Colombia’s Petro visited southern Haiti due to the increasing violence in both countries
by Sarah Moreland
(Reuters) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived in the southeastern city of Jacmel on Wednesday afternoon in a rare visit to the Caribbean nation’s foreign capital as Haiti grapples with a protracted conflict with armed gangs.
Colombia has also been plagued by violence from rebel factions that have stalled peace talks.
Petro arrived in the small coastal town 90 kilometers from the capital, Port-au-Prince, on a Colombian military plane several hours after his tour was supposed to begin.
Petro had a stint in the Dominican Republic, where Haiti’s capital was the scene of multiple shootings at diplomatic vehicles just this week.
He met with senior Haitian government officials, including Leslie Voltaire, the interim president of the Transitional Presidential Council, to discuss strengthening bilateral ties.
During the evening ceremony, Voltaire thanked Petro for coming despite the violence in Colombia and said that their cooperation would help Haiti in terms of security and economy, without giving further details of the outcome of the talks.
Petro spoke of unity in the face of immigration restrictions in the United States.
“They don’t want Haitians, they don’t want Venezuelans … they don’t want Colombians,” he said. “Well, let’s leave them alone for a while and see how it goes; I believe we’ll help each other, and they’ll be the only ones to drive us away.”
Voltaire said that since the security mission supported by the United Nations has not been able to stop the progress of the country’s gangs, he wants to establish closer relations with South American countries.
Criminals have gained strategic territory since the mission was approved in late 2023, frequent closures of the capital’s main port and airport, and worsening food shortages that have led to starvation for half of the country’s 11 million people.
The number of displaced people rose from around 200,000 to more than 1 million before the partially deployed mission was approved by the UN Security Council.
Also on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council convened for a briefing on the conflict, with several countries calling for stronger action to curb the illegal arms flow from the United States to Haiti’s now widely allied criminal organizations.
Haitian Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste reiterated that the mission was “grossly underfunded” and lacked key air and naval capabilities to make it less dependent on voluntary donations.
“Now we are very much waiting for the other contributions that have been promised for a long time,” he said. “Haiti cannot overcome this crisis alone. That is why we are asking for more resources to stabilize our security.”
Over 200,000 Haitian refugees were repatriated last year.