SNA (Birmingham) — Canadian military intervention in Haiti now appears unlikely in spite of the request by Ariel Henry, who is acting as Haiti’s prime minister, for a “specialized armed force” to be deployed in his country against endemic gang violence. Instead, international sanctions on individuals are being employed to do the work.

In September, Haiti Ambassador to the United States Bocchit Edmond relayed Henry’s request for Canadian troops, stating that “the gangs are well armed and their firepower is far more superior… We need international assistance.”

The United States is willing to provide crucial economic support, but it does not want to send its own military forces. An armed intervention, should it occur, would be left to Canadian forces.

The Biden administration has been in regular consultation with Canada about such a military deployment, the aim of which would be to alleviate the deep humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation. US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield asserted last month that a Canadian military intervention would “improve the security situation on the ground.”

However, plans to move forward with this intervention were suspended when the proposal met strong criticism from a number of different quarters.

Some of the this criticism came from major powers. For example, China Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Geng Shuang argued last month that Canadian troops could “face resistance or even trigger violent confrontation from the population.” Russian diplomat Dmitry Polyanski added–alluding to past sexual abuse scandals committed by Canadian peacekeepers in Haiti–that there has been an “unsuccessful experience with external interference in the affairs of the country.”

Indeed, Haiti has experienced many foreign occupations, including a nearly two-decade-long US military occupation between 1915 and 1934. A more recent US military occupation occurred in the 1994-1995 period in the wake of a coup which overthrew elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. There was also a UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti that was in operation from 2004 to 2017. None of these foreign interventions have ever put the nation onto the path of stability and prosperity.

Multiple human rights groups have also warned of unintended consequences that could flow from a new occupation of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

At the end of October, more than ninety organizations sent a joint letter to US President Joe Biden expressing “profound concern about the proposed deployment of military force to Haiti.” They added:

We encourage your administration to reflect on the long history of international interventions in Haiti, and how those actions have served to undermine state institutions, democratic norms, and the rule of law. Previous interventions have had a costly human toll, including through rape, sexual exploitation, and extrajudicial killings.

Pooja Bhatia, a former human rights lawyer, also noted in a recent opinion piece for The Guardian that the very “request” for foreign military intervention should be viewed with considerable skepticism:

It’s Haiti’s premier, Ariel Henry, who has requested it. Henry more or less appointed himself prime minister following last July’s assassination of President Jovenel Moise. He has never had any sort of constitutional authority and indeed, is implicated in Moise’s assassination. The people he claims to speak for revile him. His only constituency is outside the country.

In spite of these and other warnings, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists that his nation must get directly involved, stating last week, “we look at the crisis, rapes, the violence, the poverty and the cholera, and health crisis. And then we say to ourselves, we have to intervene in one way or another.”

However, with the prospect of sending Canadian troops now largely in disfavor, attention has turned to potential impact of sanctions.

Indeed, the UN Security Council had already unanimously approved on October 21 a sanctions regime–including an assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo–for Haitian gang leaders and those who are believed finance them. Most notably, sanctions were placed on Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, leader of the G9 Family and Allies, one of the country’s most notorious and violent gangs.

G9 Family and Allies took control of the main fuel terminal in Port-au-Prince back on September 12, leading to national shortages of fuel and bottled water, intensifying the crisis

The sanctions do appear to have had an effect–last week, the G9 lifted its blockade on the fuel port, allowing the supplies to potentially flow into Port-au-Prince.

Cherizier himself declared on Twitter that “drivers can come to the terminal without any fear.”

The following day–last Friday–Haiti Police Chief Frantz Elbe, concluded, “we won a fight, but it is not over.”

In addition to the UN sanctions, Canada is imposing its own unilateral sanctions against President of the Haitian Senate Joseph Lambert and former Senator Youri Latortue, whom Ottawa accuses of involvement with corruption and drug trafficking.

Foreign Minister Melanie Joly explained, “Canada will not remain idle while gangs and those who support them terrorize Haiti’s citizens.”

Ottawa is believed likely to impose additional sanctions on individual Haitian leaders in the coming weeks.

According to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 4.7 million Haitians (about half the country’s population) are facing acute hunger, at the same time as diseases such as cholera are spreading and sexual assault cases, perpetrated mainly by the gangs, are proliferating. These factors have led to over 110,000 people becoming internally displaced and others attempting to flee the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had actually expected that it would be able declare Haiti cholera-free this year, but the breakdown of social order now makes it impossible.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has provided this year more than 100,000 people with emergency assistance in the Port-au-Prince area, but has requested an additional US$105 million for the next six months.

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