Given the recent shocking death of the Haitian President, the Haitian people (particularly Haitian-Americans) at large are extremely impacted and were horrified by such a dramatic event in the 21st Century where a president elected by the Haitian people (the symbol of the Haitian people’s sovereignty) can be murdered in cold blood at his home, allowing his killers the ability to veto the vote of the Haitian people. We call for justice. Furthermore, we are aware that article 149 of the Haitian constitution in effect requires that elections be held between 60 days to 120 days at most from the beginning of the vacancy caused by the death of a President. The president died on July 7th 2021, the 120 days maximum period allowed by the constitution to hold election expired on November 7th, 2021.

We are petitioning the US government and the international community to require the current caretaker government of Haiti to hold elections quickly, so elected officials with popular mandates can take office by February 7th, 2022, the date the next duly elected Haitian President is supposed to take office according to the constitution. We petitioned the US government and the international community to refuse any further dealing with any government in Haiti that is not elected by the Haitian people other than to assist with holding elections quickly. Any political accord to govern Haiti outside the constitution is not inclusive enough to govern Haiti since it does not give all Haitians an equal say in deciding who is to make decisions on their behalf. All political accords need to take into account the views of as many Haitians as possible through a legitimate election process. Anything else is not legitimate.

Furthermore, given, the current caretaker government in Haiti was not elected, never got any consent from the Haitian people to govern, not to mention are operating outside the constitutional time limits to hold elections and thus do not have any legal or constitutional mandate to govern Haiti or make any decisions on behalf of the Haitian people, we are petitioning the US government and the international community to not recognize any decisions taken by the caretaker government other than to hold elections quickly and to not recognize the signature of any contract, accord, negotiation or decree by this government as it does not have any mandate to make any decisions on behalf of the Haitian people.

In principle, we petitioned the US government and the international community to never recognize any signature of any contract, negotiation or any decisions made by any transitional or non-elected governments in Haiti that goes beyond the term of the transition period, which is not any longer than the transition period allowed by the Haiti constitution. All legitimate governing decisions (particularly long-term decisions) in Haiti should be made by legitimately elected governments by the Haitian people. Elections matter.  

Considering the proximity of Haiti to the United States, supporting unelected governments in Haiti, which promotes instability in the country and in the region, is not in the US’ interest in the long run.