“The sanctions imposed by Canada are intended to pressure those responsible for violence, including widespread sexual violence, and instability in Haiti,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie’s services said in a press release.
Canada’s government has sanctioned a former Haitian MP and also an adviser and relative of Haiti’s former president for allegedly protecting gangs and facilitating illegal activities, including drug trafficking, the foreign ministry in Ottawa said.
Arnel Belizeur, a former member of parliament, and Charles Saint-Remy, an adviser and best man to ex-president Michel Martelly, are using their positions in the Haitian elite to support gangs, Canadian diplomacy has charged.
“The sanctions imposed by Canada are intended to pressure those responsible for violence, including widespread sexual violence, and instability in Haiti,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie’s services said in a press release.
“These people must stop funding and supplying weapons to criminal gangs in Canada,” the statement said.
Messrs. Belizeur and Saint-Remy did not respond when the Reuters news agency tried to contact them for comment.
The sanctions add to a series of similar measures by Ottawa, notably against former president Martelly, two prominent political figures and three businessmen.
Armed gangs are constantly expanding the territories they control in Haiti, especially after the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise by a group of mercenaries. Much of the country has been placed outside of state control, and street fights between thugs and the police or between gangs are almost daily.
In September, the gangs escalated the crisis, imposing a blockade on a fuel terminal for nearly six weeks, paralyzing most economic activity amid a new cholera outbreak.
RES-EMP
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