In a statement Friday, Canada’s foreign affairs department accused Lambert and Latortue – the current and former president of the Haitian Senate, respectively – of supporting Haitian gangs “through money laundering and other acts of corruption.” The US Treasury Department also said the pair were targeted for “engaging in or attempting to engage in activities or transactions that substantially contributed or posed a substantial risk of substantially contributing to the international proliferation of illegal drugs.” . “Joseph Lambert and Yuri Latortou have abused their official positions to traffic drugs and have worked with criminal networks and gangs to undermine the rule of law in Haiti,” said Treasury Department official Brian E. Nelson. “The United States and our international partners will continue to take action against those who facilitate drug trafficking, enable corruption, and seek to profit from instability in Haiti.” Haiti is facing a dire humanitarian and security crisis as gangs have blockaded a key petrol terminal in the capital Port-au-Prince, leading to fuel and water shortages. This, combined with increasing violence, has complicated the nation’s response to a cholera outbreak. Haitian Senator Joseph Lambert is barred from entering the United States for his corrupt activities and gross violation of human rights. The United States will continue to hold accountable anyone who incites instability and undermines democracy in Haiti. — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 4, 2022 Acting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry last month asked the international community to help create a “specialized armed force” to restore security – a call backed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Haitian civil society groups, however, have expressed staunch opposition to the prospect of a foreign power entering the country, saying such interventions have historically done more harm than good. But the situation on the streets of Port-au-Prince continues to deteriorate and the international community is considering possible actions to help stabilize the country. Both Lambert and Latortou have been accused of long histories of corruption, with a classified 2010 US diplomatic cable released via Wikileaks saying Latortou “may well be the most brazenly corrupt of Haiti’s top politicians.” On Friday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there was “credible information” that Lambert, who was also blacklisted by the State Department, had been involved in an extrajudicial killing during his administration. “Haitian Senator Joseph Lambert is ineligible to enter the United States for his corrupt activities and gross violation of human rights,” Blinken said in a statement. “The United States will continue to hold accountable anyone who incites instability and undermines democracy in Haiti.” Washington’s sanctions also froze any US-based assets held by the targeted individuals and barred US citizens from doing business with them. The Treasury Department said Lambert and Latortou were involved in the trafficking of cocaine from Colombia to Haiti. He also said the men led others to engage in violence on their behalf. Lambert and the office of Henry, the Haitian prime minister, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency. Latortou, in an interview with Haitian radio station Radio Television Caraibes, denied the charges against him and said US officials ignored his advice on police training and strategies to deal with gangs. “They trained the police and today, they have inherited what they trained,” he said. “I said, ‘This is how we should fight in Haiti.’ Ever since they weren’t happy.” Canada and the US did not specify which Haitian gangs they believed were linked to the officials. Last month, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on one of Haiti’s top gang leaders, Jimmy Cherizier, better known as “Barbecue.” The council resolution established a mechanism to punish individuals and groups that “threaten the peace, security or stability of Haiti” – and Cherizier was the first person to be sanctioned under the system. Meanwhile, sources told Reuters on Thursday that Haitian police had been in control of the fuel terminal that had been blockaded by armed gangs since September. In a voice message released to the Associated Press news agency on Friday, Police Chief Franz Elbe congratulated officers who took part in an operation to take out members of the G9 gang federation, led by Cherizier. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed during the gunfire that reverberated across the capital on Thursday or if the gang had been completely cleared from the area. “We won a game, but it’s not over,” Elbe said.
