(AURN News) – Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer held talks with Black civil rights leaders at the White House recently to discuss the ongoing crisis and civil unrest in Haiti, the White House said.
The goal of the meeting was to have a dialogue and review U.S. efforts to provide support to the Caribbean nation as it grapples with political collapse and gang violence.
Since October 2022, the United States has provided more than $170 million in aid to Haiti. By contrast, the Biden administration and Congress have directed $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR notes that this does not include war-related spending from the U.S.
Haiti has faced a leadership vacuum after the assassination of its last elected president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2017. The country has not held a presidential election since 2016. And now gangs have seized control over large swaths of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The impoverished nation has seen intermittent civil unrest in recent years, prompting repeated international calls for a resolution to the political turmoil and gang violence crippling economic activity.
Click play to listen to the AURN News report from Jamie Jackson: