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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the United States would strengthen the security of its embassy in Haiti after the assassination of the president of that country last week, but sending American troops to stabilize the country no was ‘not on the agenda’.
Haiti’s interim government last week called on the United States and the United Nations to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Biden has indicated he is not open to the request, which comes as he withdraws US forces from Afghanistan this summer.
“We only send US Marines to our embassy,” Biden said. “The idea of sending American forces to Haiti is not on the agenda,” he added.
Mathias Pierre, the Haitian election minister, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he believed the request for US troops was relevant given what he called a “fragile situation” and the need to create a secure environment. for elections scheduled in 120 days.
He also said Biden’s comment that sending US troops “was not on the agenda” still left the option open.
“It’s not a closed door. The evolution of the situation will determine the outcome, ”said Pierre. “In the meantime, the government is doing everything in its power to stabilize the country, return to a normal environment and organize elections while trying to find a political agreement with most of the political parties.”
The US call for intervention recalled the uproar that followed Haiti’s last presidential assassination, in 1915, when an angry mob dragged President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam out of the French embassy and beat him in dead. In response, President Woodrow Wilson sent Marines to Haiti, justifying a US military occupation – which lasted for nearly two decades – as a way to avoid lawlessness.
Biden addressed the situation in Haiti at a joint White House press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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Associated Press editor Danica Coto contributed to this report from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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