PM Updates Response to Vice-Consul’s Kidnapping In Haiti

PM Updates Response to Vice-Consul’s Kidnapping In Haiti

Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 20, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew has given an update to the response to the kidnapping of the father of the federation’s Honorary Consul in Haiti on Saturday.

The Prime Minister said there has been no further information and the formal media houses within that country are almost non-existent.

“Information is very sketchy because of the security system and security situation in Haiti,” he said. “The formal media that used to transmit information, those are basically broken down. So, we are still waiting information. As a matter of fact, I would say the foreign minister reported to me that he initially received the information via WhatsApp… just to show you how the situation in Haiti is. There’s hardly any institution that we can really call and get some, you know, confirmed, reliable information.”

He said as part of an international agreement the federation has no plans to send military assistance to Haiti.

“The approach that the world wants to take is to support and strengthen the Haitian police,” he said.  “The thought is, if you were to put boots on the ground in Haiti, you can create a worse situation.  And so, the decision has been a global decision really, at this point, not to put boots on the ground in Haiti, but to strengthen the police and allow it to be a Haitian-led type of operation.”

Earlier the government issued a statement condemning the kidnapping of Harold Marouk, the Federation’s Vice-Consul. 

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