Americas

Haiti on Agenda as CARICOM Leaders Meet

FILE - Armed Haitian National Police officers escort the convoy of the three officers killed by armed gangs after the funeral ceremony at the National Police Academy, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Jan. 31,2023.

Caribbean leaders are gathering in the Bahamas for a three-day meeting that will include discussion on the situation in Haiti.

The talks bring together heads of government from the CARICOM bloc, a 15-member group home to about 16 million people, according to its website.

Members include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis noted what he called “the challenges we have in Haiti,” as he spoke to reporters ahead of the meeting.

Haiti has experienced a period of instability following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, with a rise in violence and the influence of armed gangs.

SEE ALSO: In Haiti, Gangs Take Control as Democracy Withers

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is participating in the meetings, with Davis saying Trudeau is looking to see what his government can do to try to help the situation in Haiti.

Davis said whatever the solution, it must be a Haiti-led solution and that the rest of CARICOM is working to help facilitate that outcome.

“What we seek to have done is to stabilize the country sufficiently enough to allow for a free and fair election, and the path and journey to that is where the challenge falls,” Davis said.

SEE ALSO: Jamaica Ready to Join International Force in Haiti

The Bahamian prime minister said other agenda items include COVID-19, emerging health issues, climate change, food security and energy security. He told reporters there is an opportunity for regional leaders “to unite for the benefit of the entire Caribbean.”

CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett told reporters that combatting climate change means getting the countries of the world who emit the most greenhouse gases to “take charge and do what’s right.”

“Those who are causing the impact are not bearing the burden of dealing with that,” Barnett said. “We are the smallest emitters. We don’t cause the problem; we just bear the burden.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.