A private security company led by the founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, will send hundreds of combatants in Haiti, fighting against violence to combat the problem of the country's gang violence and restoring its tax collection system, according to American media.
Prince, a controversial figure which is a major donor from Donald Trump, revealed details on the new mission of his business, Vectus Global, in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A person who knows the plans also confirmed the details at the Associated Press news agency.
Prince told Reuters that he expected Vectus Global, his private security company based in the United States, which provides logistics, infrastructure and defense, would regain control of roads and territory held in gangs in Haiti in a year.
“A key measure of success for me will be when you can go from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien in a thin skin vehicle and not be arrested by gangs,” he told the news agency.
He declared that the company would also be involved in the creation and implementation of a system to tax products crossing the border of Haiti with the Dominican Republic once it is restored.
Staff 'several hundred'
For years, Haiti is plagued by violence and insecurity as Powerful armed gangsOften with links with political and commercial leaders, have made it possible to influence and control territorial control – a situation which worsened spectacularly after the assassination in 2021 of President Jonenel Moise.
The deployment of a Kenya supported by the United Nations police mission Last year failed to restore stability. Earlier this month, the government announcement A three -month state of emergency in several parts of the country in response to the crisis.
VECTUS Global began its operations in Haiti in March, Reuters reported, mainly by the use of drones in coordination with a government working group.
But he had to considerably increase his activities in the coming weeks in coordination with the Haitian police, reported Reuters, citing a person familiar with the issue. The source said that the company would deploy “several hundred” of staff from the United States, Europe and Salvador who have been trained as specialists in elite and intelligence and communications, as well as boats and helicopters.
The AP, quoting a person knowing the plans, said that the deployment would lead to “nearly 200” personal as part of an agreement of one year to combat the violence of the gangs. He declared that VEctus Global would also play a “long -term role” in the government's adviser in Haiti on the restoration of the collection of tax revenue once the gang violence.
Prince told Reuters that Vectus Global had a 10 -year contract with the Haitian government, but would not comment how much it was worth. The Haitian government did not comment on reports, but in June, the then head of the Haiti's presidential transitional council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, confirmed that the government used foreign entrepreneurs.
The Haitian government has identified the restoration of tax revenue as a key factor to solve the country's problems.
Taxation on the border used half of the country's tax revenues, but the control of the gangs of transport links has harmed trade and seriously affected the sources of income of the Vital Government, which has an impact on the provision of basic services, a report committed last year by the government and international organizations in Haiti.
Blackwater's history on abuses
The involvement in Haiti of Prince, a former seal of the American navy who is the brother of the former secretary in the United States of Education, Betsy Devos, aroused concerns, in particular given the controversial past of his previous society, Blackwater.
Prince founded Blackwater, a private military company in 1997. The company acquired worldwide notoriety for its actions in Iraq, with four employees convicted in the murders of September 2007 of 14 Iraqi citizens on the Place Nisour in Baghdad. Entrepreneurs were later forgiven by Trump During his first mandate at the White House.
Prince sold Blackwater in 2010, but remained active in the private security industry. Since Trump's return to the White House, he has consulted the Ecuador on how to combat the violence of gangs and has concluded an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo to help secure mineral wealth.
“The use of private military companies cannot be considered as a solution to insecurity in Haiti,” he told Haiti's center for the center of Haiti for human rights analysis and research. “The use of private companies has often led to human rights violations.”
Romain Le Court Grandmaison, head of the Haiti program in Geneva Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, told AP that the mission of Global Vectus in Haiti would violate US law unless it has the authorization of Washington to proceed.
He said that his involvement was more likely to complicate the crisis in Haiti than to repair it.
“In the absence of a coherent and joint Haitian and international strategy, the use of private companies is more likely to fragment the authority and sovereignty than to advance the resolution of the crisis,” he said.
A Trump administration official declared that the United States government had no involvement in the hiring of Global Vectus by the Haitian government, and was not funded or exerted surveillance of the mission, the AP reported.
Earlier this year, a team from the American security company Studebaker Defense ceased its operations in Haiti after two staff members were kidnapped, probably due to corrupt police officers, The New York Times reported.
