Ariel Henry, 74, once king on the chessboard of Haiti, has now become a pawn of the United States in its increasingly desperate attempt to send a proxy intervention force to the rebellious Caribbean nation. This is the image Haiti Liberté received from a well-placed source with intimate access to and intimate knowledge of the U.S. government.
Washington is now looking for a way to send a “quick reaction force” to Haiti, and Ariel Henry remains one of their main bargaining chips, according to our source.
After his chartered plane landed in Puerto Rico on March 5, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) questioned Henry for three days, according to our source. (Within 48 hours, the United States deported to Egypt the four Egyptian mercenaries – previously misidentified as Kenyans – who served as Henry’s security guards, our source said.)
The first day of the FBI interrogation was dedicated to questioning Henry about his role in the July 7, 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, our source said. The remaining two days focused on Haiti’s payment on February 23, 2024, of $500 million to Venezuela to repay the $2.3 billion PetroCaribe loan account established between the two countries in 2008.
Under the terms of the deal, Venezuela canceled the remaining $1.8 billion Haiti owed the country.
The deal was negotiated by Global Sovereign Advisory (GSA), based in Paris and founded by Anne-Laure Kiechel. Temir Porras, GSA’s general manager and chief agent for Latin America, negotiated with Henry.
The FBI estimates Henry received a $138 million kickback for brokering the deal, our source said.
Because of the FBI’s findings, the Diplomatic Secret Service (DSS) agents caring for Henry placed him under de facto house arrest at the U.S. Army’s Fort Buchanan in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. He is guarded by six agents and he is in poor health, he is even vomiting, according to one of the health professionals who take care of him.
He was moved to the military base from his original residence at the Isla Verde Marriot Hotel in San Juan, in part to deny media access, our source said.
A second reliable source spoke to a senior State Department official who told him the Biden administration did not want to pursue Henry in court, fearing it could jeopardize Biden’s re-election bid in 2024. he administration is extremely concerned with “stabilizing the situation” in Haiti, the official said.
The State Department wants to hand Henry over to a new Haitian government of its choosing. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken attempted to convene a “Presidential Transition Commission” (PTC) in Jamaica on March 11. Some CARICOM leaders, particularly Guyana President Irfaan Ali and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, hosted and played the part in the charade.
Blinken’s formula was a nine-member PTC, of which seven members would have voting rights, while Haiti’s “civil society” and “religious sector” would be observers.
The proposed members are:
1) the Pitit Desalin (Les Enfants de Dessalines) party of the former senator of the Lavalas Family Moïse Jean-Charles. The party has not proposed any representatives.
2) the Montana Accord, founded on August 30, 2021, a group of liberal opposition “civil society” groups, political parties, individuals, and “grassroots organizations.” Montana nominated former Central Bank Governor Fritz Alphonse Jean.
3) EDE/RED, the Committed to Development party led by Jovenel Moïse’s former interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, and the Democratic Resistance platform bringing together around forty parties, including Haiti in Action (AAA) of the former senator Youri Latortue and the Rally of Progressive Democrats of former presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat. (RNDP). EDE/RED presented Marie Ghislaine Mompremier, former Minister of Social Affairs in 2003 under President Aristide and Minister of Women in 2021 under President Jovenel Moïse.
4) The Fanmi Lavalas (Lavalas Family) party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The representative of Lavalas is the architect Leslie Voltaire.
5) The Collective of January 30, a coalition of disparate groups such as MOPOD, UNIR of Clarence Renois, LAPEH of former presidential candidate Jude Célestin, the Organization of the People in Struggle (OPL), Pitit Desalin and the GREH as well as the branch of former president Michel Martelly of the Party (PHTK), led by Line Balthazar. Their representative is the head of the OPL, Edgar Leblanc.
6) The December 21 Agreement, signed in 2022, brings together political parties and “civil society” organizations created by and allied to Ariel Henry. Their representative is the former Lavalas senator from the Grande Anse department Louis Gérald Gilles.
7) The private business sector, represented by commercial alliances such as the Haitian Tourism Association (ATH), the Association of Haitian Industries (ADIH) and the Western Chamber of Commerce (CCIO) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham – Haiti). Their representative is businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr, who was previously part of the troika that chaired Henry’s High Transitional Council (HCT), created on December 21, 2022.
8) The two observer members of the Presidential Transitional Council are Pierre Jean Raymond André and René Jean-Jumeaux, designated respectively by civil society organizations and the Rally for a National and Sovereign Entente (REN).
As broad as it may seem, Blinken’s presidential commission has absolutely no chance of success because Washington has demanded that its members support UN Security Council Resolution 2699, which approves (but does not oversee) a foreign military intervention in Haiti called Multinational Security Support Mission (Multinational Security Support Mission). MSS). The Haitian people overwhelmingly reject the deployment of this (currently planned) Kenyan-led force and will certainly not accept any “presidential transitional council” that approves it.
As a result, Blinken’s formula went around like a lead balloon. “The Haiti Transitional Council project seems to collapse after the rejection of political parties”reported France 24 two days after the fiasco.
“We reject the CARICOM proposal,” Moïse Jean-Charles vehemently declared during a press conference given on March 13 in Port-au-Prince. “We overthrew the government [d’Henry]. Does it make sense that we now sit down at a table and negotiate with him? »
Two weeks earlier, the alliance “ All together to save Haiti” (Tèt Ansanm Pou Sove Ayiti) formed between former senator Lavalas Moïse Jean-Charles and former elected senator and leader of the 2004 coup d’état Guy Philippe had proposed a presidential council from Guy Philippe (President), the former judge of the Court of Cassation Durin Junior Duret (Member), and Françoise Saint-Vil Villier (Member), presented as representatives of the “religious, feminine and university sectors” by the “ Joint solidarity proposal from the healthy, patriotic and progressive Haitian Forces for an urgent exit from the crisis surrounding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry ». The document describes the composition, program and objectives of the provisional government. The swearing-in of this three-member council would be imminent.
Despite near-universal sentiment rejecting the MSS-backed CPT, Blinken still defended it until March 15.
« This was a Haitian-led deal,” Blinken said at a news conference in Austria, echoing the long-standing slogan of the Montana Accord and asserting that the CPT would “soon take charge.” .
“Every day, this process encounters challenges – political, security – and we strive to meet them,” did he declare.
Despite this feigned confidence, on March 19, a meeting took place between officials from the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Division led by Brian Nichols, our well-placed source said.
Aware that the CPT was perhaps doomed to failure and that they were racing against time during the swearing-in of the Moïse/Philippe Provisional Council, officials toyed with the idea of swearing in a judge – the name mentioned was Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire, who recently completed his investigation into the murder of Jovenel Moïse – to act as interim leader so that Washington could deploy a rapid reaction force under the flag of the MSS.
A key to selling the CPT or a judge-led interim government would be the delivery to Haiti for trial of Ariel Henry, a potential sacrificial lamb calculated to appease the anger of the people and sell out Washington’s chosen leadership clique.
Our sources’ accounts deny an unnamed “senior U.S. official” who told Reuters that “ Henry was free to stay in Puerto Rico or travel elsewhere.”
Haïti Liberté has requested confirmation or comment on our story from the FBI and the State Department. As of press time, the FBI had not responded, but the State Department had.
“These claims are false,” wrote the State Department press office. “ We discourage sharing sensational claims on social media before first seeking verification from credible sources. We refer you to Prime Minister Henry for updates on his travel plans. »
Haïti Liberté then called and left text messages for Dr. Ariel Henry at two phone numbers he has already used to ask for his response or to contact us. We have not received any response as of press time.
If Washington fails to install its replacement puppet government, it may also seek to court the seemingly anti-imperialist and impending Moïse/Philippe provisional government.
In an interview with Fox News, former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Pamela White said she had spoken to Philippe. “He is someone who can help resolve the situation, and I think we should take care of him”she said. “We have done business with the Duvaliers for over 20 years. I think we could definitely take care of Guy Philippe. He is charismatic, he is brilliant, he expresses himself clearly and many, many people follow him.
On March 19, Haïti Liberté managed to interview Jimmy Cherizier, leader and spokesperson for the coalition of armed groups Viv Ansanm (Living Together) which effectively ousted Ariel Henry from power after his departure for Kenya on February 27.
« We are not aware and let us not participate in the plans for the swearing-in of the provisional government proposed by the coalition of Guy Philippe and Moïse Jean-Charles,” Cherizier declared. “However, we have no problem with the council that would be led by Guy Philippe because we are fighting for the same things, we have the same vision of the future of Haiti and we hope that he will keep his vision. We, within “Vivre Ensemble”, the armed groups of Haiti who are now all united, will not fight for its installation project, but we will fight the Presidential Council concocted last week in Jamaica by foreign governments with a bunch of corrupt politicians who have no patriotic soul… If they try to take power, even with the support of foreign troops, we will fight them until the last drop of our Dessalinian blood.”
Haïti Liberté also asked Guy Philippe by telephone if he would accept foreign military intervention from a force like the MSS if the United States offered to hand over Ariel Henry as a gesture of peace. “Ariel Henry is not the problem » replied Philippe. “He’s just one member of the villain team.” These guys are trying to regain power so they can continue destroying Haiti. »
Pressed on whether he would accept foreign military intervention, Philippe replied: “Haiti is a sovereign country… No patriot, no true Haitian would want a foreign nation to invade… What have previous interventions brought to Haiti? More poverty, cholera, Ebola, AIDS. We do not need military intervention. We need help… We don’t need soldiers here. The Haitian police and army are sufficient and trained enough to stop this… They will come here to maintain the status quo and help the rich. They will come here to make sure that rich countries continue to steal everything we have in Haiti. That’s what they’re there for. Not for us…”
He was asked if he thought the Haitian people could stop the intervention. “There is no weapon more powerful than the will of the people. If the Haitian people want to resist, we will resist together. If they have to kill us together, they will kill us all. But we can resist, and we will. We certainly will. »
Indeed, if all else fails, Washington appears ready to send its own troops: “ U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is prepared with a broad range of contingency plans to ensure the safety and security of U.S. citizens in Haiti,” SOUTHCOM said in a statement. .
Ariel Henry may soon join the ranks of other former US allies who have been abandoned or betrayed by Washington, such as Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega and many others.
As the late Henry Kissinger is said to have said: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal. »
