US Vice President Harris announces new assistance for Caribbean

World
By William

United States Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that her country is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean to tackle the arms trade, alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.

The announcement was made ahead of an official trip to the Bahamas on Thursday for a meeting of Caribbean and American leaders hosted by Harris and Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis.

Harris, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the Bahamas since the Bahamas gained independence 50 years ago, landed shortly after noon U.S. Eastern Time (4 p.m. GMT) for the one-day visit.

Dozens of greeters, including schoolchildren and members of Harris’ sorority, greeted the Vice President as the Royal Bahamas Police Force band played.

Meeting with leaders, Harris said strengthening the US-Caribbean relationship is a priority for her.

“We firmly believe our partnership is essential to our mutual security and prosperity,” she said.

As part of the initiatives announced Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department expects to appoint a coordinator to oversee cases related to illegal gun trafficking in the Caribbean as island states report an increase in violent crimes.

In addition, the State Department pledged to help improve forensic work in the region and help strengthen local police departments. It will also support a Trinidad and Tobago-based unit focused on helping islands resolve weapons-related cases and provide training for related intelligence collection and analysis.

The US, with help from the UK, plans to launch a program in the eastern Caribbean to mentor local judges and prosecutors as well, in an effort to improve prosecutions for gun-related crimes as island nations grapple with a backlog in business.

Haiti’s National Police, a severely underfunded and understaffed agency struggling to quell a wave of gang violence, will also receive help to investigate and prosecute US-related crimes involving gangs, arms smuggling and human trafficking.

That initiative is considered crucial, as gangs control an estimated 80 percent of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Murders and kidnappings have skyrocketed in the metropolitan area and beyond.

Senior US government officials said the deteriorating security situation requires an international response and that the US strongly supports the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti.

In October, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested the immediate deployment of a foreign force, but the United Nations Security Council, along with the US and Canada, have not yet responded. Henry is expected to attend Harris’s meeting on Thursday, along with other leaders from the Caribbean nations.

Senior US government officials said talks with Haiti are ongoing and any decision on military force will be made in consultation with the UN and the country’s government.

Harris announced that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will invest nearly $54 million in Haiti to combat the surge in famine and provide access to potable water and health care. Nearly half of Haiti’s more than 11 million residents face acute food insecurity and 19,000 live in catastrophic famine.

An additional $10.5 million will be spent supporting Haiti’s agricultural sector as poverty rises, with some 60 percent of the population earning less than $2 a day.

The announcement was applauded by Faith in Action International, a California-based organization that helps grassroots groups around the world.

“Haitian farmers are the backbone of Haiti’s hunger response, and they urgently need vital inputs of seeds, irrigation, tools and support from agronomists to adapt to the drought,” said Francois Pierre-Louis, director of Faith in Action in Haiti.

USAID also expects to invest $20 million to help Caribbean companies using technologies related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Another nearly $15 million will be used to boost emergency response and preparedness across the region.

Additional resources will help low-lying island nations, whose economies rely largely on tourism, prepare for and adapt to climate change.

“Caribbean countries are on the front line,” Harris said.

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