Respected as a doctor but criticized as a politician, Haiti's Prime Minister
Ariel Henry
tried to remain in power longer than expected, until the insurrection of the armed groups that control much of Port-au-Prince
forced him to resign.
Ariel Henry took the reins of power in Haiti following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, and was due to leave office at the beginning of February.
His resignation was even
an express demand from the powerful criminal gangs
that keep the population in suspense and control large areas of Haiti.
The
crisis of violence
worsened to such a point that the international community
pushed for a transition
with the participation of Haitian society.
A protester lights tires in a protest against the prime minister.
Photo: Richard Pierrin / AFP
Henry
finally agreed to resign this Monday
, as confirmed in a video published on the Haitian government's social networks.
Who is Ariel Henry
The much questioned 74-year-old politician made a name for himself in Haiti thanks to his professional career as a
neurologist.
After studying medicine at the French university of Montpellier, he directed the neurosurgery department of one of the most renowned private hospitals in Haiti and taught at the state universities of Port-au-Prince.
His political career
began late
.
In January 2015, President Michel Martelly appointed him Minister of the Interior, a position he held for less than eight months.
Ariel Henry, during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Photo: EFE
After a change of cabinet, in September 2015 he assumed the portfolio of Social Affairs and Labor for just over six months, before leaving the political scene for more than five years.
Appointment and murder
In July 2021,
President Moïse chose him as his seventh prime minister.
But just
two days after this appointment
, on July 7,
Moise was assassinated
in his private residence by an armed commando made up of former Colombian soldiers.
The assassination
plunged the country into chaos.
Barricades in the Haitian capital against Ariel Henry.
Photo: Richard Pierrin / AFP
After two weeks of back and forth and under pressure from foreign embassies, Henry was finally installed at the head of a government that
already lacked legitimacy.
The investigation into the president's assassination
increased distrust towards him:
on the night of the assassination,
Henry maintained several telephone contacts with one of the main suspects,
Joseph Félix Badio.
The prime minister defended himself by assuring that we are facing an "orchestrated uproar at the national and international level."
Henry did not deny having called Badio, who would have been geolocated two hours after the murder in the district where Moise's residence is located.
He only said that he has trouble remembering the names of all the people he called that day and the tenor of the conversations.
Gangs in Haiti
Long before the death of President Moise,
the gangs had extended their power over Haitian territory
, multiplying robberies, kidnappings for extortion, and murders.
Today they control much of Port-au-Prince , making safe
road
transportation to the southern half of the country impossible and blocking access to the prime minister's offices.
A gang member behind a barricade in Port-au-Prince.
Photo: Reuters
Henry ruled from his official residence.
On January 1, 2022,
he was forced to flee under a hail of gunfire
during the Haitian National Day ceremony organized in the city of Gonaives.
This "attempted assassination", which he firmly denounced, did not prevent Henry from maintaining his political program, similar to that of the late Moïse, namely
the organization of elections and the adoption of a new Constitution.
With an unpopular and questioned prime minister at the helm, Haiti embarked on the fourth transitional regime in the history of its young democracy, born after
the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986.
Video
Ariel Henry has led the nation since July 7, when an armed group killed then-president Jovenel Moïse.
In the end it was the current crisis that precipitated his downfall, after
the gangs banded together with the stated goal of overthrowing the prime minister.
"If Ariel Henry does not resign, if the international community continues to support him
, we are heading towards a civil war that will lead to genocide
," declared Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed "Barbecue," during a press interview on March 5.
When the current crisis broke out, Henry
was on an official visit to Kenya
to sign an agreement to send Kenyan police to Haiti as part of an international mission supported by the UN and the United States.
Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed "Barbecue."
Photo: Reuters
His plane, which
could not land in Haiti due to insecurity,
finally took him to the US territory of Puerto Rico,
from where he announced his resignation on Monday
.
"As I have always said, no sacrifice is too great for our country," Henry declared in his resignation video.