(Ottawa) The Canadian government announced on Tuesday new sanctions against two former Haitian ministers, which he accuses of corruption and of fueling the crisis in this poor Caribbean country.
These sanctions target Liszt Quitel and Berto Dorcé, two former justice ministers.
They provide a freezing of all their property detained in Canada and the ban on carrying out transactions. The two former ministers are also banned from traveling to Canada.
“Canada has reason to believe that these people use their status as members with a view to the economic elite in Haiti to protect and allow illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, in particular by money laundering and other acts of corruption, “the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Liszt Quelle had been appointed Interim Minister of Justice and Public Security in September 2021, more than two months after the murder of the head of state Jovenel Moise in his private residence, in the middle of the night, by an armed commando.
As for Mr. Dorcé, he was in turn appointed to the Chancellery in November 2021, when Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry had reworked his government in agreement with opposition parties to make “common front against gangs insecurity ».
Photo Ralph Tedy Erol, Reuters archives
Berto Dorcé
These two ministers were dismissed from the Haitian government last month.
Canadian sanctions aim to “put pressure” on those “responsible for violence, including generalized sexual violence, and current instability in Haiti,” said the ministry. “These people have to stop paying funds and provide weapons to criminal gangs in Haiti,” the Canadian ministry said.
The Canadian government has previously sanctioned three members of Haiti’s elite, including the island’s only billionaire, Gilbert Bigio. Former President Michel Martelly and two former prime ministers are also under Canadian sanctions.
The Caribbean country, the poorest in North America, has been mired for years in a deep economic, security and political crisis, deeply aggravated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and the increasingly strong grip gangs.
Ottawa attributes current instability to armed gangs and their supporters who “continue to terrorize vulnerable populations in Haiti with impunity” and “precipitate a humanitarian crisis in the country”, which faces a cholera epidemic.