Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign once interim leader named, official says

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Photo / AP

Caribbean leaders said today that they “acknowledge the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry” once a transitional presidential council is created and an interim premier named.

The announcement was made by Guyana President Irfaan Ali, who held an urgent meeting earlier on Monday (local time) in Jamaica with officials including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and members of Caricom, a regional trade bloc. They met behind closed doors for several hours to discuss how to halt Haiti’s spiralling violence.

Henry did not attend the meeting and could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office did not return messages for comment.

Workers put down a fire set at an office of Haiti's power company during a protest to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince on March 1. Photo / AP

Before sharing details of the proposed transitional council, Ali said, “I want to pause and thank Prime Minister Henry for his service to Haiti.”

Earlier on Monday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the meeting was a work in progress.

“It is clear that Haiti is now at a tipping point,” he said. “We are deeply distressed that it is already too late for too many who have lost far too much at the hands of criminal gangs.”

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Photo / AP

Henry, who has faced calls to resign or agree to a transitional council, has been locked out of his own country while travelling abroad, due to surging unrest and violence by criminal gangs who have overrun much of Haiti’s capital and closed down its main international airports.

Henry remained in Puerto Rico and was taking steps to return to Haiti once feasible, according to a brief statement from the US territory’s Department of State “to pause and thank Prime Minister Henry for his service to Haiti.”