Sf the appointment of most of the 9 members of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) including 2 observer members without the right to vote took place more or less calmly, for some it was a real test of strength. Within EDE/RED and Compromis historique, in fact, we witnessed a real crossover of personalities which lasted only “the space of a blink”, to speak as the author of the novel eponym of the writer Jacques Stephen Alexis.
For the party of the former Prime Minister of Jovenel Moïse, Claude Joseph, and his friends the Jovenelistes of RED, in particular, Renald Luberice, former Secretary General of the Presidency under Jovenel Moïse, this was more complicated than expected, since they had to try with several personalities.
Initially, this coalition of parties chose a woman to represent it on the CPT. This is Ms. Marie Ghislaine Monpremier, former Minister for the Status of Women. Without understanding what really happened, we learned that she was no longer in the race and without really any explanation from the leaders of these political parties. But, very quickly, the leaders of EDE/RED and Compromis historique set their sights on another woman, but ten thousand kilometers from Port-au-Prince. She is a diplomat and, curiously, active and stationed in Paris. Her name is Dominique Dupuy. She is the Representative of the Republic of Haiti at UNESCO.
“We have now appointed Dominique Dupuy to represent us on the Council. We contacted her, she accepted, and we sent her name to CARICOM” said the leaders of this coalition in the press. A surprising choice if ever there was one insofar as Dominique Dupuy, a native of Cap-Haïtien, is not really what one could call an old hand in Haitian politics, that is to say she does not know, like the others, the “All of Port-au-Prince” politician who could support his candidacy in this space where the takeover of executive power in Haiti is at stake for an approximate duration of two years.
Without delay, those who had nominated her and herself would regret this choice, although it was out of the ordinary. The veterans, the old hands of the capital quickly found a way to get rid of it. Reason given, according to them, she is too young according to the 1987 Constitution, she is only 34 years old. What a deception! What hypocrisy on the part of these politicians! What Constitution were these old hands talking about? A Constitution that they have enjoyed violating, as necessary, since the day of its ratification. A Constitution, since the assassination of the head of state on July 7, 2021, with which they do what they want. In short, exit Dominique Dupuy. The leaders of this platform had to quickly find a replacement. Finally, they urgently fell back on a former diplomat, Smith Augustin, former Haitian ambassador to Santo Domingo. During his appointment, he played the role of Secretary or Liaison Officer of the Council with the outside world.
This group of stakeholders is an alliance composed mainly of: EDE (Les Engagés pour le Développement), AAA (Ayiti An Aksyon), RDNP (Rally of Progressive National Democrats), RED (Democratic Resistance Platform), Historical Compromise and allies, and around thirty small groups. After the series of musical chairs among Claude Joseph and his allies, came the turn of the Agreement of December 21, the allies of Prime Minister Ariel Henry pushed to resign, to put on a spectacle with no less than four contenders in the running. The reason, since the fall of « Roi Henry », the division had come to light within this group. Some blamed others for being responsible for the debacle and humiliation suffered by Ariel Henry in this affair. Three antagonistic groups faced each other. From the opening of the process, a first minority group had set its sights on the former Minister of National Education, Charles Tardieu, one of the designers of the September 11 and December 21 Agreements.
Very close to the moderate line, it was disproportionately contested by the two other groups. Then, there was the camp of Master André Michel who was discreet in the matter of the appointment of a representative to the CPT while nevertheless remaining active behind the scenes. Having always been in the majority behind the leader of the transition, this group includes, among others, André Michel, Marjorie Michel (SPD), Sorel Jacinthe (INITE) and Edmonde Supplice Beauzile (Fusion). They were the ones who embodied the hard line of the transition, refusing any sharing of power with the other Accords and especially no two-headed executive. Their credo: yes to the opening of the government, no to sharing the Prime Minister’s Office or the presidency of the Executive Power. As CARICOM’s 48-hour deadline had to be respected, another minority branch led by the Group said “naked” led by Pascal Adrien, Jorchemy Jean-Baptiste and the former deputy of Mirebalais, Abel Descollines, had taken advantage of the confusion of the resignation of Ariel Henry and the vacancy of power to designate, without really consulting the “hard » of December 21, former MP Vikerson Garnier and immediately send his name to CARICOM.
A sort of quiet coup d’état that Sorel Jacinthe, André Michel and others did not appreciate at all. Without wasting time, they will organize the counterattack. Initially, they responded verbally by saying that this choice was not validated by the Agreement of December 21 which continues its consultations with a view to appointing its member to the Presidential Transitional Council. Secondly, they will very quickly overtake the minority by bringing out of the closet a former President of the Chamber of Deputies, Lévaillant Louis-Jeune, by propelling him to membership of the CPT. As a result, cacophony reigns within the group which has only just lost power, moreover not entirely to the extent that it is they who assume the interim with Michel Patrick Boisvert, the Minister of Finance, in the meantime the official designation of a new Prime Minister. But, again, this was to underestimate the nuisance capacity of the minorities within the Agreement of December 21. They felt that they had suffered too much from the arrogance of “hard » who had done everything to keep them away from Ariel Henry and that they had a lot to do with what happened.
To thwart the hegemonic aims of the so-called majority group, the Toutouni Group contacted CARICOM directly by letter to oppose the choice of Lévaillant Louis-Jeune. In its correspondent, the group contests the right of André Michel and others to appoint someone to the CPT. “ André Michel’s group was not authorized to speak on behalf of the December 21 Agreement” he wrote. But, after a week of debates, discussions and fratricidal struggles between the three groups, an agreement was finally found to settle on these three choices on which no consensus could be found. “Yes, it’s official. Levaillant Louis-Jeune and Vikerson Garnier, the two candidates, met and reached an agreement on Louis Gérald Gilles as our representative on the Presidential Council” Sorel Jacinthe was to confirm in the press on Monday March 18, 2024. In the meantime, CARICOM had understood that between the Haitian actors nothing is simple. He had extended the 48-hour deadline several times to allow each group to validate, by consensus, its member before appointing him to the CPT.
Useful and political decision since there are few groups in which Caribbean leaders did not have a problem of ego and absolute intention to monopolize power. Indeed, with several names in the running with CARICOM, for the same groups or entities, the leaders of the regional body had made up their minds. They asked all stakeholders to go beyond themselves to find a consensus and to lower their ambition. Thus, the three groups of the December 21 Agreement agreed to appoint Dr. Louis Gérald Gilles, a former Lavalas senator, who had long since joined the Michel Martelly version of the PHTK camp, with a small group called NOULHA, to be their representative on the CPT. With this choice which seems to satisfy everyone among Ariel Henry’s friends and allies, the hatchet has been, it seems, buried.
More surprisingly, with the support and support of all the groups making up the Agreement of December 21, among others, SDP, FUSION, Toutouni Group, NOULHA, INITE, Economic Sector, PHTK and various other private sectors, Dr. Louis Gérard Gilles almost became the first President of the Transitional Presidential Council. After the chaos that we witnessed in the camp of the December 21 Agreement and those close to the former tenant of the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, with these three distinct groups disputing the leadership of this coalition, the image that had sent those of the Collective of January 30 surprised observers as it was the opposite of that of the other competitors.
However, this is where the turmoil should have come from given the origin of the political parties and groups making up this Collective. However, it was like a letter to the Post Office that the various political organizations agreed on a name, just one, as soon as the international community had launched the idea of a collegial executive to lead Haiti in this transition phase second part. During the entire process of designating members of the Transitional Presidential Council, at no time during the period within the January 30 Collective, had we heard a voice say that it would focus on any personality, despite speculation from the press on the name of Edgard Leblanc Fils. Everything was done in silence, discreetly.
Which is rare in political organizations, especially in Haiti. And particularly for a grouping of parties from different backgrounds. The January 30 Collective is made up of at least ten parties, among the most prominent: Patriotic Movement (Mopod), the Organization of the People in Struggle (OPL), the Dessalinien Popular Party, the Party of the Grand Rally for the Evolution of Haiti (GREH), the Alternative League for Progress and Haitian Emancipation (Lapeh), the National Union for Integration and Reconciliation (UNIR-Haiti), the Haitian Party Tèt Kale (PHTK) , etc. Coordinated by Liné Balthazar, President of PHTK, the former party of Michel Martelly, this veteran of the Haitian political scene knew how to use his experience and his strategy to contain the ambitions of everyone within the group for several weeks in order to obtain everyone’s silence until the official designation of the former senator of Nippes, an old hand in Haitian politics for years, Edgard Leblanc Fils, former President of the Senate and the National Assembly in as a member of the Presidential Transitional Council.
A masterstroke! Not a dispute, nor a discordant voice against the one who was an unsuccessful candidate in the presidential election in the second degree in 2016 against his colleague, Jocelerme Privert. Edgard Leblanc Fils, certainly, is a moderate. He has led the OPL since the voluntary withdrawal of Professor Sauveur Pierre Etienne, at the head of this party after the elections of 2016 and 2017, he could have found in his path other contenders for the presidency of which the Collective is not lacking. not. In addition to this flawless performance, we must recognize the organizational talent sator of Liné Balthazar, who, again in statuesque silence, led, negotiated and built a majority within the CPT until lifting the representative of the January 30 Collective to the top by having him named President of the Council under his nose and the beard of Dr. Louis Gérald Gille, arch-favorite of the Agreement of December 21 and of course of Fritz Alphonse Jean of the Montana Accord, also well placed to win the presidency of the Council.
The disappointment is even greater among the Montanans who, for at least two years, had been preparing Fritz Alphonse Jean to occupy this office, since they had elected him ” President “ in the perspective, precisely, of a two-headed executive for a disruptive Transition. Being beaten to the post by an outsider, we understand their disappointment. Finally, let us close this chapter of designation with the unclassifiable and weathervane Jean Charles Moïse, leader of the Pitit Dessalines party who upset everyone’s hearts with an about-face as unexpected as it was confusing.
Indeed, it was a big surprise for the entire Republic when, on social networks, the former senator sent a message announcing that he was going to appoint a member to the Presidential Transitional Council. No one wanted to believe in the authenticity of the information reported by all the media. Observers and the population alike couldn’t believe it since, the day before, Moïse Jean-Charles brushed aside CARICOM’s project to install a CPT to run the country. On March 11, 2024, he declared this: We had a meeting with CARICOM leaders on Saturday March 9. This was not a meeting to gain their favor. We revealed our plan based on a three-member Presidential Council. We are not fools.
We overthrew the government because it encourages kidnapping, increases the level of insecurity, a corrupt government. I do not understand how CARICOM can suggest that we sit down with the representatives of the same government with whom we had refused any negotiations. We have the political maturity, we will thwart this project. We will take the destiny of our country in hand with other leaders so that our three-member Presidential Council moves forward » Moise Jean Charles trumpeted in the media before his spectacular turnaround.
Let us recall that, upon the announcement of the resignation of Ariel Henry, the former Mayor of Milot, in association with his new ally Guy Philippe, had claimed that he had composed a Presidential Council of 3 members including a judge of the Court of Cassation as President to manage the transition until the election of a President of the Republic. He had even published the list of the 3 members of his Presidential Council: judge Durin Junior Duret (President), Guy Philippe (member) and Françoise Saint-Vil Villier (member). But, twist of theatre! Without even notifying his friend, Guy Philippe, it seems, Moïse Jean Charles announced that he had joined the process of designating members of the Presidential Transitional Council.
And he does it at the request of a ” big country », whose name he would not mention, who would have asked him to unblock the situation since the leaders of CARICOM informed him that, by his refusal to join the CPT, the Haitian Council of Ministers could not meet to decide and decide on the status of the Transitional Presidential Council. By evoking this mysterious ” big country “ who would have asked him to join this new body which should take charge of the country, Moïse Jean-Charles knows full well that everyone would automatically think of Russia which he boasts of being in contact with the authorities. In the process, the former candidate for the presidency of Haiti announced that his party responded favorably to the advice of this ” big country “ and that an organization close to the Pitit Dessalines party, the National Network of Peasants, had designated a lawyer from Cap-Haitien, judge Emmanuel Vertilaire, to represent the Pitit Dessalines Party in this new political body to be responsible for the management transition policy.
Thus, with this latest arrival in the group, the international community – CARICOM – has achieved its first objective which was, for a long time: to bring together all the protagonists of the crisis and the transition first part in a single group. This was Washington’s primary goal from the Core Group Tweet in July 2021 which confirmed Ariel Henry in his role as Prime Minister and head of the transition. We recall that this was the main approach of CARICOM during the various stays made by the emissaries called the CARICOM Group of Eminent Personalities (GEP) which was made up of former Prime Ministers Dr. Kenny D. Anthony (Saint Lucia), Perry Christie (Bahamas) and Bruce Golding (Jamaica).
(To be continued)
