By: Staff Writer
May 3, 2024
Former Sports Minister of Haiti, Fritz Bélizaire, is now the new Prime Minister after being selected by the country’s transitional council.
Three weeks ago, Haiti formally established a transitional council to fill a leadership vacuum by choosing a new prime minister, and to restore order in the Caribbean country ravaged by gang violence.
The nine-member council, which was sworn in at the National Palace last week, consists of seven voting members and was established with the help of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). It is tasked with the responsibility of naming a new prime minister and cabinet.
A decree published in the official gazette announced the formation of the Presidential Transitional Council on Friday, a month after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would step down amid a wave of attacks by armed gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Bélizaire was chosen in a surprise move to replace current interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, gaining the support of four of the seven voting members on the nine-member panel but with other panel members saying they were unfamiliar with Bélizaire.
Earlier on Tuesday, the council chose former presidential candidate Edgard Leblanc Fils as the president of the panel.
“This is a very good choice for prime minister,” Fils said of Bélizaire during a brief speech to nearly two dozen attendees. “The important thing for us is this will, this determination to go beyond divisions, to overcome conflicts and to reach a consensus.”
The announcement of Bélizaire was unexpected. A murmur rose through the attendees as officials announced that four council members with voting powers had selected Bélizaire as prime minister.
Leslie Voltaire, one of the voting council members, told The Associated Press, “I don’t know him,” when asked whether he supported Bélizaire.