OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will impose more sanctions on Haiti’s political elite, its foreign minister said on Friday, accusing the politicians of helping criminal gangs increase their influence in exchange for money.
“Our goal is to put maximum pressure against these political elites,” Melanie Joly told Reuters by telephone after a G7 meeting in Muenster, Germany. “There will be more sanctions coming,” she said, without providing further details.
“We know right now that the gangs have been using politicians to increase their influence. And at the same time, the politicians themselves have been using the gangs to enrich themselves. So this is a vicious cycle that we wanted to break,” she said after joint U.S.-Canada sanctions were announced earlier on Friday.
Haiti’s gangs have expanded their power since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, and Prime Minister Ariel Henry has faced increasing difficulties in restoring order.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
