Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is facing significant challenges in maintaining his position as he endeavors to return to his homeland.
Recent gang attacks have led to the closure of Haiti’s main international airport, and over 4,000 inmates have been released. On Wednesday, Henry found himself unable to enter Haiti, landing instead in Puerto Rico after the neighboring Dominican Republic closed its airspace to flights to and from Haiti.
Currently stranded outside his country, Henry is encountering a dilemma, with a growing number of officials either calling for his resignation or subtly pushing him in that direction.
A brief overview of the embattled prime minister and the crisis at hand:
A 74-year-old neurosurgeon with training and experience in southern France, Henry entered Haitian politics in the early 2000s as the leader of a movement opposing then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Following Aristide’s ousting, Henry joined a U.S.-backed council that played a role in selecting the transitional government.
In June 2006, he assumed the role of director-general of Haiti’s Ministry of Health, later becoming its chief of staff and contributing to the government’s response to the 2010 earthquake.
In 2015, he took on the position of minister of the interior and territorial communities, overseeing Haiti’s security and domestic policy.
Afterward, he became minister of social affairs and labor, facing calls for resignation upon leaving the Inite party. Henry then retreated from the public eye, working as a political consultant and a professor at Haiti’s medical university.
His installation as prime minister occurred shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who had chosen Henry for the position.
Brian Concannon, executive director of the U.S.-based nonprofit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, suggests that Moïse’s party likely believed Henry would bring credibility and a certain constituency.
Concannon notes, “It seems to me he must have been a pretty big figure. Presidents don’t just pick random people.”
