Congressman Levin: Do you think absent U.S. support… would the Henry government survive or remain? Ambassador Foote: I do not believe it would survive or remain.
WARREN, MI – In a House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing today, Congressman Andy Levin (MI-09), co-founder of the House Haiti Caucus and member of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, Migration and International Economic Policy, questioned Ambassador Dan Foote on recent U.S.-Haiti policy issues in the wake of his resignation as Special Envoy for Haiti:
Congressman Levin: In your resignation letter, you mentioned that the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince issued a statement of support for the de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry and touted his, quote, "political agreement" over the roadmap developed by an astounding number of groups in Haitian civil society for a real Haitian-led democratic transition. You said, "the hubris that makes us believe we should pick the winner—again—is impressive." Would you explain very briefly why you believe the embassy issued this statement of support for Henry?
Ambassador Foote: There were two statements issued by the core group, which is the international embassies in Haiti, but they almost always follow U.S. recommendations. They first, on July 17th or 18th, came out with a statement supporting Ariel Henry as the new Prime Minister of Haiti. Then, on August 30th the Montana group got their agreement – no statement by the core or anything acknowledging that there was a political accord agreement made. Then, on September 11 when Henry got an accord, the core group came together and immediately made a statement of support for Henry's agreement, encouraging all groups to get together and fuse all of the three agreements but I think implying that Henry's agreement needs to be a part of the final solution.
Congressman Levin: Why? As you say, he's actually the seventh prime minister appointed by this de facto president who overstayed his welcome, led a kleptocracy and gangsterization of the country. Why do we continue to do this?
Ambassador Foote: I think the risk of changing governments in a country like Haiti makes us nervous, to be honest with you. But, Dr. Henry has said to me and other people several times that if the country wants him to step down, he will step down.
Congressman Levin: Do you think absent U.S. support for it, would the Henry government survive or remain?
Ambassador Foote: I do not believe it would survive or remain.
Congressman Levin: You called the decision to deport Haitian refugees both "inhumane" and "counterproductive." Obviously, we all know why it was inhumane and you've described that well. Would you elaborate for us on why you believe these deportations are also counterproductive"?
Ambassador Foote: The security situation, the economic situation, the health situation, are all grave in Haiti. We just had a major earthquake and a tropical depression in the South and it needs to be reconstructed. Haiti's government and Haiti as a country cannot support the people it has there right now. The last thing they need right now is desperate people without anything to their names because they just spent everything trying to get to the States coming back. There's no safety net, it's just a recipe for human tragedy to me.
Source:https://andylevin.house.gov/media/press-releases/ambassador-foote-tells-levin-de-facto-haitian-regime-would-fall-without-us
