GEORGETOWN, GUYANA (AP) – Top Caribbean leaders are expected to debate Haiti’s spiraling chaos and its impact on the region during a biannual meeting this week, with some complaining about a constant stream of migrants arriving on their shores as they flee poverty and worsening violence.
The three-day meeting of the Caribbean trade block known as Caricom starts tomorrow in the Bahamas.
Some of the group’s 15 members are pushing to get key Haitian stakeholders to a neutral nation in the region to reach a consensus agreement on holding elections in the impoverished country that has been stripped of democratically elected institutions.
However, the international community and local officials noted that elections cannot be held in Haiti until violence is quelled.
Haitian Foreign Minister Jean Victor Généus warned during an Organization of American States meeting on Friday that insecurity has risen and will spill over into neighbouring countries.
The Caricom meeting will be hosted by Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, who persistently complained about the cost of repatriating thousands of Haitians as well as hundreds of Cubans in the past year. He said Caricom needs to help find a solution to Haiti’s security, political and economic crisis.
Critics said Caricom has failed to produce a more managed approach to Haiti’s situation.
Earlier this month, Jamaica’s prime minister said he was willing to send soldiers and police officers to Haiti as part of a proposed multinational security assistance deployment. Last year, the Bahamas said it would send troops or police if asked to do so.
