”
Rachel Pierre, 39, a mother of four who lives in one of the capital’s makeshift shelters, said: “Even though I’m physically here, I feel like I’m dead.”
“There is no food or water. “Sometimes I don’t have anything to give the kids,” she said as her 14-month-old son suckled at her deflated breast.
Many Haitians are angry and exhausted by what their lives have become and blame gangs for their situation.
“They’re the ones who sent us here,” said Chesnel Joseph, a 46-year-old math teacher whose school closed because of the violence and who has become the shelter’s informal director. “They mistreat us. They kill us. “They burn our houses.”
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