JAMAICA’S Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith on Wednesday declined to say whether talks are in train to grant political asylum to Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry who has been locked out of his country, which is now under the gun of rebel gangsters, but was quick to dismiss talk that he was headed here.

“He is not here, he is not on his way here; these are things I can state definitively,” Johnson-Smith told the Jamaica Observer firmly on Wednesday. News that Henry was marooned outside his homeland in Puerto Rico gave rise to speculation that he could seek refuge in Jamaica like former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide who in March of 2004 was granted temporary asylum. Aristide is now exiled in Africa.

Henry, a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who has served as prime minister since July 2021 following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, was forced to take refuge in the US territory since Tuesday after he was prevented from landing in neighbouring Dominican Republic because officials there closed the airspace to flights to and from Haiti after gangsters attempted to take over the Toussaint Louverture International Airport. That attack followed Saturday’s assaults on Haiti’s National Penitentiary in which the thugs released all but 98 of the 3,798 inmates and 1,033 from the Croix-des-Bouquets prison.

The thugs, in a media briefing, have threatened civil war unless Henry — who was out of the country over the weekend in Kenya pushing for the rapid deployment of a UN-backed multinational police mission to help stabilise Haiti — resigned.

On Wednesday the Jamaica Defence Force, responding to
Observer queries on the state of preparedness of the army to deal with Haitians who could arrive here illegally, said it remains on high alert.

“The JDF remains cognisant of the developing situation in the Republic of Haiti and maintains a heightened state of readiness pursuant to the preservation of Jamaica’s national interests. In keeping with that intent, the Maritime Air and Cyber Command is exercising sea control in the Jamaica-Haiti Gap, utilising surface and aerial assets in the transit zone as a continuation of our campaign to prevent the landing of illegal migrants,” head of the Army’s Communication Unit Major Kayson Gunzell told the Observer.

The JDF said “in the land domain, the Jamaica Regiment, in support of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, continues to conduct focused joint deployments in areas of strategic concern with all other formations providing support”.

“The JDF reaffirms its commitment to the protection of our national interests and the safeguarding of Jamaica’s borders,” it said further.

Those indications follow on assurances on Tuesday by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang that Jamaica’s security apparatus has been galvanised and monitoring heightened as part of a blockade against any of the more than 4,000 Haitian prison escapees making their way here.

“As you are aware, they have gangs in Haiti with connections here, so that’s an issue; that’s where we have to keep our intelligence ears wide open, those who are locally connected and what’s happening in Haiti and watch our borders closely,” Chang told the Observer.

“We are fairly focused on them, we have intensified patrols on the east coast — Portland and St Thomas — but we also have to reach out to those we have in Haiti, our connections that we have, as well as other jurisdictions operating there to maintain a watch on what’s happening,” he added.

Gangs controlling large swaths of Haiti have wreaked havoc for months, with coordinated attacks on strategic sites growing since last week.

Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged the international community to “act swiftly and decisively to prevent Haiti’s further descent into chaos” and again called “for the urgent deployment, with no further delay, of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti (MSS)”.

“Last weekend’s mass prison breakout has been described by Haitan officials as a lethal threat to national security. More than 4,500 inmates are now known to have escaped, among them prominent gang members as well as those arrested in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The break followed coordinated gang action against national institutions with the stated aim of bringing down the Government,” Volker Türk said in a media statement.

Noting that since the beginning of the year “a staggering 1,193 people were killed, and 692 others were injured by gang violence”, he said the “situation is beyond untenable for the people of Haiti”.

In the meantime, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Haiti’s health system is on the brink of collapse with hospitals often lacking capacity to treat those arriving with gunshots wounds.

“Schools and business are closed, and children are increasingly used by gangs. Economic activity is asphyxiated as gangs impose restrictions on people’s movements. Haiti’s biggest provider of drinking water has stopped deliveries. At least 313,000 people are currently internally displaced,” he said.

“I call once again for the urgent deployment, with no further delay, of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti, to support the National Police and bring security to the Haitian people, under conditions that comply with international human rights norms and standards. The reality is that, in the current context, there is no realistic alternative available to protect lives,” he declared.

The UN Security Council was on Wednesday locked in an emergency meeting to discuss Haiti and the dilemma facing Henry.

In August last year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Jamaica’s soldiers would be deployed to Haiti as part of the multi-national security force approved by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

That force was expected to be led by Kenya, which had pledged 1,000 police to spearhead the mission with support from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, and Jamaica.

However, a Kenyan court in January this year prohibited the deployment of Kenyan police officers, after opponents of the mission challenged it in court, calling it unconstitutional.

Last month it was indicated that 150 Bahamian soldiers were en route to Jamaica for a joint training with Jamaican soldiers, in preparation for the multinational force mission.