By Laura Gamba
BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Haiti's transitional council elected former sports minister Fritz Belizaire on Tuesday as the country’s new prime minister.
The council, which was sworn in last week, chose Belizaire during a ceremony in Port-au-Prince, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis and violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
The appointment comes after the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on April 25.
“We have served the nation in difficult times. I thank everyone who had the courage to face such challenges with me,” Henry wrote in his resignation letter that was signed in Los Angeles.
Finance Minister Patrick Boisvert was serving as provisional prime minister after being appointed by Henry's remaining Cabinet. Boisvert has been leading the government since Henry left for Kenya two months ago to sign a deal to push for a UN-backed deployment of a police force in the country. The council is expected to support the UN-backed plan to help combat gangs, although it is unclear when that might happen.
Former Senate President Edgard Leblanc Fils will serve as leader of the nine-member governing council that hopes to mark a step forward in restoring order in Haiti and create a path toward the country’s first elections since 2016. The election of a new president should happen no later than Feb. 7, 2026.
On Monday, the council held a meeting with Haitian Police and the Armed Forces to restore security after a new wave of violence hit the country on Feb. 29, when armed gang members began burning police stations, attacking government offices, airports and raided the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured from January to March and more than 95,000 people have fled the Caribbean nation’s capital since early March.
The Presidential Council of Haiti faces tough challenges, including the restoration of security, constitutional reform, the holding of democratic, credible and participatory general elections, the restoration of justice and economic recovery.