PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Colombian President Gustavo Preto arrived Friday in Haiti for the second time this yr in a present of assist as gangs within the troubled Caribbean nation proceed to achieve floor.
Petro introduced the opening of a Colombian embassy in Haiti and pledged to assist Haiti strengthen its security.
Petro met with Haiti’s prime minister and its transitional presidential council, which is below strain to carry common elections earlier than February 2026.
Whereas officers met behind closed doorways, a press release from Colombia’s authorities famous they’d evaluate bilateral tasks targeted on safety, commerce, training, agriculture and the struggle in opposition to drug trafficking.
Petro’s administration has provided to coach Haitian officers, and Haitian delegations have visited a state-owned arms manufacturing firm in Colombia to study its protection capabilities.
The 2 nations are strengthening their ties as judges in Haiti continue to interrogate 17 former Colombian soldiers accused within the July 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse.
Petro beforehand visited Haiti in late January, the place he was obtained within the southern coastal metropolis of Jacmel with a lot fanfare. Previous to his go to, Haitian officers invested some $3.8 million to greater than double the runway on the airport in Jacmel, renovate the city and restore electrical energy to a inhabitants residing at midnight for at the very least three years.
This time, Petro landed in Port-au-Prince, the place 90% of the capital is below gang management. He was accompanied by officers together with Colombian Protection Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The officers arrived lower than every week after Haitian authorities killed 4 suspected drug traffickers and confiscated more than 2,300 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cocaine off the nation’s north coast.
It was a exceptional seizure for Haiti’s Nationwide Police, which stays understaffed and underfunded as it really works with Kenyan police main a U.N.-backed mission to assist quell gang violence.
Whereas a lot of the violence is centered in Port-au-Prince, gangs have razed and seized control of a growing number of towns in Haiti’s central area.
Not less than 4,864 folks have been killed from October to the tip of June throughout Haiti, with tons of of others kidnapped, raped and trafficked, in accordance with a current U.N. report.
Gang violence additionally has displaced 1.3 million people lately.