Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote detailed how he would advise the incoming Trump-Vance administration to approach Haiti and work to reform the country and reclaim it from violent gangs.
On Tuesday, just one day after Haitian gangs shot at a Spirit Airlines flight which led to the FAA banning U.S.-Haiti flights for 30 days, Haiti interim Prime Minister Garry Conille was fired and replaced with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.
Gang violence has increasingly taken over Haiti after the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Foote was appointed as special envoy in July 2021. He exited the position two months later after the Biden administration made a crooked deal with the unelected leader of Haiti – Ariel Henry – after the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse to repatriate thousands of migrants in exchange for scuttled elections in the Caribbean country.
Noting how Haiti “can only get worse” during the last months of the Biden administration, Foote explained that the only way Haiti can be truly reformed and reclaimed from violent gangs is if the U.S. and United Nations took a hands-off approach in the Caribbean country’s affairs moving forward.
“The only way it’s going to work…is to create a national dialogue or a constituent assembly, whatever you want to call it. They’ve done this in the past where they bring in community leaders from around the country. You’re going to wind up with a thousand plus people that represent their communities and they’re going to come in for a week, four weeks, eight weeks, and figure out the future for Haiti,” Foote explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“If we can get the Haitians brought into a way forward and go the political way they want, there’s a chance for success,” Foote added.
Foote further explained how the U.S. and UN’s overhaul of Haitian affairs as an effort to reform the country has been unsuccessful and has led to the anointing of inauthentic leaders who do not have the country’s best interests in mind.
“We’ve always anointed the wrong leaders and as soon as we do, they know they don’t have to answer to the Haitian people. So they get corrupt. They start stealing and they’re crappy leaders. The people are screwed when we do it our way,” Foote said.
“If we let the Haitians come together and lead us on the path towards a political solution and elections that might actually work at some point in time, That’s the way to go,” Foote stressed.
Looking towards the future, Foote was optimistic about president-elect Donald Trump’s reported tapping of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to be his Secretary of State, noting how Rubio has a deep understanding of global affairs.
“He is a guy who knows what’s going on in the world and understands policy,” Foote said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
