OTTAWA — Canada is sanctioning two senior Haitian officials for their alleged support of gangs, which MPs have been told are exploiting children and wreaking havoc akin to a civil war.
“The majority of the victimized population (is) suffering greatly, increasingly deprived of essentials, exposed to increasing violence, and feel abandoned,” said Patrick Auguste, head of a diaspora youth association, at a House of Commons subcommittee meeting on Friday.
Haiti is facing an intractable series of crises that have closed hospitals and schools during a deadly cholera outbreak and widespread power outages.
It’s all made worse by gangs that are blockading the country’s main fuel terminal, leading the government to call for foreign military intervention, despite not holding an election since 2016.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced sanctions in lockstep with the U.S. for two senior Haitian officials who allegedly financed gangs in their country.
The new sanctions include Joseph Lambert, the president of the Haitian Senate, and his predecessor, Youri Latortue, whom Ottawa accuses of giving “illicit financial and operational support to armed gangs.”
The U.S. Treasury Department was more specific, accusing both of leading cocaine trafficking from Colombia and directing people to engage in violence.
Latortue rejected those claims, saying he had spoken out about violence and gangs, and that the decision lacked due process.
“I fought corruption and laundering with numerous public reports,” he tweeted. “I will defend myself with law and truth.”
A spokesperson for Lambertdid not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press on Friday.
At the House subcommittee on international human rights, non-governmental organizations told MPs on Friday that gangs are paying desperate Haitians to act out at protests and cause chaos in the streets.
“Due to what we can only call a civil war, there are currently over 100,000 internally displaced persons in Haiti,” said Morgan Wienberg, head of the group Little Footprints Big Steps.
Wienberg said “foreign pedophiles” are sexually abusing children with impunity, since Haiti can’t get “illegal orphanages” under control, a problem that’s existed since she moved to the country a decade ago and ramped up in recent months.
She encouraged Canada to work with civil-society groups to stem problems that are leading to gangs recruiting children.
“The Haitian government cannot be the voice that foreign governments are listening to, because it’s very clear the Haitian government is not acting on the interests of the Haitian people,” Wienberg said.
Others testified that Haiti has faced a power vacuum since the Duvalier dictatorship ended in 1971, leading to zero-sum politics with no consensus on how to govern the country.
Chalmers LaRose, a political-science lecturer with the Université du Québec à Montréal and Royal Military College of Canada, said part of the chaos stems from the whims of foreign countries.
LaRose noted that Haiti was economically punished by France for declaring its independence in 1805, followed by an American invasion in 1915.
“It was a state that was completely banished from the rest of the world, for at least a century,” he said in French.
He was skeptical of recent comments by U.S. officials that Canada could be a key player in a military intervention.
“Canada must also find its own voice in this crisis and not simply seek to be the lapdog of the U.S.,” LaRose said.
Other witnesses suggested using drones to fire on gangs, or coming up with an aid package modelled on the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild postwar Europe.
The Associated Press reported that there was gunfire around Haiti’s main fuel terminal in Port-au-Prince, with the Haitian National Police saying it made progress in an ongoing fight against the powerful G9 gang that has been blocking site access for weeks.
Canada and the U.S. have sent armoured military vehicles for that police force.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that Canada must help Haiti in some capacity, even if it doesn’t mean a military intervention.
“We look at the crisis, rapes, the violence, the poverty, and the cholera and health crisis. And then we say to ourselves, we have to intervene in one way or another,” he told reporters in French on Wednesday.
That evening, he was briefed by his former national security adviser, Daniel Jean, who led a four-day assessment mission last week.
An official readout did not indicate how Trudeau will proceed, but said a cabinet committee “explored a range of options … to support a Haitian-led solution.”
Auguste proposed Canada make a public apology on behalf of all Western nations for their centuries of meddling in Haiti, to help end finger-pointing between the government, gangs and foreign countries.
“What’s happening now is everybody passes the buck,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2022.
—With files from The Associated Press
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version quoted Patrick Auguste as saying the majority of Haitians are suffering greatly.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
