US, Canada send aircraft, military equipment to 'help' Haiti
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Western interventionism is thriving in the former French colony.
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US Marines preparing to send aircraft to Haiti in August, 2021. (US Navy)
The US and Canada sent armored vehicles and supplies to Haitian police, claiming that they will be used to 'help' police fight a gang upon the request of the government.
The US State Department statement said that the Haiti government purchased the equipment - however, it did not offer more details about the military aircraft flown into the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.
The US Air Force and the Royal Canadian Force, on a joint operation, are involved in the supplies, according to the US military Southern Command. This comes at a time when 4.7 million people, nearly half of Haiti's population, are currently suffering from acute food insecurity.
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"This equipment will assist (Haiti's National Police) in their fight against criminal actors who are fomenting violence and disrupting the flow of critically-needed humanitarian assistance, hindering efforts to halt the spread of cholera," the State Department claimed.
In July, the United Nations issued a resolution to ban small arms exports to Haiti. Zhang Jun, the Chinese Ambassador to the UN, called the resolution a "warning" to gangs in Haiti and a "step in the right direction.
The interventionist approach that the US and Canada are exerting against Haiti, a former French colony, could be noted in the recent assassination of the president which led to the installation of a puppet government.
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A month or so ago, a fuel terminal was surrounded by gangs who demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Within this context, demonstrators have blocked major city roads, expressing grievances over the stark rise in fuel prices. In September, Henry announced that Port-au-Prince could no longer afford to subsidize fuel.
In addition to gas stations closing down, hospitals have also cut down on services and banks and grocery stores are operating at a limited capacity as fuel, water and other supplies are at shortage in Haiti.
On Saturday, the owners of the fuel terminal noted that armed gangs attacked, for the second time, the infrastructure, stealing 28,000 gallons of petroleum products from the facility.
The terminal stores 10 million gallons of gasoline and diesel, and over 800,000 gallons of kerosene.
