{"id":91153,"date":"2024-07-09T15:09:08","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T15:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/can-this-doctor-tapped-to-run-haiti-save-the-country\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T15:09:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T15:09:08","slug":"can-this-doctor-tapped-to-run-haiti-save-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/can-this-doctor-tapped-to-run-haiti-save-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Can This Doctor Tapped to Run Haiti Save the Country?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/08\/multimedia\/00haiti-prime-minister-01-hvwj\/00haiti-prime-minister-01-hvwj-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Can This Doctor Tapped to Run Haiti Save the Country?\" title=\"Can This Doctor Tapped to Run Haiti Save the Country?\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the new prime minister of Haiti, a country with no president or Parliament, where gangs have destroyed dozens of police stations and killed thousands of people, Garry Conille has arguably one of the toughest jobs of any leader in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He has attended funerals for slain police officers and met with their widows. He fired the police chief \u2014 blaming him for failing to fight the gangs \u2014 and named a new one, and he ushered in a contingent of police officers from Kenya tasked with helping alleviate the violence. He spent last week knocking on doors in Washington with an urgent message:<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is no time for Haiti fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Conille, 58, a former longtime U.N. official who had lived outside Haiti for more than a decade, took over the helms of Haiti\u2019s government five weeks ago amid one of the country\u2019s worst crises in decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The position had become vacant after armed groups joined forces to attack prisons, hospitals and entire neighborhoods in an uprising so severe that the former prime minister, who was on an overseas trip, could not return to his own country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Conille was chosen by a presidential transitional council that is helping to oversee the country. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A gynecologist by training, Mr. Conille now must restore order to Haiti in the hopes of organizing orderly and fair elections for president and Parliament. He is viewed as something of an outsider unstained by Haiti\u2019s notoriously dirty politics and chronic corruption who was appointed with the blessing of the Biden administration and the international community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Haitians are left wondering: After years of political turmoil, graft and a murder plot that left the last president dead at the hands of Colombian mercenaries, can this mild-mannered technocrat turn things around for a nation with millions of people living in abject poverty and where more than 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It has already been rough going: Within days of taking office, he briefly wound up in the hospital for an unknown condition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFirst, what I need is a functioning justice system, and to be honest, that I don\u2019t quite have right now,\u201d Mr. Conille said in an interview with The New York Times. \u201cI have 40 police stations that have been destroyed. We need to get ready to fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His list of priorities is long: regaining territory from gang leaders\u2019 grips, reopening schools and hospitals, rebuilding roads. He envisions a Haitian government that can provide basic services, like education and medical care, to its 11 million people, particularly the millions who are experiencing hunger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For that to happen, Mr. Conille said the international community needed to provide more money, noting that Haiti received far more international aid in prior years, when the situation was not as dire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI think the crisis that we\u2019re facing now is certainly more complex than what we faced after the earthquake,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd after the \u00adearthquake, we had certainly a much larger pool of partners engaged and engaging in a more significant way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, leaving a death toll that its government estimated to be as high as 316,000. Billions of dollars in aid poured in from around the world, but the nation struggled to recover.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the tremor, Mr. Conille worked for former President Bill Clinton, who was the U.N.\u2019s special envoy to Haiti. He had previously served as prime minister under President Michel Martelly, but lasted just four months when the two clashed over claims of corruption in post-quake contracts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Conille met last week with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, members of Congress, international lenders and members of the Haitian diaspora to make the case that aid is needed more than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Wolf Pamphile, the founder of the Haiti Policy House, a Washington research institute, said he was struck by the prime minister\u2019s inviting and \u201ccalming vibe.\u201d At a cocktail hour meeting in Washington, Mr. Conille wore a guayabera and spoke Creole and English \u2014 but not the French usually favored by the Haitian educated elites, Mr. Pamphile said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said Mr. Conille was enjoying a honeymoon period, but it\u2019s unclear how long it will last.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou know when you first start a job and everyone likes you?\u201d Mr. Pamphile said. \u201cHe\u2019s off to a good start. He\u2019s delivering something people have been asking for, which is communication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Experts debate when exactly things got so bad in Haiti. The billions in earthquake aid never accomplished the enormous redevelopment needed. No elections have been held in eight years, which has left Parliament and most other elected positions empty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Jovenel Mo\u00efse was assassinated in his home three years ago this week, and the next three years were marked by a wave of gang violence that saw huge increases in kidnappings, killings and the takeover of much of Port-au-Prince, the capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In late February, several gangs joined forces in a quest to overthrow the government. They succeeded in forcing the resignation of the prime minister at the time, Ariel Henry. Mr. Henry had flown to Kenya to formalize an agreement for the East African nation to deploy police officers to curb gang violence. Gang leaders took advantage of his absence to attack police stations, prisons and medical facilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly 600,000 were forced to flee their homes in recent years. The United Nations recorded 3,252 homicides between January and May, up from 2,453 during the previous five-month reporting period.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked why he would leave his previous job, as a regional director for UNICEF, to take on such a challenging endeavor, Mr. Conille borrowed from an expression he said he picked up in Africa: \u201cIf not me, then who? And if not now, then when?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Conille scored points shortly after he took office by showing empathy by publicly meeting with widows of slain police officers, said Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder of The Haitian Times, an online newspaper based in New York that covers Haiti and the diaspora.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHaitian leaders never do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He called Mr. Conille\u2019s prior term as prime minister a decade ago under Mr. Martelly a \u201cdebacle,\u201d precisely because he was not one to play politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe was politically na\u00efve,\u201d Mr. Pierre-Pierre said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t play the petty games that politicians writ large and especially those in Haiti play, and he was not ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In fact, several news outlets reported last week that Mr. Conille angered members of the transitional presidential council now running Haiti because he left for Washington and notified them with a text message sent in the middle of the night, hours before his departure. Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of the council, did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Conille\u2019s profile as a policy nerd, one detached from Haitian politics, was exactly what people were hoping for, experts said. Haitians have grown weary of the country\u2019s political class, who have often been mired in accusations of misconduct and ties to the very gangs now wreaking havoc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/14vi0r532sXGXk7BWv_dryktIjenKtgad\/view?usp=sharing\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">United Nations accused<\/a> Mr. Martelly of financing and arming gangs. The United States <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/14vi0r532sXGXk7BWv_dryktIjenKtgad\/view?usp=sharing\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sanctioned former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe<\/a>, accusing him of misappropriating $60 million in Venezuelan government aid for private gain. Mr. Henry, who served after the president\u2019s killing, was dogged by accusations that he had ties to a prime suspect in the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All three politicians denied the accusations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe political class has not left a good taste in the people\u2019s mouth, and I think we were looking for people who were competent, who have track records of being able to manage things and to produce results,\u201d said Ariel Dominique, founder of the Haitian American Foundation for Democracy, an advocacy group. \u201cWe are yearning for results. Whether he is the person remains to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/09\/us\/haiti-prime-minister-garry-conille.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the new prime minister of Haiti, a country with no president or Parliament, where gangs have destroyed dozens of police stations and killed thousands of people, Garry Conille has arguably one of the toughest jobs of any leader in the Western Hemisphere. He has attended funerals for slain police officers and met with their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/08\/multimedia\/00haiti-prime-minister-01-hvwj\/00haiti-prime-minister-01-hvwj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[643,1009,1418,3084,1119,3685],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91155,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91153\/revisions\/91155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}