Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote said in an exclusive interview on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show that the people of Haiti must have a “national dialogue” to begin the process of reforming the country and reclaiming it from violent gangs.
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 to repatriate thousands of migrants in exchange for scuttled elections in the Caribbean country.
Last month, Foote revealed in another exclusive interview that he exited the position of special envoy after it was revealed thousands of Haitians were deported back to Haiti – when the country was not in a position to absorb the migrants – allegedly in exchange for the country’s elections to be postponed at the request of Ariel Henry, who has served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti and the acting President of Haiti since July 2021 after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Foote also revealed at the time that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison “teed up” the deal with Henry, the unelected leader of Haiti, to delay elections in the country.
Now, Foote says if he were contacted by a potential Trump Administration on how to handle the situation in Haiti, he would advise the State Department to encourage Haiti to have a “national dialogue” among its citizens.
“If the situation on the ground is the same in Haiti as it is right now, I would say let’s empower a Haitian national dialogue. I’m going to tell you, this is not going to take like two years. They’ve already had it, and I’m confident within four to six weeks, they’d find a new political accord,” Foote said.
“Give them space, have a national dialogue. Part of that dialogue is a transition government, and part of that dialogue is how do we get out of this through national reconciliation? What kind of justice do [the Haitians] demand for the gangs? Is there a demobilization reintegration program in there for the foot soldiers? Is there amnesty for anybody? I don’t know. Only the Haitians can figure that out. Let the Haitians, for once, come up with the political solution and support that with the security and other resources needed to let the Haitians govern themselves for the first time in history,” Foote added.
Foote went on to say that if the U.S. doesn’t stop intervening in Haitian affairs, the country’s outcome will not emerge from its current state of chaos.
“If we don’t let the Haitians set a political foundation upon which to move forward right now, as we haven’t permitted them since 1986, let’s say, the outcome will be the same. It will be a slow moving catastrophe, eroding stalemate, whatever you want to call it. The Haitians need to form a social contract between the people and their government. Now is an opportunity to do that. The U. S., if they keep going blindly, they own this, they broke it. They’re going to have to fix it at some point,” Foote said.
Foote added that the country not only is seeking justice for the criminal gang activity currently taking place, but also for the 2021 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
“You can’t have your president assassinated and think that, ‘Okay, it’s fine.’ They need closure. They need justice. They’re embarrassed. They feel violated and they need that for Jovenel Moïse. Now they need it for the gangs. These guys have terrorized the population for five, eight years now, and the last two horribly that the people aren’t going to get the gang leaders amnesty, but they may talk about some of the young foot soldiers and stuff. Again, you want to come up with a program where they demobilize, they turn their guns in, you provide reintegration and technical training. We did it in Columbia and it actually worked,” Foote said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote” by US State Department and “Haiti Presidential Palace” is by Michelle Walz CC2.0.
