Trudeau's Caribbean visit didn't break Haiti logjam
CBC
About 90 Canadian navy sailors will soon be getting to know Port-au-Prince Bay as part of a two-ship deployment announced Thursday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Bahamas.
Two Kingston-class coastal defence vessels, typically manned by a mix of regular force and reservists, will anchor off Haiti's mountainous capital city.
Other than that, though, there was limited visible progress to solving Haiti's multifaceted crisis at the 50th anniversary summit of the Caribbean community of nations CARICOM in Nassau, Bahamas.
Meanwhile there were reminders that Haiti itself remains deeply divided over foreign intervention, and that any outside force might not only have to fight dozens of armed groups, but also could face resistance from a wide section of Haitian society.
Perhaps for that reason, the Trudeau government preferred to get its feet wet with a naval deployment offshore of Port-au-Prince, rather than sending forces directly onto the mean streets of the city.
At his closing news conference, Trudeau was pressed on how ships at sea can help defeat street gangs on land.
One Canadian official told CBC the gangs have increasingly been venturing onto the water, partly to engage in the business of stealing shipping containers.
One in particular, the 5 Seconds gang of the Village de Dieu neighbourhood in southern Haiti, has used speedboats not only for piratical raids on the water but also to launch amphibious attacks on other districts across the bay.
Canadian officials hope the presence of armed naval vessels will at least restore order to the waters off Port-au-Prince.
The ships will also be able to provide intelligence to Haitian police through their ability to intercept electronic communications.
But it was unclear whether they will be able to board and search other vessels. Shipping, coming mostly from the U.S., is considered the main route of entry for the arms and ammunition that have empowered the gangs.
A government source said the rules of engagement are still being determined.
The ships will find a capital where the government-controlled area continues to shrink.
"The situation is getting worse and worse," Haiti's acting prime minister Ariel Henry told Trudeau at a bilateral meeting in Nassau. "It can't be allowed to go on like this."
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