Caribbean Community Heads of Government have received calls from Haitian political leaders for help as gangs roam the streets of the capital of Port Au Prince and across the nation.

The deepening humanitarian, security, political, and economic crises in Haiti has been alarming, following a year after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

The current prime minister, Dr Ariel Henry, says the actions of criminal gangs have resulted in the end of fuel distribution in several parts of the country, forcing the closure of hospitals and schools and the shutting down of water pumps, prohibiting the provision of clean water. The water shortage also has exacerbated the resurgence of a cholera epidemic, particularly in poor neighbourhoods.

The CARICOM  Heads of Government have condemned the callous and inhumane actions of the armed gangs responsible for the roadblocks limiting movement of the Haitian people and of goods, the destruction of life and livelihoods and the deprivation of the basic needs of the people.

Haiti became the Caribbean Community’s newest member state on July 2, 2002, some four years after it had secured provisional membership.

CARICOM has “called upon all stakeholders in Haiti to come together with urgency at this critical juncture in the country’s history to bring an end to the protracted political stalemate in the interest of the people of the country and choose nation above self-interest” .

The poorest country in the western hemisphere is Haiti. The United States and Mexico are calling for United Nations aupport for a security mission to Haiti, where gunrunning among gangs has blocked a critical fuel port, crippling economic activity, leaving millions of people facing hunger.

The Bahamas would send troops or police to Haiti as part of a peacekeeping force if asked to do so by the United Nations or the Caribbean Community, a Bahamian government minister said last Tuesday, as Haiti’s humanitarian crisis continued to worsen.

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis says if CARICOM decides that the Haitian situation requires the deployment of security troops, then The Bahamas “will abide by the outcome” of the organisation’s resolution.

Once that decision is made, in collaboration with the United Nations, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the country will be “ready, willing and able to deploy” Royal Bahamas Defence Force marines to the troubled state.