Transitional Presidential Council Takes Charge in Haiti

Orinoco Tribune, April 27, 2024 ─ 

The Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) of Haiti took charge after the hitherto de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry officially presented his letter of resignation.

Henry officially renounced on Wednesday, April 24, as he had announced in a video on March 11, and designated as his Minister of Economy Michel Patrick Boisvert as the interim prime minister until the TPC forms a new government.

Henry’s resignation letter, dated April 24 and written in Los Angeles, was addressed to the members of his Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister’s Office published it on social media.

“I am resigning from my government,” Henry stated in said letter. “I congratulate the members of the government, the collaborators, the Public Administration, the Security Forces, and all those who have accompanied me during this patriotic journey.”

On Thursday, April 25, the nine members of the TPC were sworn in at the National Palace and are about to be sworn in. Images published by Haitian media show the TPC members during the swearing-in ceremony.

Until the TPC appoints a new government, Henry’s designate, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will remain the interim prime minister.

The council, however, has no popular mandate. It was not elected by the people of Haiti but was created by the United States in collusion with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). On March 11, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken headed a CARICOM meeting in Jamaica, where the TPC for Haiti was hatched. No Haitian was physically present at that meeting; the representatives of various Haitian political factions and civil society attended through Zoom. According to analysts, the TPC is a mechanism created by the US government to continue its hold on Haiti amid a popular anti-imperialist uprising.